How To: Guide to Galentine's Day

Forget Valentine’s Day—Galentine’s is the real, notable, love-related ‘holiday’ in February. Flyby’s got you and your (single) besties covered this year, with ideas on how you all can spend the evening. From playing squash to hosting a cook-off and watching rom-coms all night, this year’s Galentine’s will be full of laughter and fun, and definitely no Valentine’s Day fomo (finger’s crossed on that last one).

Treat yourselves to a ~fancy~ dinner

Hop on the T and head to the North End for some overpriced yummy pasta and lots of cheesy garlic bread. Why not head over to one of the cute late-night bakeries for a tiramisu or cannoli for dessert? Spare no expense or calories tonight. Beware of the couples — the place may be crawling with them.

Play squash

Being single on Valentine’s day got you down? Flyby has the answer for you. Gather up all your besties and head to the nearest squash court (i.e. QRAC or Murr Center). Get all that pent-up, “No, no Valentine’s Day date plans this year” anger out. There’s nothing quite like thwacking a bouncy ball against four walls with a racket to soothe the soul and heart. Don’t know the rules of squash? Who cares? Make them up. Everything goes on Galentine’s Day.

Put together your own ~fancy~ dinner

It’s time to make use of your floor’s common kitchens. Head to Trader Joe’s or Star Market (for all you Quadlings) and grab some frozen dumplings, sushi, and anything else that speaks to you. It also goes without saying that you and your besties will need a couple of pints of Ben and Jerry’s to round off your culinary experience.

Host a cook-off

If you are feeling adventurous, you and your besties can each make/put together some sort of food dish that everyone has to try and judge. Don’t know how to cook? Even better. The dish can be as simple or as intricate as you want it to be — some pasta, DIY fondue, a bowl of Marshmallow Mateys, doctored up HUDS chili — let your creativity run free.

Rom-com and drink the night away

Grab every snack you can carry from CVS, a couple bottles of white wine soda from C’est Bon and find a TV screen. Tonight’s picks should be the cringiest, pretty predictable, not-super-overplayed, most fun rom-coms ever. These may include, “The Kissing Booth 2” (this is the one where Elle visits Noah at Harvard in some parallel universe), “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” “Serendipity,” “10 Things I Hate About You” (ok, this one is pretty popular, but it’s great). Or, feel free to return to some of the classics. What matters most is that you and your besties laugh, cringe, cry, get wine drunk, and have a great night.

Face Masks

This one is pretty self-explanatory.

Karaoke

An actual-karaoke bar/establishment is not needed tonight — Galentine’s karaoke can happen from the comfort of your dorm room. Turn up your speaker and stack your Spotify queue with you and your friends’ favorite songs that you all know the words too. Why not come up with an interpretive dance routine? Dance and sing the night away — or until your Proctor comes and shuts you down. Whichever comes first.

The most important thing about Galentine’s is that you and your best friends laugh a lot, practice some self-care (yes, squash and cook-offs can be considered self-care) and celebrate each other. Valentines will come and go, but your Galentines could very well be around forever.