Valentine’s Day is the one special day a year dedicated to spreading love and gifts to those around you, and some people are even lucky enough to spread this joy with their loved ones. Looking back at elementary school, giving candy sweethearts to your classmates was an unavoidable ritual in every classroom. Unfortunately, given the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, this year’s Valentine’s Day on Sunday, February 14th, 2021 had to be celebrated differently from all of our previous ones. With students out of classrooms learning virtually at home at this time, Valentine’s Day 2021 was a new experience for everyone. 

Safety is currently the top priority in New York City as a means of mitigating the spread of COVID-19. As a result, in addition to social distancing and wearing masks, indoor social gatherings are not permitted in order to ensure people’s safety. Yet, when one thinks of Valentine’s Day, the first thing they imagine is a Cupid shooting arrows, hearts floating around, and people hugging one another. It may appear at first that these two ideas of spreading joy and maintaing safety against COVID-19 cannot exist side-by-side, but with virtual activities and gifts for this year’s Valentine’s Day, they lived in harmony.

Whether students spent their Valentine’s Day with a friend or a significant other (outdoors, socially distanced, and wearing masks), a fun filled day was the ultimate goal. Playing friendly games like Codenames, Evil Apples, Psych!, or skribbl.io, all available online, made this super easy. Next, with sweet gifts like chocolate crystal candies or candles that come with a surprise gift inside, there was something for everyone this Valentine’s Day. And to bring the celebration to a close, sites like Teleparty (formerly known as Netflix Party) and watch2gether made streaming Valentine’s Day themed movies and other content a breeze.

To end out this virtual Valentine’s Day, Bronx Science students stayed at home to stream some of their favorite movies, in order to get into the spirit of the holiday. Some top recommendations are 10 Things I Hate About You, The Notebook, Dirty Dancing, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Call Me By Your Name and When Harry Met Sally, for a variation of classics or modern movies to stream, which was easy to do using Netflix Party (now known as Teleparty), as watching tv shows and movies from home has become a staple during the Coronavirus pandemic. 

For this unusual virtual Valentine’s Day 2021, students were still able to share joy with one another as in previous years, albeit in a safe and socially distanced way. 

This year’s Valentine’s Day on Sunday, February 14th, 2021 had to be celebrated differently from all of our previous ones.