February 4, 2021
Valentine’s Day — A day for hugs. An excuse to eat something delicious. And to celebrate (and spend even more time) with those you love. A fancy dinner out may not happen. And you’re fresh out of COVID-safe ideas to celebrate Valentine’s Day. In an uncommon year, how about an uncommon holiday? Why not #DoSomethingNearby?
With the significant declines in visitors to our region lately, our King County businesses and attractions need a little love. And your sig-o will love all these ideas. Win-win!
So here are our ideas on how to shower them with love, step out of your COVID rut, stay safe, and support the local businesses that make our region so special. Every business with an asterisk has taken the All Clear King County Safety Pledge to follow public healthcare protocols. That means they are carefully following physical distancing, limiting capacity, and cleaning and sanitizing measures to keep you and your loved ones (and their employees) safe.
- Learn about the protocols and see a directory of regional businesses who have taken the pledge at DoSomethingNearby.org
1. Meander with your main squeeze
Show them that your life together is a walk in the park. Don your rain gear and your masks, and feel the fresh air on your face on a ramble through the Port of Seattle’s waterfront Centennial Park and the city's Myrtle Edwards Park. Hang out on a piece of driftwood and listen to the waves kiss the beach.
The nearby Anthony’s Fish Bar*, Anthony’s Pier 66*, and Anthony’s Bell St. Diner* are closed during the pandemic, but you can show your commitment to a future by purchasing a gift card. You can purchase in any increment up to $550 and they never expire:
- Online at Anthony’s website to be mailed to your home
- Visit any Anthony’s for curbside delivery to your car
- Or buy by phone at (425) 455-0732 (M-F, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.)
Pop up to the Pike Place Market to pick up French takeout fare (sounds more sophisticated as les plats à emporter) from Café Campagne*.
- Order in advance online for pickup or downtown neighborhood delivery
Surprise them with a take home dinner box picked up from Seatown Market & Fish Fry* at the Pike Place Market, including seafood cocktail, Dungeness Crab Cakes, Lemon Aioli, and Garlic Potatoes. And a sweet Muscat Quince and Pineapple Crostada.
- Order in advance online for pickup
Or head over to Chihuly Garden and Glass* for a casual outdoor nosh and a glass of PNW wine with handmade stone-fired Neapolitan pizza on a heated outdoor patio.
Treat them like a work of art with a visit to the Olympic Sculpture Park.
In the Rainier Valley, beauty is in the eye of the beholder year-round at Kubota Garden. Keep a distance of six feet between your family and other visitors, limit your group to less than five people, and wear masks at all times. Explore the garden’s 20 acres, nine ponds, two red bridges, and 140 varieties of maple trees.
2. Show some long distance love
We know that this may not be the perfect time for a romantic rendezvous. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) is ready for you when you want to return to travel. In the meantime, you can show your admiration from afar with an online purchase from these local businesses that have a home at SEA. Now that’s the way to stay physically distant!
- For the literary lover, try Elliott Bay Book Company’s Valentine’s Day Gift Sets
- Love local from a collaboration of over 600 urban producers and manufacturers at Seattle Made
- Share your love for the PNW attitude with gift boxes and other lovely things from Made in Washington
- What’s romance without a little music from the SubPop Mega Mart?
- Share the love from Fireworks, a local gift shop with to-die-for finds
- Love your neighbor with a fab gift from Sacred Circle Gifts and Art that benefits Indigenous people in the Puget Sound region
- Keep their travel fires burning with travel supplies and a promise of future escapes from ExOfficio
- Fuel your avgeek’s ardor with an aviation-inspired gift (like a travel-themed charm bracelet) from Planewear
- Step it up from WFH schpants to special-occasion finery and baubles from Show Pony boutique
3. You only have eyes only for them … and a beautiful view
With a public promenade and endless sailboats, Shilshole Bay Marina is a great place to show them that a future with you will be smooth sailing. Take in a gorgeous Seattle sunset and a panorama of mountains and water.
On the way home, pick up a special occasion bottle of wine or bubbly, cocktail kits, or wine samplers from Ray’s Boathouse*.
- Order ahead through TOAST and 100% of any gratuity will be donated to the Ballard Food Bank.
Make Tom Douglas your private chef by preordering your Valentine’s Day Big Dinner Box from Serious Takeout*. The oven-ready dinner box includes lobster spaghetti, roasted flank steak stuffed with olives, herbs, pine nuts and currant served with wilted escarole and garbanzo beans. For dessert, a lovely marzipan tart and the perfect pairing with a Blood Orange Prosecco Cocktail and Chianti Classico.
- Order Valentine's Day dinner in advance
4. Remember why you fell for them hook, line, and sinker
Home to the North Pacific Fishing Fleet and the first site of the Port of Seattle, Fishermen’s Terminal* provides a charming taste of old Seattle:
Walk the docks and Play ‘I Spy’ and see how many fishing vessel names you can spot
Do a walking tour of the region’s oldest maritime facility
Show your love with fresh and fancy seafood at Chinook’s*
- Find out more about their open air outdoor seating, takeout, and curbside to-go service
Show them your chill side with takeout fish and chips from Little Chinooks* and a beer pairing to go from Figurehead Brewing
If you want to impress them with your culinary chops, get a recipe and a fresh-as-it-gets piece of fish at Wild Salmon Seafood Market* at the Terminal
- Plan ahead with recipes
- Order fish for store pick up, curbside pickup, or same-day home delivery
5. Get sweets for your sweetheart
The tried-and-true solution doesn’t have to be boring. Step it up a notch (or 10) with Fran’s Chocolates* to show that you really really care.
- Order online for pick up at multiple locations.
Take their tastebuds to the tropics with Hood Famous sweets*. Ube (purple yam) cookies, chocolate haupia (coconut) pie. Or mini cheesecakes in ube, white chocolate guava, Vietnamese coffee, and coconut pandan to-die for flavors. Or silvanas, a frozen "cookie" sandwich made with layers of cashews, meringue, and silky buttercream in ube, cookies and cream, and strawberry pistachio flavors.
- Order online and pick up in the Chinatown/ID café.
There’s always time for macarons and mischief from Lady Yum, even if you can’t make it to their kiosk at SEA Airport*.
- Order online to have them shipped.
Seattle Chocolates*, with a store at SEA Airport, delivers colorful care packages or cheerful chocolate bars for every Valentine on your list
For more ideas, visit DoSomethingNearby.org. And share the love — and your ideas and celebration photos with the hashtag #DoSomethingNearby.
