Dating Advice: Cupid, I Need You

Tips for How You Can Have a Fabulous Valentine's Day, Even When You're Single.

Advice Seeker: Dear April,

Help! I am going to be single and alone for Valentine's Day. This is the first year in a long time that I've been single and most of my friends have a date for the night. I know it's not a huge deal, but I still feel like a bit of a loser not being in a relationship on Valentine's Day. Do you have any advice for how I can spend Valentine's Day evening, even though I'll be single and alone?

Sincerely,

Where's Cupid When You Need Him

April Masini's advice:

Dear Where's Cupid When You Need Him,

Nothing can make you feel less loved than being alone on the most lovey-dovey day and night of the year. But don’t worry — the truth, is most people actually are either home alone or staying in with friends.

Here are some great ways to get some loving when you're alone on Valentine's Day:

DVD night with Chinese take in food. Choose some great home alone movies like Bridget Jones, the Sex and the City first, second, third, or any other complete season, or Four Weddings and a Funeral, get out the moo shoo and the chopsticks and see how fast your fortune reads: you’ll have a great night!

Lonely Hearts Club No More. Invite five other single friends (an equal number of men and women) to go out to dinner. Why should lovers get all the good restaurant reservations? Make it a party.

Spa for one. Book yourself a spa night at a local day spa. Go for a manicure, pedicure, massage and a facial. Pamper yourself!
Phone date. Call a friend in another part of the country that you haven’t talked to in a long time, and drink wine while you chat and reminisce.
Book it! Buy a new book you’ve been dying to read and curl up on the sofa with a roaring fire, a glass of red wine or hot chocolate and your book. Better yet, give your love life a jump-start for Valentine’s Day — spend the night doing your "homework"—studying Think & Date Like A Man (for women) or Date Out Of Your League (for men)—and this will be last Valentine’s Day you spend alone.
Virtual flirting. Online dating makes sitting home alone on Valentine’s Day a virtual impossibility — or a literal virtual possibility — whether you’re chatting up a stranger on an online dating site or going out to dinner with someone you just met online, there are now infinite possibilities for love. The old advice on places to meet single men and women are now exponential thanks to the Internet.

If you’re newly single, after a break up or a divorce and you feel you have to go out to make an appearance, make sure your friends know you’re coming to their party by yourself, and that you’re a little unsettled about it, but you want to do it. They’ll surely take care of you and introduce you to men who are also there solo. Who knows? You may not be solo for long. Before you do go out, though, it’s especially important to know you look great. Buy something new and sexy to celebrate your first New Valentine's Day solo in a long time. Psych yourself up a little. Pretend you’re living in Paris, and going out alone is just another chic thing you do. Give yourself a mental image of who you want to be at the party. If you feel like a scared mouse, you’ll look like a scared mouse, and all you’ll attract is the cheese. If you get yourself in a good state of mind, and feel like this is a sexy adventure, you’ll look like you’re on a sexy adventure and you’ll attract others like yourself.