Congratulations to all those who woke up this morning with their Valentine’s cookies baked, their kids’ class valentine cards addressed and boxed, and a dinner reservation in place at the romantic restaurant of your choice. You have got your Valentine act together, and I hope you are rewarded by a partner who produces a Tiffany box, bouquet of roses and/or red iPod nano.
As for the rest of you, especially those with long-suffering spouses: maybe you forgot it was Valentine’s Day. Maybe you knew, but it wasnt until you woke up to heart-shaped scones that you realized your sweetie is expecting some kind of romantic gesture. Maybe you knew you needed to do something, but you spent the weekend cutting and printing a hundred kids’ valentines, and didn’t get around yours.
If you need an emergency plan to wow your special someone with a romantic online gesture, here are 4 romantic gestures you can pull together today:
- Pinterest: Use Pinterest, an image tagging site, to create a “pinboard” (image collection) in tribute to your sweetie. It could be a collection of funny bunny pictures (for the rabbit enthusiast), a selection of options for the new bed you want to buy (so she can choose from a list instead of doing the hunt), or an inspiration board of places you want to go or things you want to do together.
- iTunes mix: The mix tape is a Valentine standby for a reason: it shows you’re thinking about your sweetheart, and you can pull it together fast. There’s no point in creating a playlist of songs she loves — she already has those — so how about creating a playlist of new musicians you think she might like, songs that reference common interests or hobbies, or a set of songs that include her name?
- Facebook relationship timeline: Mark Zuckerberg won’t like this one, but if you’re willing to defy Facebook’s Terms of Service, you can create a pseudonymous Facebook account for your relationship, with a name like “Tracy Ellen”. Post moments, images, videos and quotes to your timeline, creating a visual history of your time together. And then just be sure to capture the page (you can use a tool like Papparazzi) in case Facebook nukes your account for violating its Terms of Service. (Unlikely, but if you’re worried, take care to set up your couple’s account with a generic email address so Facebook doesn’t cancel your main account too.)
- Twitter list: Whether your honey is a Twitter newbie or a Twitter pro, everyone enjoys finding new and interesting people to follow. Use Listorious to find lists of people who tweet about his favourite topics, and cherry pick the most interesting tweeters to create a list on a subject like “Golf tips for Gord”, “Sarah’s travel pros” or “Kim’s poetic inspiration”.
A digital gift doesn’t get you entirely off the hook: I recommend coming home with a nice box of chocolates, too. But you can’t be accused of going generic if you’ve also created an online tribute that is unique to you and your sweetie.
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