I often hear the argument from singles and the shacked up alike that Valentine’s Day weekend is nothing more than a “Hallmark Holiday”. These detractors range from the “I just want to make a point” people to the “I just want to start a large, world-scale revolution to overthrow the overlords at Hallmark” folk. But the simple fact of the matter is that all of these points or arguments are moot (totally and completely moot, trust me) if the holiday means something to the one you love.
In other words, it is what it is. Just go with it.
That said, what else I hear a lot, especially when talking with my friends down in Indianapolis, is where in Chicago am I going to celebrate this weekend?
And my answer to that is “take a look at our (totally free to submit to) event calendar...bro”, there’s enough going down in The Region to wine and dine in the 219 this Valentine’s Day weekend.
For example….
You can drop a whole lot of coin to take your loved one to Babyface in Chicago this weekend and hope they like his music.
Or…
You can take them to Deadpool at the Portage 16 IMAX, laugh your guys’ collective keesters off and then have enough money to take them out to Kelsey’s after for dinner and drinks.
Just play Babyface in your car on the way to the movie, problem solved, Romeo.
Shall I continue? I shall….
You can spend a lot of money pretending you know what “Zuppa Di Pesce” is (before you Google it in a second) at this place.
Or…
You can give into the fact that whatever “Zuppa Di Pesce” is it’s not loaded potato soup and ribeye, and it’s especially not loaded potato soup, ribeye, and red velvet cheesecake for $39 at the Blue Chip Casino.
But if you want to roll the dice on Zuppa…had to throw at least one casino pun in there, sorry.
But wait, there’s more!
Act now and take your significant other for a romantic selfie next to that giant bean sculpture in Millenium Park - but hurry supplies are limited for this original romantic gesture to 7,401,169,000 selfies (take your selfie before Feb. 14 and we’ll even throw in an Instagram post with the hashtag #BeanieBaebie!),
Or…
Spend the day Ice Skating in Central Park Plaza before walking (literally) across the street to dinner at one of a number of awesome local eats in Downtown Valpo.
Plus, you get to up your selfie game with a “skating selfie” which, (ask LIFER Brett) is not as easy as it sounds.
But let’s say the wine and dine thing doesn’t get your Valentine’s Day heart pumping, and maybe a night at the theater is more your bag.
Well, you could...
Surrender your credit card to the elegant expenses of the evening at Chicago’s finest theaters.
Or…
You could satisfy your metaphorical “this whole holiday is a farce” feelings with a showing of ‘The Glass Menagerie’ at Footlight Theatre; get all weird with it at Chicago Street’s production of the ‘Lieutenant of Ishmore’; or take it back, way back in time...warp, with ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ in Hobart.
So while there may be a lot “to do in the 312”, and jokes aside, there's always a ton of awesome things going on in Chicago, there's Deadpool, dinner, and plenty of other reasons I’m going to “Wine and Dine in the 219” this Valentine's Day weekend.