Before we were married, my husband lived in Korea for three years and loved it. Consequently, we have added Korean cuisine and some Korean customs to our home. One Korean custom we’ve adopted is their concept of Valentine’s Day.
In Korea, Valentine’s Day is spread across three days. Feb. 14 and March 14 are Couple’s Days. Feb. 14 is for the men (women give them chocolate/presents) and March 14 is for the women (men give the women chocolate/presents). April 14 is for all the singles–they usually all go out to eat en masse on this day.
So every year when Valentine’s Day rolls around, I expect to receive nothing from my husband. Instead, I buy some of his favorite chocolate treats and a small gift. He gets to choose what we eat for dinner (usually we go out to a restaurant) and that’s the end of our celebration. Then the next month on March 14, he does the same for me.
I love our version of Valentine’s day for the following reasons:
- It keeps things simple. Our gift and candy budget is $20 or less.
- It focuses on one person at a time. We don’t do gifts for our kids on these days (although our son still brings cards and candy to his preschool class).
- It relieves the pressure of trying to out-do ourselves every year.
- I get exponentially more chocolate because my husband buys it on sale right after Valentine’s Day and then saves it for White Day.
