Love + Marriage

Inside: This DIY date night gift basket is easy, cheap, and more romantic than dinner in a crowded restaurant, plus it works for everyday date nights.

I used to scoff at Valentine’s Day.

You probably know someone who rants about it being a Hallmark holiday designed to manipulate people into spending money on cheesy cards and cliched Valentine’s gifts like flowers and chocolates. Or maybe you rant about it yourself.

That used to be me.

And then I fell in love.

Now my husband and I spend our free time researching the all-time best unknown love songs. We try to take advantage of every opportunity to stay connected as a couple – no matter how small.

And for Valentine’s Day last year?

We watched oodles and oodles of chick flicks to find the top 10 romantic comedies for the modern woman.

I’m officially a Valentine’s Day convert.

But Here’s the Problem

For Valentine’s Day, the status quo celebration is to get a babysitter and go out to a nice dinner.

But babysitters are expensive. If you did manage to think ahead to make reservations for a fancy restaurant, you and your honey will show up on the big night along with every other couple who had the same idea.

So at your romantic, cozy dinner for just the two of you, without kids screaming or asking for food or drawing on the walls? You’ll barely be able to hear each other.

You’ll resort to half-yelling across the table to be heard, get frustrated when you catch only every other word from your partner, and end up rushing through your meal just to get outside and away from the din of the restaurant.

And since you told the babysitter you’d be home by 11 pm and it’s only 9:30 – you’ll probably end your hot date night at the grocery store to get diapers and peanut butter because…what else is there to do?

Photo by Beraldo Leal

This Is a Way Better Valentine’s Gift

Tell your honey you’ve got Valentine’s Day covered.

Then put together this easy peasy DIY date night gift basket. You can do it last minute, and you can do it cheap. And I promise it’ll be way more romantic than yelling at each other in a crowded restaurant.

…

Kelly Holmes

I’m a mom of four, a recovering perfectionist, and the author of Happy You, Happy Family. Parenting is hard enough without all the guilt we heap on top of ourselves. So let’s stop trying to be perfect parents and just be real ones. Sound good? Join my mailing list and as a bonus, you’ll get 25+ incredibly helpful cheat sheets that will ease your parenting struggles.

happyyouhappyfamily.com/

How to Make the Perfect Date Night Gift Basket: 4 Easy StepsRead More

I was never into celebrating Valentine’s Day.

In fact, I have ranted a time or two (or fifty) about how it’s a Hallmark holiday designed to get Americans to spend money on cards and flowers that end up in the trash a couple days later. Not to mention the splurging on overpriced extravagant jewelry.

Forced romance? No, thank you.

And then I fell in love.

Scratch That

Yes, romance is best when spontaneous. OF COURSE it should come from the heart. And love is something to express year-round, not a checkbox to mark off one day a year.

But getting a ready-made excuse to act as sappy as humanly possible and shower your honey in over-the-top expressions of your love?

SIGN. ME. UP.

No, wait a second – can we have that every month?!

And I’m not talking bonbons and bling.

Now that we have two little ones, we take advantage of any opportunity to stay connected as a couple – no matter how small.

For Valentine’s Day, we’ll celebrate by popping in a romantic comedy after the girls go to bed. (And okay, maybe some bonbons too.)

But Here’s My Problem

My feelings toward the typical romantic comedy are a lot like my feelings toward 50 Shades of Grey or Twilight. Or Diet Coke. I knew they were crap, but some unspecified addictive chemical in them kept me reading/drinking.

So just like I cut out Diet Coke, I want to cleanse myself of movies like The Ugly Truth and What’s Your Number.

Not because romantic comedies are by definition crap. That is definitely not the case.

“Stop saying ‘chick flick’ like it’s ‘pile of rotten meat’ and stop saying ‘chick lit’ and ‘chick book’ and ‘chick movie’ and anything else that suggests that love stories are less than war stories, or that stories that end with kissing are inherently inferior to stories that end with people getting shot.”

No, I want to make room for “chick flicks” that will speak to me, a modern woman.

Show me a strong woman who is capable of solving problems on her own. A woman who isn’t magnetically drawn to the most chauvinistic man she’s ever met. A woman who has real life struggles beyond deciding which Manolo Blahnik to drop a whole paycheck on this week.

Because you know what?

We’re better than that.

We deserve a sweet, funny love story that doesn’t ask us to check our badassness at the theater door.

…

Kelly Holmes

I’m a mom of four, a recovering perfectionist, and the author of Happy You, Happy Family. Parenting is hard enough without all the guilt we heap on top of ourselves. So let’s stop trying to be perfect parents and just be real ones. Sound good? Join my mailing list and as a bonus, you’ll get 25+ incredibly helpful cheat sheets that will ease your parenting struggles.

happyyouhappyfamily.com/

Top 10 Romantic Comedies for the Modern WomanRead More