Date night at home inspired by Valentine's Day
- Encapsulate Luxury
- Mar 27, 2021
- 4 min read
Hey Lifestyle Connoisseurs! (do you like the new name I've given you?)
If you've watched the video above then you hopefully have a pretty good idea of how Valentines Day went for me this year.
No worries if you haven't watched it - all you need to know is that being alone wasn't actually as lonely as I thought it was going to be!
*cue Blue Peter theme tune* Here's a little presentation I made earlier...
Thanks to some of my clients, I had plenty of inspo on how to keep myself entertained after planning a few bespoke Valentine's Day experiences.
In all honesty, I was happy with just Prosecco and Panna Cotta but in typical "me" fashion, I decided to indulge myself in the Waitrose Valentine's Day meal for two offer and some extras. It took me a week to get through all the spoils of that single shopping trip but it was sooo worth it!
If the sample itineraries have tempted you into wanting a similar experience for your own date night (lockdown or not), head over to my Amazon Storefront where you'll find links to most things on the list. I hope you do click on it and buy something from my list because I earn money from each click and purchase. Times are hard so help me, help you. Well actually, help me make money.
Or if you want something completely bespoke, you can get in touch with me because that's what I do best! I'm not even going to try be modest about it because you and I both know, I make dreams come true...
Now that we've spent a little time talking about my personal experiences, let's get back to the real point here because sadly, it's not about me.
To conclude our magical time together, here are my three main summary points of the trends I've seen emerging from Valentine's Day 2021:
1. In this case, money is not the answer to all our problems
All the Lifestyle Connoisseurs I planned Valentine's Day for wanted activities that allowed them to spend time with people important to them. One couple wanted to host a virtual games night with all their friends and another wanted to spend time cooking together.
I suppose with all the new challenges we are facing like working from home or not being able to visit our loved ones, making memories is now a top priority for everyone. This one has my seal of approval - which is my nice way of saying "I've been saying this for years".
2. Luxury has been redefined
I have a whole article on this in the works, so I won't go into it too much. You'll notice inexpensive items like a wearable blanket or card games on my Amazon idea list which don't necessarily scream luxury goods from an outsider's perspective.
Personally, I think its because we as people now measure the value of gifts and experiences based on how well they cater to all our senses rather than the price tag attached.
Granted, some options will be more expensive but if you look at it carefully, all the sample itineraries include a food, gift and activity option because clients didn't feel like it was complete until all three were accounted for. So, how you feel outweighs how much you spend, which is why my bespoke options work so well.
3. Virtual is now a whole new ball game
Back in the day, online shopping went as far as scrolling through a website with pictures of clothes on models after you'd filtered your search results.
Circa mid 2019, a few brands such as ASOS began to get ahead of the curve when they enhanced at home shopping. They rolled out services that brought their products to life through Augmented Reality and they would then send you clothes to try on at home and send back whatever you didn't like free of charge.
Fast forward to the blessed year of 2021, we're seeing services like Ralph Lauren's Polo Bear campaign break all the rules of traditional luxury goods marketing with a social media first implementation strategy that even gamifies certain elements of your shopping experience.
On the other end of the mass media scale, Ted Baker's "Ask Ted Baker" shopping experience connects you to store assistants (as in, actual humans) who shoppers can ask for advice, swap photos and videos of their desired products with and of course make purchases through - like you would in a real life situation. Throughout my research, I saw this aspect of enhanced virtual spill over into other pastimes such as cocktail masterclasses, escape room experiences and even whiskey distillery tours and tastings.
After I said I wasn't going to go too much into it, we are still here four paragraphs later. Why didn't you stop me?
Anyway, its super exciting to imagine where we'll be in another two years' time. But my main point on this, is that by no means should we feel like we've missed out on anything because it's all coming to our living rooms, slowly but surely.
Thank you for lending me your ears and eyes. I do hope you had as much fun reading this article as I did writing it. You can find me on Instagram and Facebook or of course, through the website.
Until next time, Lifestyle Connoisseurs!
Yours truly, Bee x
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