Celebrate the most romantic holiday of year with ideas from The Guide
Those in love barely need a special day to express their feelings – each moment spent together brings them joy. However, Valentine’s Day is a great opportunity to show appreciation for those you like, send a hint to those you’re secretly in love with, or meet new acquaintances at a holiday party.
A bit of romance
No matter how you decide to celebrate Valentine’s Day, the most classic way to show your feelings is through a romantic present accompanied by a heart-shaped postcard. Decorated with fresh flowers, the gift will make an even more romantic impression. Kyiv flower shops, like Ukraflora, Green Gallery, and Kvitkova Vanil (Flower Vanilla) offer Valentine bunches in the form of a heart, or symbolically embellished ones.
There are many other ways to add sweetness to your present. You could buy a small teddy bear from the famous “Me to You” collection sold at Hallmark shops, or go for nicely packed sweets from one of the local confectioneries, like Repriza, Nouvelle, or Passage coffee shops. If you want a gift that pleases the nose, you can find fragrant, handmade cosmetics at Lush store, or exquisite perfume at large cosmetics chain Brocard – but be sure you know the tastes of the intended recipient if you plan to take this route.
If you still don’t know what gift your Sweet would prefer, buy them an exquisite piece of jewelry at Bazel or Monte Carlo jewelry stores, and it’s sure be a hit. For a truly intimate present visit one of the lingerie or sex shops. Women’s Secret offers more casual and funny pieces for wearing at home, whereas La Perla and Lingerie S sell more delicate and sexy underwear. Sex shops like Nasoloda and Intim Boutique offer various lingerie, as well as toys, films, magazines, and cosmetics.
Ukraflora (2A Salyutna, 400-4334, www.ukraflora.com.ua)
Green Gallery (51/53 Volodymyrska, 288-1700)
Kvitkova Vanil (15 Tolstoho, 244-2200)
Hallmark (1 Maydan Nezalezhnosti, Globus, first line, 590-1845)
Brocard (1 Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Globus, first line)
Lush (15 Baseyna, 235-1965)
Bazel (144 Chervonoarmiyska, 528-3385)
Monte Carlo (6 Baseyna, 230-9549)
Women’s Secret (1 Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Globus, first line)
La Perla (2A Baseyna, Arena City, 495-2842)
Lingerie S (4 Kontraktova Ploshcha, 425-6894)
Intim Boutique (47 Predslavynska, 512-6547)
Nasoloda (10 Mezhyhirska, 425-0370)
Being original
If you find red hearts and flowers a bit too banal, look into funny presents and accessories. I recommend visiting Wow Shop, New Ton, and Le Futur shops.
Even your flower bouquet can be made truly unusual if you take it to the right place. Flowerprint agency specializes in putting prints on flower petals, fruits, vegetables, and other keepsakes.
An even more impressive gift is a Valentine’s card from B-fashion agency. After opening one of their cards, your beloved will be amazed by a live butterfly flying out of it. The butterflies are part of the gift – the gift includes a special box which you can use to house and take care of it after opening the card. One butterfly, depending on the kind you choose, will cost you from $25 to $40. If you order more than three butterflies the delivery in Kyiv will be free, the delivery to other Ukrainian cities is also availabe, yet it will take around 12 to 24 hours.
In case your beloved is not a butterfly fan, you can present them with a handmade card made from dried flowers and other natural materials. The easiest way to get it is to order a card online at Happy Card agency. The card will cost you around Hr 20, including the delivery service.
In case you want to step aside from all those pleasant trifles and present something original and at the same time practical, ordering a T-shirt with a funny Valentine’s Day slogan is a good idea. At shop.slaboumie.kiev.ua, such a T-shirt will cost you from $10 to $17 and can be delivered to any city in Ukraine.
Wow Shop (3 Malyshko, 543-8457)
Le Futur (1 Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Globus, third line 590-1820)
New Ton (42/1 Nauky, 585-9729)
Flowerprint (www.flowerprint.com.ua, 8-063 456-1666)
B-fashion (96 Mykhaylivskiy, www.b-fashion.com.ua, 599-6468)
Happy Card (www.happycard.com.ua)
Holiday home-style
If you don’t like hanging around noisy clubs and decide to organize a special evening at home, you have plenty of ways to do it. To give your apartment a festive look you can decorate it with hearts, flowers, ribbons, and aromatic candles in beautiful holders. All of this can be found at Seta Decor, Tendence, Keltik Arcadia, and Red Cube shops. Colorful balloons assembled like a bouquet of flowers can be ordered at a holiday agency like Sviato or Aerodesign. The cost varies according to the size of the balloons, starting from Hr 0.75 and going up to Hr 400 for huge two-meter balloons in the form of a heart.
The next option is a romantic dinner that you can prepare at home. If you are not a good cook, but still want to spend the evening at home, you can order the desired dishes from your favorite restaurant and top the evening off with a delicate dessert. Thus, your dinner menu may include soft Italian gelato or a puffy cake from Repriza confectionery. The latter will cost you Hr 300 no matter how large the order is.
A romantic evening can hardly be imagined without a glass of wine, which you can buy at the recently opened wine supermarket Good Wine. Here a professional sommelier will help you make the best choice. Other favorites of wine aficionados are Lavinia, Barrymore, Paradis du Vin, Premium Vin, and Cognacoteca wine stores.
Seta Decor (1 Maydan Nezalezhnosti, Globus, first line)
Tendence (102/51 Zhylianska, 234-7086)
Sviato (www.sviato.com.ua, 332-2584)
Aerodesign (www.aerostudio.io.com.ua, 227-1909)
Keltik Arkadia (1-3/ 2A Chervonoarmiyska, 585-1211)
Red Cube (4 Lunacharskoho, Komod shopping center)
La Gelateria Italiana (1 Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Globus, first line)
Repriza (40/25 Khmelnytskoho, 288-1690)
Good Wine (9 Mechnykova, 491-1075)
Lavinia (59 Zhylianska, 569-5700)
Barrymore (49 Khmelnytskoho, 234-5937)
Paradis du Vin (14/13 Nemyrovycha-Danchenko, 284-2204)
Premium Vin (4A Muzeyniy Provulok, 490-7008)
Cognacoteca (23 Shota Rustaveli, 287-4015)
A perfect date
If you decide to spend the evening free of kitchen troubles and want everything served to you at a restaurant, it is better to book a table beforehand, since some restaurants, like Karavella and Decadence House, prepare a program for Valentine’s Day, a booking there may be harder to get. However, the majority of restaurants on Valentine’s Day will only offer a special holiday menu.
Another great idea for a date is simply to stroll down the city’s most beautiful streets, hand in hand (that’s, of course, if the weather allows it). You can drop by at a cafe or confectionery to have a sweet snack with a cup of tea or coffee. Good choices include Repriza, which was chosen by the readers of the Post as the best first date place this year, cafe Nouvelle or Volkonskiy Kaiser. Those wanting to plunge into the Eastern atmosphere can take part in a tea ceremony at Tea Club or Shanti – a relaxing experience is guaranteed.
Intellectuals and theater goers will surely enjoy a music concert or a theater production.
Those ready for active partying can clap their hands, since all disco clubs have a special program for the evening and at most places the entrance fees won’t be raised. However, you should take care of booking a table long before the actual Valentine’s Day, if you don’t want to spend the whole night hanging out by the bar.
Karavella (2 Dniprovska Naberezhna, 553-9919)
Decadence House (16 Shota Rustaveli, 206-4920)
Nouvelle (15 Khreschatyk, 279-5761)
Volkonskiy kaiser (5-7/ 29 Shevchenko, 207-5995)
Tea Club (7 Druzhby Narodiv, 451-4283)
Shanti (2 Besarabska Ploscha, 234-0108)
Exquisite Valentine’s
Because it’s not the best weather to enjoy soaring through the sky in a hot-air balloon in February, you can look for other unusual variants of Valentine’s Day celebrations.
You can, for example, rent a chic car at Limousine Prokat, Vipcar or Navigator agencies and enjoy a ride through the night, or ride a horse at the Konniy Dvor (Horse Yard) training ground.
If you still want to surf the air, you can hire a plane at Amers agency or a helicopter at Mary wedding salon to admire the land from on high.
Finally, if you are tired of damp – not quite winter, not quite autumn – weather in the city, you can take a trip to the Carpathian Mountains, where there is still snow lying on the slopes, or a flight to the Eastern seaside.
Limousine prokat (530-0092, www.li.kiev.ua)
Vipcar (4 Orosytelna, 223-2318)
Navigator (16B Khmelnytskoho, 592-6977)
Konniy Dvor (38067447-5159)
Amers (332-2456, 38050330-8928, www.amers.com.ua)
Mary (21 Tereschenkivska, 230-9249)
