Celebrate Val in style!

Updated: Friday 13-02-2009

VALENTINE Day is a day to celebrate love and share with your loved ones. There are no big plans for my Valentine’s Day because for me and my husband, everyday is our Valentine, so I don’t place any particular emphasis on going away to any special location to celebrate it. I will rather stay at home and celebrate it with my husband and my children and if possible, I’ll give some gifts to my neighbours and friends as well, but this should be done everyday, anyway, but since people have already placed special value on it, I think we should celebrate it.

I intend to buy a very wonderful gift for my husband and my children, call my parents and some friends to tell them how much I love them all.

Mrs Joy Ogunjide: For me, Val means expressing love in a unique way and that is what I am going to do on that day. I am going to express my love, first, to my parents because they have been my support all along. It is not as if I had not been grateful to them, but you know that Val’s day is special and whoever you call that day always feels so special and they’ll know you care.

I will spend that day, with my fiancee and I intend to go to the beach with him so as to have a nice and memorable day. Uchechi Udoh, Student.

I believe Valentine’s Day is a day to show love, so I plan to visit the poor that day and share with them whatever I have. These people need to be shown love more than any other people. Mrs Grace Ademola, Teacher

Valentine gifts for your loved ones

VALENTINE’S Day with all its magnetism brings love in the air. This is a perfect occasion that marks the sharing of numerous symbols of love as Valentine gifts among lovers.

February 14 has been known as Valentine’s Day. Valentine is the perfect occasion for romantic proposals and dating. On this day, shower love and enjoy the day with your beloved and share gifts with them. During this marvelous day, loving hearts come closer and romance fills the air.

Below are some Valentine gifts for your loved ones

• A blank cheque.
• Cakes
• Panties
• Teddy bear
• Jewellery
• Wrist watches
• Perfumes
• Photo frames
• Roses
• Boxers
• Fresh flower hampers
• Dinner for 2
• Night gowns/pyjamas
• Eletronic organisers
• Rings
• Tie
• Cuff links
• Leather purse
• Lingeries
• Chocolaty delight
•Rose serenate

The history of Valentine’s Day

VALENTINE’s Day celebration dates back to the ancient times when the feast of Lupercal was celebrated in honour of the Roman Hod of Festility. This day falls on the 15th of February every year. According to a time-worn custom, on the eve of Luperercalia (14th of February), a ritual of name drawing was followed, during which a young man drew the name of a girl from the lot who was to be his sweetheart for the whole year.

Romance has, of course, always made the world go round but we must say that these Romans knew how to make it official. Since then, this day (14th of February) has been considered as the day of Cupid, the mischievous son of Venus - the Roman Goddess of love. Lover’s through the ages have taken this day as their own day to celebrate the finest human emotion. The reason for celebration is ageless, but it was much later that a great lover gave the day this name.

The eternal love that gave us the famous word ‘Valentine’ and originated the tradition of writing love letters on this day is believed to be Bishop Valentine. He was a priest in Rome when ‘Claudius the Cruel’ ruled the city. In spite of the fact that Claudius had forbidden Christian conversions and Christian marriages, the Bishop refused to surrender to Roman God and carried on his religious duties in secret. He was imprisoned for disobedience, but even in prison, he converted the convicts.

While in prison, the jailer’s daughter became his friend and was loyal to him through his ordeal. When Claudius came to know that imprisonment had not broken his enduring Christian spirit, the bishop was executed. However, on the day of his death, Valentine wrote a note to his friend, the jailer’s daughter and signed i.’From your Valentine’

This great man died for his beliefs for his enduring love of the Christian God, was chosen as the patron saint of lovers. February 14th has since been celebrated as Valentine’s Day. Romantic souls all over the world have preferred to focus on the romantic twist of this tale, the story of the man who united lovers in the holy bond of marriage; a man who started the tradition of writing love notes.

The best places to spend your Val

VALENTINE’S Day gives you the scope to make your Valentine realise that he/she has made your life more beautiful and that you cannot live without him/her. The best way to do it is to give tickets, so that he/she can fly off to his/her favourite destination.

Valentine’s Day offers you with the opportunity to spend some special moments with your beloved. Therefore make the best use of this opportunity and in order to make this Valentine vacation one of the best vacations of your beloved’s life, here are some lists of places where you can visit in order to have splendid experience.

Beaches: Beaches are romantic places where couples especially the newlyweds long to spend their honeymoons and this occasion of love can be best celebrated in such locations. It has a soothing environment very conducive for lovers, especially those who want to be alone but this may not be achieved as the number of beaches in Nigeria is limited and other lovers might want to visit the available ones. Notwithstanding, you can visit the beaches and have a little picnic with him/her. This experience will linger in your memory for life.

Hotel rooms: There are beautiful hotel rooms with a nice view that will do well for lovers. You can share a candle light dinner and have a joyous time with him or her. Most couples, however, prefer to spend that day in their homes after a long day shopping with their spouses, they go back home and enjoy the rest of the day with their spouses.

Campsite pitch: It often sounds strange to have a Val’s Day spent in this location in this part of the world but it can be the best place to spend your Valentine’s Day if you really want to be alone with your man. It’s a matter of locating a cool site where two of you are free of the hustling and bustling of the town and spend the time together. What makes this fun is that you are together alone.

Eateries: This is where most of the young lovers patronise on the Val’s Day and to them, it’s always fun. There is nothing wrong if you take your family to a special eatery or restaurant to give them a nice treat on the Valentine’s Day. Since this day falls on Saturday, there is no room for excuse. Treat yourself and you Val(s) to a nice day. Happy Valentine.