Valentine’s Day: 10 ways to have a perfect celebration

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and if you’re like most people, you’re probably at sea on what gift to give your significant other.

Most people either just don’t want to be too cliché and give the same gifts everyone else is, or just plainly don’t have a clue as to what to give. If don’t want to go through all the hustle, stop reading NOW and go find out how you can own a Mercedes Benz (or a Toyota Avensis) for a day.

If you’re one of such people here’s what I know, that can help you:

First of all, acknowledge Valentine’s Day.

Keep in mind that if you are dating someone, you need to acknowledge Valentine’s Day in one way or the other. Because should you try to pull the ol’, “Valentine’s Day is just a Hallmark-card-giving holiday trick and I don’t believe in it,” you will just end up in the doghouse. Trust me, this has happened to me so many times. Unless you’re a Muslim, then this article here, lists reasons why you SHOULD not celebrate Val’s Day

Val’s Day is a tricky holiday already.

Valentine’s Day can be a tricky holiday because you want to do enough so that you get brownie points for effort but you don’t want to do too much or go over the top because that could scare someone off or give the wrong message. Doing enough means doing something, anything, even if it’s stopping at the the new Westhills Supermarket on the way home and picking up candy and flowers or grabbing a Silverbird ticket for two from Tisu.com.gh. Doing too much means putting on the full court press for someone you barely know with flowery love cards, and dinner at the most romantic restaurant in the Accra. That’s just creepy!!!

Give gifts that mean something.

You need to give gifts and cards that are commensurate with the level of your relationship. This means that if you have only just met, a Hallmark Greeting card that is playful, sarcastic and funny rather than mushy. In this case, mushy will make things awkward gor you and give off the wrong message. Just the same, if you have been dating a long time, you can’t get away with a funny card or an impersonal card and you can’t get away with just signing your name. Get deeper

Women compare gifts, men occasionally do, keep this in mind

Most people compare their Valentine’s Day gifts, cards and experiences with their friends and colleagues. The women always do a play by play for each other, so you need to step up. You definitely don’t want your gal to be the gal by the water cooler who has nothing to brag about. You need to give her something to cluck over. Sometimes the best are not always the most expensive gift or the fanciest dinner. The admired is always the one who tells the most romantic story about the Valentine’s Day evening that is met with the most “Ohhhhhs and Ahhhhs” about how sweet and adorable you were. Can you be that guy? For men, good sex always makes it.

Lingerie is a risky gift.

A lot of men want to give lingerie to their ladies. First of all, they like seeing their girl in it and secondly, they think this is a good way to signal to their girl that they think she is sexy. However, if you are thinking of buying lingerie, make sure you are at the “lingerie” stage of your dating or the girl might get offended and think it is an inappropriate sexual overture. Equally, make sure that you pick tasteful lingerie- if you pick out a raunchy teddy straight from the pages of Hustler, your girl might think you don’t respect her.

Make sure to choose a gift that your beau would like, not just something that you would like.

For example, don’t get her tickets to a horror movie rationalizing that it’s a night out for the two of you and at least you get to see some gore. Instead you should get her tickets to a girly show that SHE would enjoy and you should go along with a big smile on your face. And girls, don’t get him a manicure and pedicure for Valentine’s Day because you think he has disgusting feet and you think of it as a “pampering day”; men don’t find pampering to be enjoyable.

Make sure you choose a gift that has something romantic and thoughtful about it and isn’t just practical.

Don’t buy her a new blow-dryer because you know she needs one or a gift certificate to get her hair colored. Take the time to pick out a gift she would like and wouldn’t buy herself. Or think about keeping her company while she is at the beauty salon; she will find this to be romantic.

If you can’t spend a lot of money, go with a creative and sentimental gift.

Some good ideas are things like a handmade gift certificate redeemable for one back massage or a gift certificate redeemable for 5 “non- veto-able” movie choices. Or sprinkle rose pedals and Hershey kisses all over the bedroom and have a bubble bath drawn in a candle lit bathroom. Or make a mix CD of all of your honey’s favorite songs but remember it’s about his or her favorites, not yours! Gifts don’t have to be expensive to be romantic.

If you are dating more than one person at the same time, you need to make sure that you think of all of them on Valentine’s Day.

 It’s okay to choose your favorite for the Valentine’s Day evening but if you forget about the others, they probably won’t be sticking around thereafter. Plus, if you don’t see one of your girls on Valentine’s Day proper, you need to have a good excuse or she will be suspicious and that will get you into trouble as well.

If a “where is this relationship going” conversation starts brewing during your romantic evening (and many times they do), the best way to handle it is too focus on the romantic evening you planned and calmly suggest you save that conversation for another time.

If you got a gift for your gal* and you can tell that she didn’t like it or you chose poorly, don’t get defensive.

Just be humble and say that you are not very good at choosing gifts and you would love for her to come with you next time and help you pick, so you can get her something you really loves. The fact that you would say something like this to her will make her feel good and will compensate for the fact that your gift was not what she was expecting. 

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Barbie will now come in curvy, tall and petite bodies, also seven skin tones

NEW YORK — At 57, Barbie is getting a major makeover.

The iconic plastic doll, whose small waist and long legs have been criticized for creating unrealistic expectations for girls, will soon be sold with three new bodies — curvy, tall and petite. Barbie will also be more diverse, coming in seven skin tones, 22 eye colors and 24 hairstyles.

Mattel has been searching for ways to recharges sales of Barbie, which fell 4 percent in the most recent quarter as “want lists” from girls increasingly include iPads, smartphones and electronic toys. The company hopes more kids will be able to relate to the new dolls.

The body transformations have been in the works for two years, Mattel spokeswoman Michelle Chidoni said on Thursday.

The doll has changed in some ways already. New skin tones and looks were added last year. And Barbie’s foot was movable for the first time, allowing her to kick off her heels and wear flats.

The El Segundo toy company said it will still sell the original 11.5-inch Barbie. The new versions will begin arriving on U.S. store shelves in March and will roll out globally after that. They are available for preorder at shop.mattel.com, and will ship in February.

Whether the new models will be a hit with children remains to be seen, though Chidoni said previous changes were “positively received.”

Virgie Tovar, a San Francisco body image expert, said it represents the extent to which body positive and fat politics have made “incredible headway culturally.”

“Barbie has long been a symbol of ideal femininity in the US — blonde, busty, cheery, and impossibly narrow waisted,” she says. “Barbie represents a litmus test when it comes to the state of gender norms, and I’m excited to see this change.

Chrystal Bourgon, owner of San Jose’s San Jose’s plus-sized lingerie shop Curvy Girl, was a bit more guarded in her praise. “I still do not see my body though,” she says. “Not all curvy bodies are hour-glass-shaped. But Mattel set a very low bar with the original Barbie: a body with proportions that could really only be obtained through surgery and augmentation.”

Still, she notes, it’s start.

Marketing experts said more will have to be done to return Barbie to her former glory.

“The look of the dolls is great,” said Marc Rosenberg, a marketing consultant in Chicago who has worked in the toy industry for 25 years. But in order to connect with kids, the new dolls need to show up in Barbie YouTube videos, apps, shows and other content, he said.

Worldwide sales for Barbie have fallen every year since 2012. Mattel will release 2015 sales figures next week.

The company sells other dolls, including Monster High and American Girl brands. But Barbie remains very important, bringing in about 27 percent of Mattel’s total revenue in the most recent quarter.

It is hoped that the new models will reinvigorate sales by bringing back into the fold the parents who had grown tired of the familiar blonde doll.

“One size doesn’t fit all,” said Jim Silver, editor-in-chief of TTPM, a toy review site in New York. “This gives people different options when choosing a Barbie for their child.”

However, labeling the dolls as curvy, tall and petite bothered some on social media. And Rosenberg said he was surprised by the labels.

“Why does Mattel need to use physical attributes to describe the doll?” asked Rosenberg, who said packaging should instead focus on the doll’s career or education.

“I think the use of the word ‘curvy’ is misguided,” he said. “I don’t think it’s necessary to use the word.”

While Barbie may look different, she’s still not shying away from the spotlight.

The doll is on the cover of Time magazine, which first reported the changes to the doll. Barbie’s new curves are shown in shadow on the cover, next to the headline, “Now can we stop talking about my body?”

It’s a stark contrast to when Barbie showed up in the pages of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue nearly two years ago. Back then, the doll wore a black and white swimsuit, black heals and had white sunglasses tucked into her blonde hair.

Staff writer Martha Ross contributed to this story.

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