Left without a valentine? You’re not alone

No one likes to be alone on Valentine's Day, and if you’re not romantically attached and happen to have friends who are likewise afflicted, there is no reason you need to be. If you do like being alone and want nothing more than to listen to the 69 Love Songs album on repeat all night, more power to you.

What you do depends largely on the tone you want to set for the day. If you are in a bitter mood and want to stay that way, gather a group of friends together and become a raucous group of misery. Do the normal couple date — dinner and a movie — but do it with a huge group.

Make sure to point out all the things singles can do that couples can’t: flirt with the waiter, flirt with the guy at the next table and mock those around you for being tied down. Go home, or to Golden Gardens, and have a memento-burning after-party. All those things you held on to from your exes are just weighing you down. Plus, what is more fun, or symbolic, than fire?

If you are in the mood for a more mellow night, have a bunch of pals over for a dinner party — and put them all to work. Have everyone bring ingredients for a certain dish — chicken, salad, dessert or whatever you feel like eating, and have everyone cook together. Crank up the music, fireproof your clumsy friends and start chopping.

For even more fun — or for those of you who desire structure — pick a cooking theme and a movie to go with it. Reenact the dinner scene from Chocolat and swoon over Johnny Depp, drink lots of gin and watch Casablanca or be depressed and eat pie while watching Waitress.

Back to those of you who still harbor a grudge: turn Valentine’s Day into a craft day and make voodoo dolls. Make sure to accentuate all of your ex’s negative characteristics. Was he too tall, too short, too bald or too hipster-y? Be sure to reflect that in your doll. Find some pins and stab away.

You can drown your misery (or celebrate your joy) with — what else? — sweets. You can dip almost anything in chocolate: pretzels, dried fruit, fresh fruit, nuts and even other chocolate. Or you could make mini pies. Find a good piecrust recipe, but instead of putting it in a normal pie pan, divide it into the compartments of a cupcake tin. Make sure to cut the fruit into tiny pieces and lower the baking time to take into account the minute nature of your sweets.