Celebrate Valentine's Day With Your BFF

On Valentine’s Day, celebrate your friendship with one the most special people in your life — your BFF! Plan fun activities and spend the whole day together or put together a bunch of gifts and surprises in advance that show your bestie just how much she means to you today and every day.

Share the Fun All School-Day Long

It's always fun when Valentine's Day falls on a school day. You can dress alike -- Twinning! -- and plan to share a special lunch together. Can't share at school? No problem. Plan ahead and make each other's lunch for the day using heart-shaped cookie cutters, and add in special treats like cut strawberries (ever notice they are kind of heart-shaped when you slice them lengthwise?), conversation hearts, and chocolate kisses. 

After school, keep the fun going as you do homework together (a necessary part of the day made more fun through togetherness), exchange gifts (more on that below), and go out for ice cream. 

Weekend Plans

When Valentine's Day celebrations fall on a weekend, you can spend all day together and plan a fun sleepover, too. Everything is more special when it's Valentine-themed.

Super BFF Valentine's Day

Make a list and check it twice for a Valentine's Day that's twice as nice! List all the things you love to do together or all the things you've always wanted to do and see how many you can check off in one day. Clothing swap? Check! Gilmore Girls binge-watch? Check. Go ice skating and drink hot cocoa? Sure. Prank your little brother? Better not. How about making up a secret code that only you understand? In the code below, the code's creator made up a meaningful symbol to replace each letter. Create a code with your bestie that only you can figure out. Like using a bird symbol for the letter M because your math teacher looks like a bird, or drawing the outline of the Eiffel Tower for the letter P because it's in Paris. Not only will you have a memorable code that only you can read, you'll also remember more fun details about your friendship.

Here are some more ideas to make your Valentine's Day together extra special:

• Go through your bookshelves and share your favorite books
• Buy a bunch of chocolate and have a blind taste test
• Perfect the ultimate kitchen sink cookie recipe 
• Get together to make cards, gifts, or treats for your other friends
• Learn something new together
• Volunteer to make cards for seniors or put on a duet at a local senior center
• Volunteer to read books or do friendship crafts with little kids at a local day care center

Heart-Themed Manicures for Two

Doing your nails together isn't just fun. It's also practical. Especially since most people are much better painting with one hand than the other. When your BFF is around, there's no such thing as being short-handed! Make your manicures extra special with Valentine-themed glittery hearts. While most tutorials look a million percent better on Pinterest than they do in real life, here's a never-fail tool that will blow the doors off any nail art plans you have, from polka dots to hearts: use 2-inch wide Washi tape. To start, paint your nails and let them dry for at least two hours. Then cut out the shape of a heart in the Washi tape using tiny scissors like the ones that come in a nail kit. No matter if you're no good at coloring within the lines. The Washi tape will stick on your nail, and all you have to do is paint over it twice -- once with a metallic color and the second time with a nice, thick coat of glitter polish. Slowly peel off the Washi tape while the polish is still wet. Finish with a top-coat once it's dry for perfect matching manicures.

Bestie Gifties

No time to spend together? No problem. A little advance planning and you can craft a personalized gift that only a best friend can dream up. 

Sweet Treats

Get your bestie a gift that includes all her favorite candies along with Valentine candy like heart-shaped chocolates. Fun things to include are rock candy -- for your rock-solid friendship that totally rocks, Hershey’s kisses and hugs, and life savers for being your life-saver.

Or craft a DIY cookie jar filled with all the dry ingredients your friend will need to make a batch of your favorite cookies. Attach a recipe card with the instructions and then plan some time to make the cookies together!

Multi-Media Valentines

Love technology? Share your bestie love over social media with a selfie valentine’s day tribute, complete with a video montage of your best times together. Or if you both love music, create a playlist and burn it onto two CDs, one for each of you. 

Print out your favorite photos of times together and arrange them in a scrapbook or on a posterboard in a collage to give to your friend. Or work together to create a vision board of your friendship that includes your past, your present, and your future. 

Share Your Feelings

If writing is your thing together, set up a bullet journal for your friend and give it to her as a gift so she can track her every thought or idea. Or write her a bunch of letters specifically marked to be opened at a specific time. These are called "Open When" letters and they are an extra-special way to show your friend you care when it matters most.

Open When... you need a laugh. Open when you feel sad. Open when you are lonely. Open when you just took a test. Open when you're not feeling brave... There are so many types of letters you can write that can inspire your friend even when you're not there. After all, who knows more than your bestie the words you need to hear. In each letter, include a photo, a souvenir, a sticker, a button, or something else that's special and memorable to help your friend through good times and bad, whether you're in the same room or far, far away. Just make sure each letter is clearly marked only to be opened when the letter says so!

Care Packages

If you don't have the words, try a care package filled with everything your friend might need to get through a tough day. A coloring book, puzzles, poems, a framed photo, something of yours she's always admired that you can share with her, emergency candy, a DVD of a funny movie you've seen together, fun pencils or shaped erasers, or a mini stuffed animal all make great care packages stuffin's.

A spa-themed care package may be more your friend's thing. Make a pamper jar with homemade facial scrub, bath bombs, lip scrub, and mini-emergency beauty supplies like lip balm, hand cream, breath mints, emergency chocolate, sea salt hair spray, and a scrunchie in case of a bad hair day.

Have Your Say

How would you celebrate Valentine's Day with your Best Friend? Share your ideas and stories about your BFF adventures in the comments below!