Some people celebrate Valentine’s Day, others celebrate Galentine’s Day, and the very few that maximize their buck celebrate February 15th: Discount Chocolate Day. Some may think of Valentine’s Day as a day of love. I personally believe that Valentine’s Day is a capitalist excuse to bribe someone for love. As Liv King ’27 beautifully stated, “Valentine’s Day is a cash grab holiday popularized to take advantage of people’s romantic feelings.”
This can be seen in your Amazon ad notifications telling you to “buy love” for your special someone, along with all the other companies trying to squeeze some guilt into buying love. The men out there that are doing the bare minimum, running to CVS and picking up something the day of or the day before Feb. 14th, clearly do not recognize the grip capitalism has on them. Those of us who have studied food (chocolate) market trends are relaxing, watching the madness take place awaiting the discounts. Come the 15th, we take nice strolls through the chocolate aisles, and pick out chocolate stress-free, at a discounted price.
For everyone out there all excited for their significant other to do something sweet for them, this is where the saying “if he wanted to he would” comes in. Alison Bouchard ’27 mentioned, “if you love someone, you should show it every day, not just on a random Wednesday of the year.” Why are you waiting? If you like Valentine’s Day because you know that “special” someone is going to actually notice you, stop, raise your standards and move on. You can instead celebrate Galentine’s Day, which is equally as special, if not better because you know your friends will be there for you, and typically are there for you when you realize you need to raise your standards.
Galentine’s Day or “Girls Valentine’s Day” is one of my favorite traditions with my friends. Rather than watching toxic couples act happy on the internet for a day, we have come up with some pretty amazing alternatives. The first suggestion is the “Guess Who” game, but we put people we know in the picture slots. We guess what horrible things they would do to their boyfriend or girlfriend instead of using describing words. Another one of my favorite alternatives is “PowerPoint Night” where each person puts together a PowerPoint on various topics. Some of my favorite topics I have seen are “Each of my friends as a drink,” “Why I hate each of your significant others,” and “Celebs I would match you with.”
If Galentine’s Day is not enough for you, join the chocolate lovers on Feb. 15th, when all that chocolate those boys forgot to get for their significant others is on sale. Whether you are a Valentine’s Day lover, a Galentine’s Day girlie, or a Chocolate idolizer, there is something for everyone this year.