By Mhia Vignoulle
As you probably already know, Valentine’s Day is approaching. Whilst some are excited to spend this day heading deep into romance with their partner, not all of us have a significant other to enjoy a romantic relationship with.
For us singletons, Valentine’s Day ends up being quite a harrowing gloomy event, a day full of self-loathing spent watching rom-coms and eating way too many trashy foods.
But who says that one can not celebrate this day with loved ones, even if it is not the ‘love’ that is typically intended to be celebrated?
Welcome to Galentines Day! A day to celebrate Valentine’s Day with your gals, where you can still enjoy all the love hearts and chocolates and let the world know that there’s nothing wrong with being single.
Photo Credit: Pixabay
With all of that said, here is how you may turn your Valentine’s into a Galentines. Consider this a Galentines Day guide, if you will, to help you organise a lovely day of celebration and not feel empty on this day.
Firstly, you must think about what you and your gals are hoping to do on this day. Are you and your gal pals more interested in a night out or in? To help you decide, here are some of the favourite areas us Islington Gals are going to on Valentine’s Day.
Enjoying a great night out
Dishoom Kings Cross
Photo Credit: Dishoom
This restaurant is known to be London’s most famous area to eat Indian food. There are seven Dishooms located all around London. Due to their popularity, it might be wise to reserve a table for dinner in advance.
Word on the street is that the one located on Granary Square, King’s Cross might just be the best one, primarily due to its vintage industrial architecture.
Heaven
Photo Credit: Visit Gay London
According to student gal Yanni Chan, this is THE “girls’ night out” area. Situated beneath Charing Cross, this nightclub offers all kinds of music, from pop, house, r&b to even live music and events. You may event find yourself immersed into various drag queen performances.
Big Chills
Photo Credit: Big Chills
For London gal Lucinda, Big Chills is where “plenty of debriefs have happened here with girls before… seems only right to carry on the tradition”. Sound interested?
You may find this chilled bar club with a basement, roof terrace, and lively DJ music in Kings Cross.
Activities
Regarding activities, there is so much you can do with your friends!
London gal Summer Welsh is deciding to spend her Valentine’s Day “going down Camden passage and find other vintage shops, stop at a cafe or bar and have a drink”. Just the simple factor of going around London, exploring new places is a fun and cost-free activity that is always available.
Or one may want to indulge in something more soul searching and grounding.
A pottery class? This could be something fun to do and easily findable for you and your friends to relax and connect.
Photo Credit: Pixabay
Never forget that you don’t need to have money or even something planned. Simply going for a walk around and exploring somewhere can be exciting.
Time for food
What appears to be on the menu is sushi, sushi and sushi. Sushi has become an all-time favourite for gals gathering in London. But this doesn’t always fit the budget or palette of all. In my books, a pizza or some Chinese take-out can never go wrong.
Regarding the desserts, I guess there is no surprise there, “definitely something sweet covered in chocolate”, said Welsh.
Photo Credit: Pixabay
Some girls are already thinking of tactics to stock up on monthly chocolates. “Desserts on Valentine’s Day is too expensive, it’s more an after-Valentine’s Day sale thing,” said Chan.
Film recommendations
Lastly, what better way to end the night then with a good comfort movie? If you are hoping to watch something on the big screen, here are the current films at the cinema that are catching the attention of Londoners:
‘A Complete Unknown’
Based on the life of Bob Dylan, this musical drama explores his intimate and romantic relationship during his rise to fame and his destiny to change the course of American music.
‘Bridget Jones Mad About the Boy’
The third film about Bridget jones is finally out. She has acquired a great job as a screenwriter, she has a lovely family and a boyfriend 20 years younger than her, to which his age doesn’t seem to be the only problem in her life.
If you are wanting to stay at home, than there is nothing better then an old classic.
Personally, I would go for one of the best rom-coms of all time, which is ’10 Things I Hate About You’.
Starring Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles, this coming-of-age film is about a hopelessly romantic boy that wishes to date the high school beauty, Bianca. But she can’t date unless her older sister does. This proves itself to be way more complicated than he expected.
But ‘the Parent Trap’ has been highly recommended to me as well.
This romantic film tells the story of identical twins that are separated after their parents’ divorce. Years later they discover each other at a summer camp and plot to get their parents back together.
And there you have it, a complete guide to spend a lovely Galentine’s Day. These are simply inspirations and suggestions so you may build your own day fit for you and your friends.
Happy Galentine’s!
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