The other day I walked into Walgreens to buy some face wash and was slapped in the face with giant, pink teddy bears stitched with “BE MINE” or “I love you BEARY much” and red heart-shaped boxes filled with chocolate assortments. Okay, not literally. That slap reverberated to the core of my heart.

Let’s get something straight before I start, though. I love love. It is wonderful and peoples’ “special someones” should be celebrated, but Valentine’s Day has a way of making love look as “cheesey” as a four-cheese, cheesey crust pizza.

As delicious as cheese is, too much of something is never a good thing.

There’s too much pressure put on Valentine’s Day with gifts and dinners and flowers.

There’s too much money that goes into Valentine’s Day from buying all of these things.

There are too many corny puns and cards and chocolate boxes.

Too. Much.

I’m not sitting in judgment. I love all people, including those who love “cheese.”

It’s just that society has lost the truth of love in the commercially- sold image of what love really is.

Does buying a bunch of chocolate and a teddy bear really say, “Hey, I really thought this would be super special and personal to you?”

Does an expensive dinner really make a couple grow closer? No.

In a study done on the relationship between wedding expenses and marriage duration, the evidence shows that those who spend more money on wedding expenses will have a shorter marriage duration.

So, in other words, one cannot buy love.

A better gift would be something specific to the person. If he likes puzzles, buy him a puzzle and put it together with him that night. If she likes stargazing, buy her a book about stars and find a couple to name.

The gesture doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. Make dinner together. It’s a lot more personal and a lot less boring than a long wait at a fancy restaurant. And if it turns out terrible, there is always cheesey pizza.

I mean, isn’t love specific to a certain person? A certain relationship?

If you’re an adventurous couple, go for a drive to a random place and share your favorite songs.

If you’re both home bodies, snuggle up and watch a movie you both have never seen without sound and make up the plot and script of the movie yourselves.

Last Valentine’s Day my old boyfriend and I spent Valentine’s Day with his brother and his friend. There was no way we had enough money to do something fancy, so we ordered pizza and went around delivering hershey kisses to our friends’ houses as his little brother wore a sumo suit.

It was so fun. I am giggling recalling it as I write this.

That night of adventure and making other people happy made me happier than a box of chocolates ever could. I’ll remember that experience more than the cliche Valentine’s Day cards exchanged in the middle school days.

And the memory will last longer than a materialistic item like expensive jewelry or a fat teddy bear.

That’s how Valentine’s Day should be. Pressureless and fun.

A day to celebrate love should celebrate each unique love that’s out there not stress people out with who went to a fancier restaurant or who received the most expensive gift. That’s not a measure of love, that’s a measure of wealth.