Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, so get ready for the annual onslaught of overpriced prix-fixe dinners and cheap boxes of chocolate from Duane Reade. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. Instead of battling the masses for a bad table at a dimly lit restaurant, take a pizza-making class just for couples. And don’t succumb to bodega roses and a heart-shaped box of candy. Romance her with a more creative bouquet and personalized chocolates. Here’s your to-do list made by Cupid — now, all you need is your date!
Buying lingerie
Don’t do this: Forget purchasing porn-star lingerie that’s more a gift for guys than gals.
Get this: Nab something classy and sassy that she’ll love wearing.
The dinner date
Don’t do this:The amateur-hour V-Day restaurant. It’s loud, crowded, rushed, overpriced and mediocre, particularly prix-fixe meals.
Do this:Get in flour up to your elbows while learning the art of pizza-making at Taste Buds (7 to 9 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday; 109 W. 27th St., 10th floor; 212-242-2248, tastebudscook.com), which has Valentine’s Day classes for couples ($110 per twosome). Here, owner Jessi Walter demonstrates how to make dough from scratch, lets you experiment with toppings and offers other pie-making tips in the studio’s cozy kitchen. You can even bring your own wine or beer — or bubbly— for a more romantic evening. “It’s conversational and interactive,” Walter says. “Everyone’s learning together, drinking together, hanging out together.”
The Valentine’s Day menu includes three dishes: grilled zucchini flatbread, balsamic caramelized onion pizza, and roasted corn and mozzarella pizza. Even some of the teachers will bring along their sweethearts to partake in the festivities.
The chocolate
Don’t give this: Chain-store chocolates. Grabbing a Whitman’s Sampler is an obvious no-no, but picking up a more prestigious box of candies from Godiva feels just as bland.
Give this:Get personal with customized confections from chocolate haven Michel Cluizel (584 Fifth Ave., 646-415-9126, chocolatmichelcluizel.com/NY), where Michel Cluizel’s US chef will be on hand to write personalized messages in white chocolate on purchases of the Heartfelt Chocolate Box, a heart-shaped box made of dark chocolate and filled with truffles wrapped in pink and red foil ($16; large, $22). It’s delicious as is, but a shout-out will make it even sweeter. Personal memos can be placed on advanced orders, but the chef will also be in-house on the big V-Day.
“Valentine’s Day is to show someone that they are special,” says Jacques Dahan, president of US operations. “You want to say ‘OK, I waited to get that especially for you,’ not ‘I just grabbed that off the shelf.’ ”
The card
Don’t mail this: The same old card from Hallmark. Sure, that Snoopy card is cute enough, but it was also cute when her last boyfriend gave it to her.
Mail this: Buy a one-of-a-kind card from Greenwich Letterpress (39 Christopher St., 212-989-7464, greenwichletterpress.com), which sisters Beth Salvini and Amy Swanson opened in 2006 to give New Yorkers more customized greeting options. Beth and Amy design many of the cards — which have an indie, tongue-in-cheek vibe — and print them on their own presses in New Jersey. “We’ve become known for mixing new with vintage,” says Salvini. “Like pop culture meets antique store.”
One of the most popular cards features a throwback rendering of a straight-out-of-Williamsburg couple with the tagline “Honey, I’m not Don Draper” ($4.50).
One distinctive factor: They’re all blank on the inside. “When I was growing up and I would go to Hallmark to get a card, I would always cross out the messages,” says Salvini. “People should write their own and be responsible for what goes in it.”
The office gift
Don’t get this: A tacky, over-size mylar balloon bouquet to her office.
Send this: Sweeten her day — and those of her office mates — by sending Valentine’s-themed cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake (111 Mercer St., 212-431-4504, georgetowncupcake.com). The wildly popular Washington, DC, shop — chronicled on the TLC reality show “DC Cupcakes” — just opened a sweet SoHo branch.
The shop has three Valentine’s Day specials ($29 each, $55 to be shipped overnight), such as the Valentine’s Day Dozen — an assortment of three red-velvet cupcakes with a silky cream cheese frosting, six strawberry lava fudge cupcakes with a moist, chocolaty center and three chocolate cupcakes — or simply the Love Dozen: 12 red-velvet cupcakes. “We thought red velvet just screams Valentine’s Day with the beautiful red cake . . . and the chocolate is like eating a truffle,” says Sophie LaMontagne, who opened the bakery with her sister, Katherine Kallinis. Or, send along the Strawberry Champagne Dozen, which includes 12 strawberry Champagne cupcakes — vanilla cake bursting with pockets of juicy strawberry jam.
The love libation
Don’t drink this: A bottle of cheap champagne, which means your love has lost its fizz.
Drink this: Craft the Jane Rose, a Champagne cocktail from Death & Company (433 E. Sixth St., 212-388-0882, deathandcompany.com). Despite its rosy color, both men and women will be entranced by the charms of this drink, dreamed up by the bar’s mixologist Joaquin Simo. Inspired by the classic Jack Rose cocktail, this drink is dry and refreshing despite the presence of the two syrups. “It’s a great example of a drink that’s fruity without being cloyingly sweet,” Simo says. “And it’s worth the extra effort to make the syrups and squeeze a little fresh citrus at home.” Homemade grenadine and lime cordial are ideal, but if you’d rather spend that time whispering sweet nothings, use bottled versions of both.
JANE ROSE RECIPE:Combine 1 oz. Laird’s Bonded AppleJack, ½ oz. fresh lemon juice, ½ oz housemade lime cordial, ½ oz. housemade grenadine and 1 oz Champagne or sparkling wine, preferably dry (or brut) in a mixing tin. Add ice and shake vigorously for 5 to 10 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass (a 5.5-oz. Champagne coupe preferred), and top with Champagne.
Night out
Don’t see this: “The Vow.” As much as your beloved might enjoy seeing Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams (above) in the romantic weeper, the theater will be packed with lame couples with no better plans.
See this: Head to the theater for live action tailor-made for Valentine’s Day. Here are a few options:
“Jacques Brel Returns”: Imagine you’re in a Parisian nightclub with this musical revue of the French composer’s classic love songs. Tuesday, 9 p.m. Triad, 158 W. 72nd St.; 212-362-2590
“Never Sleep Alone”: No date? This show will help you get one. “Sexual psychologist and musical therapist” Dr. Alex Schiller offers sex advice, on-stage speed-dating and songs. Or you can just watch from the “voyeurs” section. Tuesday, 9:30 p.m. Joe’s Pub, 425 Lafayette St.; 212-539-8778
“Perfect Catch: A Throw-mantic Comedy”: This vaudeville-style laugher about a couple literally juggling their way through an office romance is staged in a landmark 1826 building. Splurge on brunch in the theater’s Waffle Iron Café. Today and tomorrow, 1 and 4 p.m. Canal Park Playhouse, 508 Canal St.; 866-811-4111
“Lovesick or Things That Don’t Happen”: Sick and tired of the whole damn thing? Then take in the V-Day performance of this off-Broadway musical revue featuring 14 actors/musicians performing comical songs and stories set on the dreaded holiday. Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. 59E59 Theaters, 59 E. 59th St.; 212-279-4200.— Frank Scheck
The flowers
Don’t give this: Bodega roses. Not only are they cheap-looking, but corner shop owners have no clue how to take care of these delicate flowers. They tend to peel off so many of the outside petals that the roses often end up resembling bullets.
Give this: Pick up roses at your local florist, and embellish them with textural elements such as red hypericum berries and seeded eucalyptus, suggests, Lynn Jawitz, owner of Florisan (5 E. 93rd St., 212-426-9886, florisanllc.com), as she demonstrates in this bouquet (right). Make it extra special by tying the buds with a wired ribbon bow: “It can be kept as a permanent reminder of the gift,” she adds.
But, if the bodega is your only option, opt for an assortment of other blooming buds, such as snap dragons, chrysanthemums, hydrangeas or carnations — whose scientific name, dianthus, translates to “flower of love.” “They’re not as fragile [as roses],” explains Jawitz. “Red carnations are absolutely gorgeous. And they’re beautiful and long-lasting.”
The cute gift
Don’t buy this: A generic teddy bear holding a heart, because nothing says “I stopped by CVS on the way here” more than that. Even a customized Build-a-Bear, once a sweet sentiment, is just a stuffed cliché.
Buy this:Choose something just as cute, but far more delicious — such as a chocolate frog (in milk or dark chocolate)! The adorable “Prince Charming” ($23) from chocolate shop Jacques Torres (multiple locations, mrchocolate.com) will make her melt for you. Torres, the chocolatier, says that creating a frog was a no-brainer for his French brand.
“There’s that story that if you kiss the frog, it becomes a prince,” he says. “So I say that to all the ladies. I want you to kiss the frog!”