It’s not just couples who should have all the fun this Valentine’s Day. It’s the season of love and to celebrate everyone from your kids to grandparents and friends. Thanks to our fictional friend Leslie Knope, we even have Galentine’s Day on February 13- a celebration of female friendship in all its forms.
So how best to enjoy this month dedicated to showering our friends and family with love?
For Galentine’s Day, pamper your girlfriends in style at King Spa, a sprawling new Korean wellness emporium in South Riding. A day pass for as little as $60 gets you access to state-of-the-art steam rooms, saunas, thermal baths and a vast rooftop swimming pool complex replete with waterfalls and hot tubs. Treatments - massages and facials – are extra. The gals will love you forever.
What about a day with the kids? Stay warm and indoors at popular DIY space AR Workshop in The Village at Leesburg where you and your little ones get to create everything from porch signs to canvas bags to wall hangings. Order the workshop’s Valentine's DIY To Go Kit in advance (a pack of stencils, wood, paint and brushes) and you can all craft decorative pieces for V-day gifts.
Loudoun wineries are always a good place to celebrate, but the Village Winery in Waterford is a unique spot for the whole family: they make apple wine from heirloom apples but also produce high, antioxidant non-alcoholic Honeyberry Juice, an Elderberry and Aronia Lemonade and a green tea made from Elderberry and Aronia honey. Drinks the whole family can enjoy. Wine tastings will never be the same again.
Of course, you don’t want to forget your partner. With Valentine’s Day on a Monday, why not celebrate a day early. Lost Barrel Brewing in Middleburg will host a “beer and beautiful blooms” day February 13. While you treat yourselves to pints of superb Harvest Ale and Amber IPA- or a glass of wine-, Loudoun florist Blooms2u will be on site with fresh seasonal flowers and to share tips on how to make the perfect floral arrangement. After, enjoy a romantic dinner in town.
Then there are the grandparents. Give them a treat by taking them and the grandkids bowling. Newly opened The Branch in Leesburg is a retro-style bowling alley with 16 lanes, each named for a Loudoun town or village. Show your skills like The Dude on the lanes and then treat the family to nachos, wings, chili cheese fries and juicy burgers at the site’s buzzy restaurant-bar.