If Valentine’s Day is just a silly Hallmark holiday for you, we’ve got 5 alternatives

In elementary school, Valentine’s Day was one of my favorite days of the year. I loved signing cute cardboard cartoon cards for each of my classmates, smothering heart-shaped crafts in glitter glue and, best of all, the excitement of breaking into a shoebox full of candy, stickers and tiny plastic toys at the end of the school day.

As an adult, Valentine’s can be much less fun. Even the most independent single person can feel a bit lonely after being bombarded by post after post of romantic gestures documented on social media, or having friends bail on your typical Friday night plans in lieu of fancy dinners with their significant others.

This holiday can be rough even for those who are partnered up. The pressure to be romantic and thoughtful is definitely stress-inducing. Even when you come up with the perfect plans to surprise your sweetheart, those romantic gifts and multi-course dinners can easily blow your budget.

Whether you’re single, broke or just a non-traditional romantic, we’ve got a roundup of five playful ways to spend Valentine’s Day that might even bring back some of the joy of the grade-school days.

(1) Anti-Valentine’s Day at Wooden Robot

1440 S. Tryon St. and 416 E. 36th St.

Feb. 14, 5 p.m.-midnight

Free admission

Celebrate the opening of Wooden Robot’s new temperature-controlled outdoor biergarten and taproom expansion at the South End brewery’s second annual Anti-Valentine’s Day party. Go against the grind of the Hallmark holiday at this party featuring make-your-own voodoo dolls, flights featuring a new new Cherry Currant Gose, Roseson Hibiscus Sour & Beast Foot Stout and a dessert sale to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

If you’d rather party in NoDa, the Chamber by Wooden Robot will have its own Anti-Valentine’s party with free Benny Pennello’s pizza and a throwback playlist starting at 7 p.m.

(2) Flapjacks & Flannels

2921 N. Tryon St.

Feb. 14, 2-10 p.m.

Free admission

Forget the formality of roses and chocolate. Spend your Valentine’s Day in your coziest flannel shirt celebrating your love of beer at the NoDa Brewing Flapjacks & Flannel event. This low-key evening celebrates the release of Hop Cakes, NoDa Brewing’s maple-flavored Imperial IPA. TIN Kitchen will be serving up flapjacks for one night only starting at 5 p.m., and Nathan Storey will be providing live music starting at 7 p.m. For those who want to stay in the Valentine’s spirit, the brewery will also be giving out Valentine’s candies, and your bartender may give you a Valentine’s card at the bar.

Pro tip: If you can’t wait until the 14th to get a taste of Hop Cakes, check out the Hop Cakes Preview Night at the OG NoDa location on Feb. 13. The preview event will allow you to taste three variants of the stout: double maple, bacon and blueberry.

(3) Haunted Souls Ghost Tour

5225 Sample Road, Huntersville

Feb. 14, 6-10 p.m.

$20 per person

No need to be alone on Valentine’s Day. Grab a friend or date and spend the evening with the ghosts that haunt Latta Plantation. Take a tour through the plantation while listening to ghost stories, experiencing historical mourning practices and connecting to the spirits of the plantation through an on-site psychic medium. Finish your tour with hot chocolate and cookies.

(4) Southern Ladies Arm Wrestling: War of the Roses

2320 N. Davidson St.

Feb. 14, 8-10 p.m.

$4 to attend, $10 to wrestle

Spend your evening celebrating feminine power and friendship while cheering your lungs out at this bracket-based, 64-person arm wrestling tournament. This playful competition creates a space where “female and femme-identifying individuals can celebrate vulnerability and strength together” by competiting in the tornament and supporting fellow wrestlers, said Southern Ladies Arm Wrestling founder Rebecca Henderson.

This event is the Southern Ladies Arm Wrestling’s second tournament and was purposefully scheduled to take place on Valentine’s. “Valentine’s Day is a very emotionally charged day, and I just thought, ‘What an interesting way to get people holding hands on a special day,’” Henderson said.

Although contestants must be female or femme-identifying, people of all gender identities are encouraged to come out and cheer. Henderson describes the energy of the arm wrestling tournaments as being similar to the last two minutes of a basketball game — but for an entire hour. The event will also feature concessions such as vegan and non-vegan hot dogs, ice cream and a special collaborative beer from Free Range Brewing.

(5) Valentine’s Day “Happy Meals”

1961 E. 7th St.

Feb. 14

$32/meal

Recapture some of that grade school nostalgia with The Stanley’s grown-up take on a Happy Meal. Enjoy a delicious and unpretentious dinner of four hemp-smoked chicken nuggets, a Stanley burger, fries and a homemade vanilla milkshake from this James Beard Semifinalist restaurant kitchen for $32. To add to the casual charm, no reservations are accepted for this meal and you can only order it by sitting at the bar. Bon appetit.