The Newshub guide to a low-effort Valentine's Day

couple eating in bed
Why waste time and money when you can relax together in your own home? Photo credit: Getty.

Valentine's is sneaking up on us - it's next weekend for those of you who have forgotten - the perfect time for you to celebrate your partner, best friend, hey, even your mum. 

But if the thought of shelling out hundreds of dollars on fancy-schmancy celebrations or an attempt to whip up some sort of home-cooked delight has you breaking out in a cold sweat - never fear. Here are a couple of low effort options that will get you all of the praise, with none of the stress. 

Order a home-cooked meal to your door

If you're in the first flushes of love and you're still pretending to be the best version of yourself, have we got the option for you. Food delivery service FED is putting on a special wine-matched V-Day menu for two - delivered direct to your door. With your choice of three or four courses, all you have to do is throw on some tunes, light a candle, heat and eat. 

This is, of course, an opportunity to have it delivered BEFORE your new boo comes around, meaning you can pretend you whipped up buttery chilli king prawns, smoked beef short rib, goat's cheese creamed polenta, and dark chocolate mousse. The three-course menu is $90 for two, which we guarantee you'd end up spending on supermarket ingredients in a full-throttle panic anyway. Find out more on their website. 

Have a staycation

Why have all the stress of driving out of the city and dropping dollars on an exxy hotel when instead you could have a beautiful holiday right in your own home!? Put any cleaning or washing aside for the evening, get dressed up and go have drinks or get ice cream together. Do an activity that only tourists do - top of the SkyTower anyone? Watch the sunset from Mt Eden perhaps? And then get takeaways and eat them in bed like it's room service. Fun!

Make your own outdoor cinema

This works best if you have a garden or deck where you can hang a sheet and set up a projector (or you could just head to Movies in Parks or Outdoor Cinema like a normal person). 

Make up a cheese board and snuggle up under the stars and stream some sort of lovey-dovey chick flick… or just, like six episodes of The Office if you're so inclined. If you don't have outdoor space then you could set up an indoor cinema just the same and make a picnic on your living room rug.

Get cozy in our own wee outdoor cinema.
Get cozy in our own wee outdoor cinema. Photo credit: Getty.

Either way, make sure there's wine.