Add a Little Do-Goodness to Your Valentine's Day

On Sunday, February 14th, thousands of people will exchange cards, go out to dinner, eat chocolates, buy flowers, and give gifts for Valentine's Day. If you're celebrating, why not add a little do-goodness to your Valentine's Day?

Cards

Make your own! I just finished reading Good Mail Day about making postal art, and am totally inspired to get more creative with my cards and letters. For inspiration, check out Good Mail Day's Flickr photo stream of people's creative correspondence creations.

Dinner Dates

If possible, support a restaurant that serves local and/or organic food, or better yet, make a date to cook together. Do a search on localharvest.org to see if there is a farmers' market near you where you can go shopping.

One of my favorite cookbooks at the moment is The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone. I've made her Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups three times in the past couple weeks (photo left), and each time they've been freakalicious.

Chocolate

It is getting easier and easier to find Fair Trade chocolate. In her post, Choosing a Chocolate for Change on Change.org's Sustainable Food blog, Nicole Makris links to a list of Sustainable Fair Trade and Certified Organic Chocolate on Sustainable Table.

Flowers

In their post, Be My Valentine: Flowers for the Eco Warrior, the Eco Women have links to three places where you can buy Fair Trade and organic flowers. You could also give a pot and flower seeds like Diane MacEachern suggests in her post, Six Ways to Green Your Valentine's Day on Big Green Purse.

Gifts

One of the best gifts you can give is the gift of time together, but there are also lots of places to purchase lovely gifts made by artists and artisans. On another blog I write for, the Global Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship blog, I've compiled a list of Ten Places to Buy Gifts That Support Women Artisans, and a List of Organizations Supporting Haitian Artists and Artisans.

Love

Finally, Valentine's Day can feel lonely for a lot of people. If you know someone who might be feeling blue on Valentine's Day, give them a call, or send them a card. Do a little something to let them know they are loved.

For more ideas, check out these related blog posts

• Countdown to Valentine's Day: Send a Valentine for Good on Joanne's Nonprofit Blog
• 14 Charitable Ways to Celebrate Valentine's Day on the Case Foundation Blog
• Top Ten Valentine's Day Gifts That Give Back on the HuffPost Impact
• 10 Green Ways to Have Fun on Valentine’s Day in Los Angeles on Green LA Girl
  
• Valentines That Give Back by me last year.

Cross-posted from BlogHer.com.