Valentine’s Day is the second most celebrated holiday world-wide after New Year’s. It is a day to celebrate love. Many people give out cards, flowers and chocolate to their loved ones, but some get even more creative.

Erich Maas, a sophomore majoring in interior architecture, thinks Valentine’s Day is a fabulous reason to show someone special what they mean to you.

“The best gift I ever received was a hand-drawn picture of my girlfriend and I, drawn by no other hand than my artistically challenged girlfriend. It actually looked really good,” Maas said.

Brianna Schmidt, a junior majoring in psychology, loves Valentine’s Day as well, but thinks it is a bit over-commercialized.

“I normally always wear red or pink as a tradition on Valentine’s Day, and I always send my grandparents and my best friend from back home a really mushy lovey dove card,” Schmidt said. “My favorite Valentine’s Day memory was when I was really young. My dad got my mom a huge bouquet of red roses, and he let my sister and I each pick out a few of the roses we wanted, and we each got our own little vase to keep our picked roses in. He also bought my sister, mother and I each a box of chocolates.”

Last year was an eventful Valentine’s Day when Schmidt got pulled over for speeding.

“The guy let me off after going 35 in a 25. I like to think it was in the spirit of Valentine’s Day. I was all dressed up heading over to my boyfriend’s house, and I think he didn’t want to spoil my night. I got off with a warning,” Schmidt said.

Maas enjoys trying to do something new each year, however small the gesture.

“I’m still trying to think of something to do this year. Since it’s on a Thursday, it’s hard to go somewhere far, so I’m probably going to draw her a bouquet of flowers and spray the paper with a touch of my cologne,” Maas said.

Schmidt was also creative this year and made a bouquet out of socks.

“I bought my boyfriend a t-shirt and made him a bouquet of roses out of socks. It’s super cute! And Saturday we are going out to dinner to celebrate,” Schmidt said.

Maas’s favorite thing about Valentine’s Day is getting a surprise, like the scavenger hunt he got for a present a few years ago.

“My girlfriend talked to one of my best friends and had him invite me over for a while. Then we went back to my house, and there was a balloon in my room just sitting on my bed. It said ‘pop me,’” Maas said.

When Maas popped it, a bunch of confetti flew out with a note rolled up and tied with a bow. The note said to go look in a certain place of the house for another clue, and so on, until he got to the last one under his bed.

“Under my bed there was a giant, heart-shaped cookie that my girlfriend had decorated, and it said, ‘Happy Valentine’s Day, Erich’,” Maas said.

Jessica Kurtzweil, a senior majoring in elementary education, says that her favorite thing about Valentine’s Day is spending time with the people you love, whether it is a significant other or family and friends.

“My boyfriend goes to school in Madison, so we will not be spending actual Valentine’s Day together. I plan on going out to dinner with my roommate and then seeing the movie ‘Safe Haven’ by Nicolas Sparks with my boyfriend’s mother on Thursday,” Kurtzweil said.

Since Kurtzweil’s boyfriend lives in Madison, she spends Valentine’s Day with friends and family since the holiday usually falls on a weekday.

Although Valentine’s Day targets couples, single people can enjoy the day, too.

“I always said that single girls or guys could always get together and buy each other small gifts, like a box of chocolates or flowers and do, like, a white elephant kind of game night, as well as watch funny movies. My friends and I did that when we were all single, and it was fun,” Schmidt said.

Kurtzweil would agree.

“The best memories I have would be the ones where I go out to eat with my friends that don’t have a significant other, making them feel and see that Valentine’s Day is not solely about being “in love” and receiving the most flowers,” Kurtzweil said.