How To Plan a Valentine's Day Date

Valentine's Day can be a great way to ascertain your standing with a woman simply by seeing how she responds to your request for a date. Below are some tips to help you plan a Valentine's Day date that entices:

1. Make your reservations early. Make your reservations before you ask for a date. Yes, you may have to cancel the reservations if, for example, you've chosen a steakhouse and your date is a vegetarian, but making reservations early shows your good planning, which is always a positive quality in a potential paramour.
2. Ask your date early. No woman wants to be asked out for a Valentine's Day date on February 13. Or February 12th, 11th or 10th, for that matter. Your best bet is to ask her at least a couple of weeks out, but you can ask her up to a week ahead of time. After that, you can still ask but you risk her feeling that your request is last minute rather than well-considered. And if that's the case, she might say "no" even if she would have said "yes" had the request been a week earlier. So avoid crossed signals by letting your intentions be known in plenty of time before the big day.
3. Consider a mini-getaway. Consider going that extra mile (so to speak) to make your date special. When a real getaway is not an option or not yet appropriate to the status of your relationship, consider a smaller version of one. I remember one Valentine's Day when my boyfriend advised me to dress well, then showed up with a corsage and drove me to a four star restaurant in a resort town about an hour from where we lived (and I'm asking myself now, why did I break up with him again?). This was probably twenty years ago, but I still remember it fondly. Just a little extra effort goes a long way.
4. Acknowledge the day. It is Valentine's Day after all, there's just no two ways about it. If you're an established couple, you know the drill--a card and some combination of flowers, chocolate, and/or lingerie (preferably his and hers). But if you're just getting started as a couple, or don't even know if you are a couple for sure, Valentine's Day can ramp the pressure up far beyond that of an ordinary date. Keep in mind that if a woman has said yes to you for a Valentine's Day date, odds are that she is more than mildly interested. This should help boost your confidence so that you can do something like present her with a lighthearted card or a single rose or small box of chocolates--something that acknowledges the day without making you feel that you are going too far out on a limb.
   
5. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. If, when you ask for a Valentine's Day date, your potential date asks to get back to you on that, I would read the writing on the wall and realize that you are not her #1 suitor. Sorry about that but it happens to us all. Just as you have given her the respect to ask well ahead of time, she owes you the respect of a straightforward answer.

And remember that if she doesn't say yes, it's only because she's not the right one for you.