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Ditch the Clichés with 10 Alt-Valentine's Day Ideas

After a few years in the game, a Valentine's Day and/or night spent dropping hard-earned dough on dinner reservations you snagged months in advance paired with the usual present-giving mumbo jumbo starts to seem a little....boring.

Let us help you inject some bona fide San Francisconess into your special day this year. Whether you work during the day or night, and even if you don't have someone you call "baby," you can still spend V-Day with a true-blue pal and have a blast using these alternative ideas:

  • Take a literal leap of faith, hold your breath, and go paragliding over the Bay together.
  • Hit up the Ferry Building together and then have an apartment picnic for two.
  • Go old school and book an appointment at Photobooth SF for a tintype portrait of one or both of you (it’s open til 9 pm on Thursday night!). Or, swing the other way and get silly at Pika Pika in Japantown.
  • Go on a scavenger hunt through your neighborhood (this might take some advance planning). All the hints have to relate to things you guys have done/eaten/drank together.
  • Go on a date to the Seward Slides. Don't scream too loudly, though, or else the neighbors will get mad. And don't let this happen to you.
  • Get a romantic massage at Hotel Vitale’s Spa, which includes relaxation in the hotel's signature tubs under the open sky. Yup.

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