5 Ways to Celebrate Valentine’s Day: Socially Distanced Style

1. Virtual Movie Watch Party

A classic way to spend Valentine’s Day is cuddling up and watching a movie with your loved ones. Lucky for us, that is still possible! Popular streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime have a built-in feature that allows you to watch movies or series with others—all virtually. Simply pick your favorite romantic movie and send the watch-party link to a loved one, and you will be able to watch and chat at the same time. There are also third-party apps, such as Discord and Kast, that allow you to stream and watch with others.

2. Snail-Mail Gift Exchange

Exchanging gifts is a Valentine’s Day tradition and can continue to be one despite the pandemic. Take the time to pick or make something special, wrap it up, and send it to your loved ones via the mail. There are few things more delightful than the anticipation and unwrapping of a gift from a loved one, and the excitement will only build when you are waiting for something in the mail!

3. Organize a FaceTime Dinner Date

Whether you order takeout or cook a meal, plan a time with your significant other to have dinner together over FaceTime. To amp this up even more, there are free virtual cooking classes that can be found on Google!

4. Virtual Spotify Date

Similarly to the watch-party features on popular streaming services, Spotify has a new feature that allows you to create a group session in which 2 or more people can virtually sync their devices to listen to the same music at the same time. Make a playlist of your favorite love songs, join a group session with a loved one, and dance the night away alone, but still together!

5. Virtual Museum Tours, Escape Rooms, and Board games

Again, so many new types of technologies have emerged during the pandemic, and like Netflix and Spotify, there are other ways to connect without physically connecting. Google Arts and Culture has a plethora of virtual museum tours, and two player escape rooms and board games can be found with a simple search. Whether through a phone call, FaceTime, or other video chat service, these romantic things can be enjoyed together—even when apart.

By Raven Halle