Yes, the dreadful occassion is just around the corner. St. Valentine's Day. Now how can a day celebrating love between two persons be dreadful? For those who are blessed with singlehood, it can be a reminder of what they don't have. But for those blissfully (or not so blissfully) shackled to another person, it can be dreadful in terms of 5 letters: M-O-N-E-Y... OR G-I-F-T-S, specifically, what to give.

This post is for De Villa, who inspired me to write this post because he needed gift suggestions for his signifacant other. De Villa, each woman is special. They have different tastes and preferences so I can't really say what SHE would like so I'd like to leave with you instead some tips that might help you find the perfect gift. Hope this helps!

1) Avoid roses, chocolates, stuffed toys and Valentine's cards. This is so cliche! (Unless, she loves chocolates like I do. An ex- boyfriend once gave me a humongous bag filled with chocolates which lasted me a month, even if I shared them daily with my classmates). On the note of flowers, let me share an anecdote. There was this special occassion that required my dad to give my stepmom a gift. He completely forgot about it and on his way home, he swung by the mall as the shops were about to close. He went inside a flower shop and grabbed a dozen peach roses and asked the saleslady to ring up the purchase. He was surprised that the roses came out inexpensive. He figured he must have gotten a discount since the flowers were not exactly fresh (like how breads are sold at a discounted price at the end of the day). Upon giving the flowers to my mom with a huge smile on his face, my mom smiles because she is delighted. She brings the boquet to her nose to smell them and then a puzzled look crosses her face. She says, "These are artificial roses!!!" My dad was surprised! No wonder the roses were inexpensive! So he saves the day by saying, "They're like my love for you. They will last forever!!!" My mom still saw him through it.''

2) Pay attention to what she says. She may be saying something that she wants and likes and you just don't realize it.

3) Jewelry and perfume may be good but expensive.

4) Most of the time, it's not what you give her... It's what you do. It's the effort you put into that gift, or the day to make it extra special. Do something different to make the day more memorable. Try not to eat out in restaurants. Everybody else is doing that and you'll just spend half of the night waiting for a table to be available. Here are examples you can use. These are based on personal experiences:

- If you can cook, make her dinner and dessert (Note: don't make her YOUR dinner and dessert. Well, you can if you want to, after you cooked her a decent meal). Set up a candlelit dinner for two. Or, even better, a candlelit dinner under the stars. (A did this to me on our first Christmas together but that's another blog entry).

- If you can't cook, you can get take out from your favorite restaurant, take a blanket with you and find a nice, open field where you can picnic, under the shade of a tree or underneath the stars. Just remember to clean up after and throw your trash in the garbage can. (This is what A and I did last Valentine's.)

- If you're a musician, compose a song about her. (An exboyfriend wrote a song about me once when we were still dating. Sadly, it didn't make the hit charts. Hahaha!)

- If you're a poet, write a poem about her. (Hmmm, I did this once to a crush- no, more of an obsession- I had in high school)

- If you're into comic books and you can draw, make a comic book about the first time you met. Twist the story a little bit and make yourself a superhero. (This was sort of taken from the show, The OC)

- Mix a CD with songs that have significance to both of you: the song you first danced to, the song you heard when you first met, the song you kissed to, the song both of you always sang along to, the song you listened to on the way to her house on your first date. (A gave me a mixed CD for my birthday two years ago. It served as our background music during the romantic candlelit Christmas dinner, which I mentioned 5 examples above.)

- Make a scrapbook. Put pictures of you together, movie tickets, concert tickets, souvenirs from places you had dates. (When A and I were just friends, I decided to make a journal of the things we did since we hung out so much and give it to him for Christmas. Somewhere along the way, we fell in love and so even the day we got together was included in the journal. Among the things I have given him, this is the one he treasures the most. It was my first gift to him.)

- Compile a journal of the the things you did together from a February 1 to February 14 and entitle it, "(Insert name of significant other)'s 14 Days of Valentines." Make sure that on each day, you make her smile by doing something special. Another version is that you give something small yet significant each day and on the last day, February 14, you give her the biggest gift or the most significant gift, whichever is better.

- Take her to a place she's been wanting to go. Surprise her to a trip out of town.

- Treat her to a relaxing spa treatment... or hair and nail treatments at the salon... or both!

-Make a list of 100 reasons why you love her. Thinking of 20 reasons is easy but 100? I tell you, you gotta rack your brains and turn it inside out to find 100 reasons! Sometimes, it takes days to find more reasons because each day you discover something new that you love about her. (I did this to A and was able to think of 255 reasons! Yep, I racked my brains and a half, turned it inside out and upside down for those 255 reasons).

- If you've got lots of pictures together on your laptop/ desktop, make a video with your favorite song as a background. I've used Microsoft Powerpoint to make a "video" because I can program the pictures to change according to the beat and rhythm of the song.

- Make a crossword puzzle where the clues and answers are significant to both of you. If she answers everything correctly, give her a special prize.

- If you got time, arrange for a treasure hunt where clues are hidden in places significant to both of you, like where you went on your first date, where you had your first kiss, where you first held hands, where you had your first dance, etc. Of course, each clue should lead to the next clue until you find the treasure. Of course, the treasure has to be a gift from you.

Valentine's Day isn't about giving gifts. We've got birthdays and Christmas for that. Valentine's Day is about spending the special day together and celebrating your love. Whenever Valentine's Day comes around, A always says, "Why do couples show their love to one another on Valentine's Day? Everyday should be Valentine's Day." I agree. Since I work in a restaurant, Valentine's Day is one of our busiest nights in the year. It amazes yet puzzles me why couples choose to go on dates on Valentine's Day. Is it because it's Valentine's Day and you just have to? Don't get me wrong. A and I celebrate Valentine's Day too. We just choose not to celebrate it on the day itself with everyone else. With everybody out of their house, it's just too much of a hassle. Anyway, I'm digressing.

There are so many other things you can do, ways to make your better (or bitter) half feel extra special on Happy Hearts Day. You just have to be creative. If any of my dear blog friends and readers have any more suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment. Meanwhile, if I remember anything, I'll update this entry. Hope this entry helped the guy readers out there!