Valentine's Day Disasters

Valentine's Day only comes around once a year -- and each year, it brings with it a truckload of high expectations in the romance department.

Now, we can all pretend that we don't care about this made-up consumer holiday. We can say, "Don't get me anything," or "We celebrate our love everyday, so we don't need to do anything special." But the truth is, we do care about Valentine's Day. How do I know that? Because many of the people I've asked still remember their crappiest Valentine's Day ever in vivid detail.

So, what's the best way to exorcise those old Valentine's Day memories? Rather than bottle them up inside, we say: Share them with the world! That way, maybe others won't have to endure the botched surprises, horrible dinner dates, and dudes who are so cheap they'll break up with you just to get out of buying you a gift!

Holidash polled some people about their worst Valentine's disasters; can you top their stories? We really hope not.

Happy Valentine's Day! Let's break up.
"Last year, I was planning on spending Valentine's Day with my boyfriend of over a year. I bought him really amazing gifts that I knew he would like, and I was just hoping to have a great day. Well, three days before Valentine's Day, my boyfriend broke up with me. I wound up still giving him his gifts, even though he didn't get me anything. I wound up spending my Valentine's Day working a double shift, and when I got home I cried my eyes out while drinking a bottle of champagne and watching a corny romantic comedy. I wound up drunk dialing my sister and being hungover for work the next day. This year, my sister asked me if I had a Valentine (which I do not) so that I could help her plan an elaborate surprise on the special day for her boyfriend. I kindly declined."

-- Deidre, Kingston, NY

It's the thought that counts -- especially since that's all you're getting.
"Way back in high school, you could pay $1 to send a 'Val-o-gram' to somebody special. The purchasing and writing of the Val-o-gram took place about two weeks before its delivery to homeroom on Feb 14th. I received a super sweet one from my boyfriend that promised he had planned something really special for us that night. Completely excited, I ran to him in the cafeteria to ask what we had up his sleeve. The look on his face said it all - he had written the note in advance with the INTENTION of planning something, then completely forgot to execute and FORGOT it was even Valentine's Day altogether."

-- Anonymous

Sure he sent flowers -- just two days late.
"My worst Valentine's Day was in 2001. I was a receptionist at a major software company and was engaged to a co-worker. He had relocated out of state and I was to follow shortly. Since everyone in the office knew of our engagement, they were anticipating a beautiful floral arrangement on Valentine's Day. Well, my fiance ordered the flowers too late on the 13th and they didn't arrive until the 15th. It was awful seeing all the florists come in and deliver flowers for the other women in the office except me! All day I kept looking up and waiting and being disappointed. What made it worse is everyone asking 'Did you get flowers yet?'"

-- Crystal Brown

He's on a budget, you know.
"When I was across the country at college, I received a box on Valentine's Day with no return address info, no card, no note -- only two un-inflated red, heart-shaped balloons that said 'I love you' and 'Happy Valentine's Day.' I couldn't figure out what this was or what was going on -- was I on the mailing list for some promotional company? No, the box had my specific college mailbox number. Turns out my boyfriend thought he was ordering me blown-up balloons ('like I saw in the picture') but the cheap kid bought them from a bulk party supply distribution company not realizing that just sell the raw material -- not the helium to inflate them. Happy Valentine's Day to me."

--Anonymous, NYC

Do you have a painful Valentine's memory? Exorcise your demons by sharing with us in the comments!