To the point
For Valentine's Day, here is our selection of 10 activities to celebrate the holiday in Quebec and elsewhere.
What to do on Valentine’s Day 2022 in Quebec? Of course, a good meal at the restaurant. Their dining rooms will be open at 50% capacity. But if that’s not what you’d like to do, then how can you reinvent the holiday?
Alone, as a couple, with friends, with family… love comes in so many forms. Some people say they prefer small spontaneous gestures to a planned celebration. But I believe that one does not prevent the other. And that in February, in the depths of winter when the lights of Christmas and New Year’s Day have gone out, and the long Easter vacation is far ahead, Valentine’s Day is welcome.
So here are 10 suggestions from Milesopedia for showing our impulses to those we love, including some self-love for ourselves.
Table of contents
10 activities for Valentine’s Day
Tea and chocolate tasting
There are some rather expensive packages where you order tea and chocolate tasting kits in advance. When the time comes, you connect with specialists who facilitate the meeting. I thought it was a lovely idea for Valentine’s Day. But the activities still available were about $100 per person. The more affordable direct attendance ones were no longer offered. We know why.
I thought it would be possible, with a little time, to build our own kits to use as personalized Valentine’s Day gifts. And then enjoy them together in person or virtually, depending on the restrictions at the time.
Here are 3 tea stores that offer delivery. But there are, of course, others.
Here are 4 chocolate shops that do the same:
Even the Renaud-Bray bookstore sells good quality bars!
To guide you, I suggest you read this article from Camellia Sinensis. Tea and chocolate stores will also advise you on the art of tasting.
Becoming a pro in latte art
Would you like to learn how to make beautiful designs on your coffee foam? For $65, take part in a 60-minute workshop and finally learn how to achieve a beautiful milk texture, then leave your signature on it. Palm leaves? Tulips? Hearts?
It happens online at Café Pista.
Hiking or snowshoeing with torches
Here’s another idea for a Valentine’s Day activity: a torchlight hike or snowshoe outing.
The activity is planned at Aiguebelle National Park in Abitibi for Saturday, February 12 , 2022, for Valentine’s Day. Check a few days in advance.
The idea is very nice: a snowshoe rally on the Beaver Trail, lit by torches. It will be lit between 6 pm and 10 pm. The outing will be followed by a chocolate fondue snack starting at 7:30 pm. Participants need only bring their own fruit. The unveiling of the rally answers will take place at 8:00 pm.
Guided walking tours will also be held in the Parc linéaire de la Rivière-Saint-Charles in Quebec City. It will also be lit with torches and will last 1 hour and 15 minutes.
8 outings are offered in January and February, around Valentine’s Day: try the experience!
Skating or walking under the stars
For Valentine’s Day, we’re heading to the Outaouais region, near the village of Wakefield. And we skate on the labyrinth of icy paths at the Eco-Odyssée nature park. It is illuminated from Thursday to Sunday from 5 p.m. until March. Romantic you say?
An on-site snack bar also sells snacks and hot beverages. Don’t forget to book.
Then, in the Appalachian Park, in Sainte-Lucie-de-Beauregard, a night hike will take place at 6:30 p.m. on February 19. Headlamps and snowshoes available with reservation.
Buy a gift at Les Impatients
Do you know Les Impatients? I love it.
Les Impatients helps people with mental health problems through artistic expression.
The online store offers a beautiful collection of love-themed items created by its members. Here’s an opportunity to combine business with pleasure this Valentine’s Day 2022 and encourage a company that supports the most vulnerable.
Juice glasses, wine glasses engraved with the phrase: “Parle-moi d’amour” or pillowcases printed with the same slogan?
Fondue and overnight stay in a yurt
The fondue and overnight stay in a yurt is an initiative of outgo. It takes place at the foot of Mont Brillant, a yurt village in Val-Cartier. The yurt can accommodate up to 6 people and has a closed room in addition to two large beds on the mezzanine. Shall we go as a bubble?
Several activities are available, and a fondue dinner with wine and a continental breakfast will be waiting for you the next day. Interesting idea to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
Equipment rental is included (tubes, cross-country skis, snowshoes, fat bikes).
A special Valentine’s Day dinner at home
It can be romantic, silly or original, but Valentine’s Day celebration will happen. Bring on the candles, the fondues and the raclettes.
Some couples take advantage of this Valentine’s Day dinner to make their wish list: they write down on small pieces of paper the activities they would like to do with their partner during the year and pick one wish per month.
A more expensive bottle of wine than usual, watching a movie of a different style than ours, preparing an Asian meal, etc.
In short, moments that allow you to please the person who has chosen the activity. Love is so simple.
Gourmet box version
Restaurateurs have been fine-tuning their Valentine’s Day offerings. There are some near you without a doubt.
Here are some suggestions. Let’s just say we’re moving away from poutine.
- La Boîte du chef in Montreal
- La Rabouillère in Saint-Valérien-de-Milton.
- Le Quarante 7 in Quebec City.
- Café Ricardo; delivery in Montreal and Quebec
Purchase or make artisanal chocolates
Do you know any real artisanal chocolate factories? Where each piece looks like a small work of art and where the flavours stand out? The ones we buy for special occasions like Valentine’s Day?
I’m only mentioning a few, but they are numerous. In fact, more than a hundred in Quebec. Make sure you know how they are sold: open store or online orders.
- In Montreal: Chocolats Geneviève Grandbois, Lecavalier Petrone, Avanaa, Chocolats Barbon. Ernestine.
- In Montérégie :La Cabosse d’Or
- In Abitibi :Choco Mango
- In the Eastern Townships : Choco-là
- In Lanaudière : Le Cacaoyer
- In Quebec City : Erico, Champagne Chocolatier
And if you feel like it and the kids feel like it, why not try making it with the kids? The molds are easy to find, the chocolate tablets as well (at the chocolate shop or even in grocery stores). Grandparents will be delighted if you save them a little thought for Valentine’s Day .
Movies and board games with children
The goal being to please, we dedicate the evening of Valentine’s Day this idea. Children can choose among your suggestions, or offer their own! It can be their favourite game or movie. You know the eternal UNO game… The important thing is the time devoted to them.
I know of families who, like Easter, organize a Valentine’s Day scavenger hunt. Want to know more? It’s over here.
Finally, there is this little gem from the NFB for 9-14 year olds. A selection of short films / animations on the theme of love.
Stories of first love, lost love, complicated love and, above all, stories about learning to love yourself.
NFB
Discovering a new hobby
Think about it. What would make you really happy? From you to you, for Valentine’s Day? What would be allow you to retreat to your quarters, and savour this moment on your own?
- Reading Louise Penny’s book collection?
- Learning to carve wood? Or ice?
- Learning Italian, Spanish?
- Learning about loyalty programs?
I found my hobby. I like to write. I spend my time researching and putting together travel itineraries here and elsewhere. For myself and for Milesopedia.
That’s what makes me happy.
What will be your new hobby?
Conclusion
These were some ideas for Valentine’s Day.
Of course, there will still be SPA days, a night in a beautiful hotel, body treatments, scented candles, flowers given or received, romantic music, heart-shaped waffles, and what else?
One of my colleagues has decidedly stood out as a way to show his love (seduction or romance, no matter what you wanna call it):
I once used rose petals as ink to write her name by crushing them on a sheet of paper.
I also offered her a sand rose so that my flower will be eternal.
Jean-François Léveillé.
Isn’t that beautiful?
On the other hand, some will not celebrate at all. But you know, it feels good to please. And it’s good for your mental health.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
As you may have noticed from this article, Valentine’s Day could also be the occasion to surprise your loved one by inviting him or her to a nice hotel with your points!
Here are our reports on hotels in Canada to inspire you:
Come to discuss that topic in our Facebook Group!
