We are Amanda and Antoine, a husband-and-wife team and the founders of local gift creation and delivery service Jane’s Handcrafts & Gifts. We’re taking on the gifting world by putting together beautifully presented hampers for all occasions.
Is that love in the air I can smell? Or is it just the delicious aroma of chocolates and flowers?
Either way, Valentine’s Day is on the way and whether you love the meaning behind the day or not, you really should start thinking about what you are going to do for your significant other this year to make it a day to remember.
To explain the origins of Valentine’s Day, we must dust off those history books and deep dive back into the Roman times. Named after St Valentine, Valentine’s Day is truly an old tradition, with its origins dating back to Roman times and a little fertility festival known as Lupercalia (yeah, I couldn’t pronounce it either). But the day didn’t actually become associated with romantic love, until the 14th and 15th centuries when notions of courtly love flourished.
Nowadays, the day is celebrated with partners, friends, family and work colleagues with gifts including romantic cards, heart-shaped chocolates and flowers just to name a few.
For those of us that leave our purchasing to the last minute, generally because we never know what to do or get, here’s a quick gift guide to help make this International Day of Love get the desired effect that you are looking for.
Keeping with traditional gift options:
• Handcrafted chocolates
• Flowers
• Jewellery
• Teddy Bears
• Candles
How about something a little different?
• Personalised Gifts
• Customised plaque with your shared song engraved (wedding song for example)
• His and Her matching PJ’s
• Memory jar filled with your favourite things done together
• Relaxing pamper hamper
Or you could try:
• Handwritten notes
• Handmade card
• Pick a beautiful location and have a picnic in the park
• Massage with essential oils (complete with candles), or
• Breakfast in bed
If you still are not any closer to knowing what you are going to do or you’re still not feeling the love than I leave you with a short poem from Gammer Gurton by Joseph Johnson (1784) that is sure to work.
“The rose is red, the violet’s blue,
The honey’s sweet, and so are you.
I drew thee to my Valentine:
The lot was cast and then I drew
And fortune said it shou’d be you.”
