HOW SWEET IT ISN’T
Galentine’s Day? Give us a break
VALENTINE’S Day has long been a scourge for the romantically coupled, pushing them to buy chocolates, flowers and sappy cards, then go out for overpriced prix fixe dinners staffed by understandably miserable waiters.
Now, that dark day on the calendar has come for the single ladies: Billed as “Galentine’s Day,” it’s being pushed by restaurants and brands as a Feb. 13 girl-power alternative to Valentine’s Day. (Ironically, Feb. 13 has long been considered “Mistress Day,” when unfaithful men take out their side chicks, leaving Feb. 14 for wives and girlfriends — hope no one has any scheduling conflicts.)
Galentine’s Day first entered the pop-culture lexicon on a 2010 episode of “Parks and Recreation,” with Amy Poehler’s Leslie Knope declaring it “lady time” and “the best time of the year.” Aubrey Plaza’s April Ludgate later mocks Leslie’s holiday, telling her she “sound[s] like a tampon commercial.”i l”
This February, Galentine’s Day is no laughing matter. The pseudoholiday is apparently the perfect time to celebrate at Benihana, grab margaritas at Bodega Negra, do some special Martha Stewart crafts, surprise your best friend with a necklace from direct-selling jewelry company ViVi or sip any number of pink wines.
Whether you’re a V-Day lover or a hater, there’s something pink for everyone to buyb in mid-February.
Celebrating female friendships is great, but tying it to Valentine’s Day reeks of an opportunistic marketing ploy. The same holiday that once alienated single women is now pandering to them, as though t the table of coupled-up jocks in the high-school cafeteria suddenly invited the cool loner girl to sit with them just because she has herh own car.
There used to be somethingt delightfully subversive in eschewing Valentine’s Day, with its saccharine notion of romance and its tacky red roses, and having a wine-andcheese night instead with your girlfriends. Rebranding it as Galentine’s Day takes a lot of the fun out.
Plucky Leslie Knope would not be proud.