Living Green Below Your Means has a great article up on how to save money and resources on Valentine’s Day. Aside from supporting SAD or V-Day, both of which are very good ways to spend what has become a Hallmark Holiday at best, regardless of what it used to be.
I encourage everyone interested in a low-impact (environmentally and economically) Valentine’s to read the article. I’d like to expand on some of her ideas, not from a copy-cat standpoint, but from an Angeleno-centric perspective.
“Instead of going on one date, give your sweetheart a box of dates.” This is essentially an appeal to quality over price. Last year, I made a full dinner including baked dessert and TJ’s on-sale wine for the two of us. We did not get a babysitter for our cats but enjoyed ourselves nonetheless. Wild Oats has great seasonal recipes, including a specific Valentine’s Day meal. Trader Joe’s frequently features wines of a quality above Charles Shaw but at a similar price ($3-$5). Keep your eye out for your favorite kind.
“Spend an evening at […] your community whatever.” The Greater Los Angeles Area has a plethora of great theaters (and cinemas).
The Geffen Playhouse and UCLA’s Royce Hall are both great places for local theater/performances. What are some great places for performance near you?
Maybe this is a chance to check out the famous Chinese or Egyptian Theater palaces. They’re a beautiful and telling insight into LA’s history. Laemmle is a group of cinemas that specialize in independant movies. They’re smaller than some of the multiplexes, and definately worth it. The Arclight is an expensive cinema but well worth the price for the service and lack of commercials. Unfortunately, the Arclight, unlike Laemmle, has bought into the louder-is-better theory of in-theater sound.
“Visit a botanic garden.” The Huntington is a beautiful, beautiful place. LA also has an Arboretum (who knew?!). Souther are the South Coast Botanical Garden and the Sherman Library & Gardens, neither of which I can vouch for, but both of which I’d be interested in visiting. There is, of course, The Getty, which is also a museum but mostly just an experience. The Getty is free if you pay for parking and I think you can call and reserve a free parking spot if you’re a student. The new Getty has an amazing view of LA and the Villa is…a villa. A reconstructed Italian villa. I haven’t been since it reopened, but when I went before, it was like being back in Italy. Only more colorful and newer. They have grounds upon which to picnic, which is also a fun activity.
“Set up a scavenger hunt.” Yeah, maybe that works in movies.
“Choose something symbolic that will help someone, or something, else.” is a convoluted way of saying, don’t buy something for someone who has stuff, buy something in that someone’s name (which, I guess, is also convoluted…but somehow makes better sense in my mind…). When I got married, we requested no gifts but rather donations in our name to the gift-giver’s local NPR station, the Sierra Club, the Coalition for Clean Air, the Feminist Majority Foundation, Teach for America, or the Humane Society. I frequently get things from my sisters from Tree People (a local LA group) and Heifer International.
The article recommends Global Giving, and Alternative Gifts, Just Give, Our Voices Together, and Oxfam.
For more material, but still do-gooding gifts, check out the Hunger, Breast Cancer, Child Health, Literacy, Rainforest, and Animal Rescue Sites (they all have the same goods, the money just goes different where). Although, we’ve discussed this before.
“Mix it up.” She recommends mix CDs, and iTunes really does have some great playlists right now (last year, they had a Valentine’s Day playlist by Melissa Etheridge, which was great but I can’t find it now). However, homemade gifts are always great; as she says, they symbolize an investment of your time. This year, my husband and I will be making Valentines Cards with friends a few days before the actual day. Since this has never been (a) my favorite holiday or (b) a holiday I even generally celebrate, this become my favorite February tradition (and that’s saying something). We go over to a friend’s house and do arts and crafts all day long, making cards for each other, our host, and anyone else we want to remember (this year, I’m going to make a SAD card). It involves magazine and calendar clipping, stamps, and lots of glue and glitter. So much better than the traditional, IMHO.
Here’s to environmental subversions of all holidays! 
9 responses so far ↓
1 Bored in Vernal // Feb 7, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Miko, you’re making me yearn for So Cal.
“Instead of going on one date, give your sweetheart a box of dates.”
At the three grocery stores we have here in Vernal, they sell apples, oranges, grapes, and bananas. Nary a date, kumquat, or persimmon to be found.
“Visit a botanic garden.”
Closest thing to that is crunching through the snow in your moon boots on your way to the barn. (Watch for dead cows, they are all freezing and falling over where they stand.)
‚ÄúSpend an evening at your community… whatever.‚Äù
Our community whatever would be the Golden Corral, public library or Walmart.
I’ve decided I want a trip to Hawaii for Valentines Day. Maybe I’ll start living Green in the Spring.
2 Miko // Feb 8, 2007 at 8:38 am
BiV: no no no, you’re in snow country! Go skiing! Go avalanch hunting! Go snow camping!!! I’m not a fan of cross-country, but you could do that…oh, what I would give to spend my bday skiing again *sniff*
3 Elise // Feb 8, 2007 at 8:45 am
Note to husband who may read these comments: the “box of dates” and the “mix it up” suggestion on Miko’s link would be great V-day ideas……
BiV: There is nothing more romantic than getting all wrapped up in a big blanket, sipping hot tea/coffee/chocolate, turning on a good movie, and watching the cold snowy night through a frosted window. And we can’t have that in SoCal……
4 John // Feb 8, 2007 at 9:27 am
Elise (or Ryan, hint hint), the next farmer’s market, find the booth that sells dates and you can try a half-dozen different varieties. My favorite are very sweet, mildly-acidic and are melt-in-your-mouth soft. I think they are called Empress dates.
BiV, there’s something very wrong when I do a Google maps business search in Vernal for “cafe” and the establishments that come back all serve gravy with breakfast. Um…dinosaurs? Escape to romantic Roosevelt? I am curious, though–what is Flaming Gorge like?
Miko, great suggestions. I love donation-gifts, since I already have way too much crap (but I still like getting crap, too!). Jana and I went to the Vagina Monologues last year.
We also received a family membership to the Huntington for Christmas (a very generous gift!) so a visit is definitely on the horizon, though maybe not for V-day.
5 Bored in Vernal // Feb 8, 2007 at 10:11 am
Well, I did let my boy go snow camping 2 weeks ago with the scouts, though I worried that he would come home without his toes. DH went last year, and I heard from the rest of the amused (younger) dads who went that he spent the night in his car with the heater turned on.
Elise’s suggestion sounds nice-picturesque, even–we do it every Monday night for Family Home Evening.
Flaming Gorge is wonderful in the summer. I looooove water sports. The roads up there are impassable in the winter. People go up anyway in ATVs, get lost and die.
Perhaps I will just sit at home and write a Vagina Monologue.
6 Miko // Feb 8, 2007 at 11:32 am
nothing is more romantic than ATVs. except maybe getting lost and dying. (actually, I think you can prolly get a V’s Day card that says that…)
7 Elise // Feb 8, 2007 at 1:39 pm
John - although a box of edible dates would be delicious and fun to try, I actually meant the kind where you get to go on a date or do something fun. Combining the two - real dates and descriptions of dates we get to go on - would be a nice surprise, though.
Speaking of the farmer’s market, we haven’t been back since that one Saturday with you guys. Thanks for reminding me - we’ll have to stop by again soon!
8 pilgrimgirl // Feb 10, 2007 at 1:03 pm
I think I’d enjoy almost any V-Day gift that showed thoughtfulness and love. The kind I don’t care for are those that are generic (the ubiquitous bouquet of flowers or chocolate). Though flowers and chocolate are great, they are too cliche for this particular holiday.
And my favorite celebrations are always the ones where we “stay in” for the evening. Although a night at the symphony or a visit to a garden would be just lovely, too!
9 Miko // Feb 13, 2007 at 9:00 am
Fun article over on treehugger about ecosexuals. I like that term, I may have to steal it.