Sure, Valentine’s Day is a commercial holiday cluttered with stacks of sparkly cards, boxes of candy hearts, and teddy bears bearing signs professing love. But there’s no need to be a curmudgeon about it.

Valentine’s Day gifts don’t have to be trivial trinkets, boxed up chocolates, or shiny adornments. They can also be things that enhance your Valentine’s experience, or items that lead to activities one might love to enjoy in tandem. We feel affection for this list of Valentine’s Day gifts:

1. A Special Type of Diamond

If you want to give the gift of diamonds this year but they aren’t totally in your budget, behold these hanging diamond-shaped terrariums. They are handmade from hand cut glass, soldered with a lead free metal alloy and finished with a black or copper patina. Filling these diamonds with life, in the form of succulents perhaps, makes them even more special. You can order yours from Lonesome Hobo here for $65.00.

2. The Love Connection for Long Distance Lovers 

At least long distance relationships no longer entail waiting three months for the Pony Express to deliver a letter from your significant other.  They can still be lonely though, especially on holidays like Valentine’s Day. Love Connection pillows let us give our long distance lovers something to hug when we can’t be there ourselves. The pillows are made from all natural jute burlap and hand painted to show the love connection between two people by featuring an image of their individual states or countries. If you’re in Los Angeles and your lover is in London, you may want an image of the U.S. connected to an image of the U.K.. If you’re in Atlanta and your lover is in Boston, you may want a picture of Georgia connected to Massachusetts. Even the colors and fonts are your choice. You can order your custom Love Connection from Two Peaches Design here for $37.00.

3. When Your Honey Likes it Hot

If your honey likes feeling hot, hot, hot– he or she may love the Heat Seeker Gift Box. It contains three of the world’s hottest peppers (Ghost Peppers, Morgue Scorpions, and Carolina Reapers, yikes!) placed in 100% raw, unfiltered, unheated, mega-decadent honey.  If you know hot, you know these peppers well. The awesome looking Heat Seeker box contains three 16 ounce jars, two honey dippers, Ghost Pepper Honey, Moruga Scorpion Honey, Carolina Reaper Honey, and a promise of a hot night at home. Grab yours from Geddes Farms for $58 and use promo code SUPER5 to get 5% off of your order.  

4. Learn How to Grow Together

Grab a date and take an online class from Hatch Lab together! Bryant Mason and Kyle Manson of The Urban Farm Company of Colorado want to teach you how to grow your greens from seed indoors.  You’ll learn how seeds germinate, get details about all the supplies you’ll need, receive step-by-step instructions, and go through troubleshooting tips. The class lasts 32 minutes and you can take it at home, even by candlelight if you like. Start and stop it whenever you choose– once you buy the class you’ll always have access to it. And guess what? It’s only $5. Buy your class here on Hatch Lab and use promo code EARLYBIRD for $1 off.

5. Set the Night on Fire

Cozy up to a fire and enjoy the night sky on the 14th (and many nights to come) next to this super cool industrial style fire pit made of carbon steel. Grab a mesh rack and grill a delicious meal.

This hard-bodied pit is four-feet wide and four-feet deep and has a welded drain fitting making it perfect for a water feature during warmer months. Just imagine how wonderful it would be to have water lilies, lotus, and cattails thriving in your Valentine’s outdoor space. This baby is heavy-duty and handmade in Atlanta. Order one here for $600.

6. It’s Time to Say Goodnight, Honey

Cliché or not, lighting candles and sitting in a hot bath does feel amazing. Add some chamomile tea in the mix and suddenly your body is like butta’. Make it easy for your Valentine to start, interrupt, or end their day with this well-known ritual by giving them the attractive Goodnight, Honey from BEE RAW. Goodnight Honey is a trio of fine chamomile tea, 100% raw wild raspberry honey, and a beeswax candle. We absolutely love the jars. Each element is artisanal, sustainable, and 1% of sales go to the Save the Bees fund. Visit BEE RAW honey to bring these three lovely things into your lover’s life here. Priced at $44.

7. One Valentine Short of a Picnic

Beauty, seclusion, delicious cheeses, champagne under a clear blue sky… all of this is possible with an Eco Picnic Basket. Too chilly in your neck of the woods for a date al fresco? Set up a blanket and some candles for a picnic indoors. No matter where you are, your Valentine will love this eco-friendly picnic basket which includes plates, a cutting board and utensils all made from bamboo, wine glasses made from recycled glass, dye and chemical free cotton insulated lining, and embroidered napkins made from natural cotton. BYO truffles. Grab a basket for your date here for $150.

8. Anchor Yourself to Your Bearded Man with Ancient Woods

In the animal kingdom (a kingdom we just to happen to inhabit) mutual grooming is a sign of love. Have a bearded lover? Give him the gift of grooming with handmade beard oil straight out of Brooklyn. The base of Anchor Classic Beard Oil is is made with organic sesame and hempseed oils, but this particular blend is much more than that. It includes a mixture of ancient woods– Himalayan cedar wood, palo santo, and cedar wood Virginia balsam resins and blood orange essential oils. Your Valentine’s whiskers will be protected and his soft skin underneath moisturized. The oil comes in perfectly classic glass bottles. Order a bottle and learn how to use it here from Brooklyn Grooming for $29.

9. When Love was Prohibited in the 1920s

The Prohibition Era must have been a real bummer. Thankfully the government came to their senses and reopened the floodgates of libations for all to enjoy. If your Valentine loves whisky, this Old Fashioned Whisky Cocktail Hoochfusion Kit would be so much fun. Each kit comes with organic botanical tea blends (certified through the Oregon Tilth and imported through the Fair for Life program) to make 500ml of finished hooch, a glass flask bottle with a personalized label, a four-inch stainless steel funnel, a natural filter, and step-by-step instructions. Just add your lovers favorite Bourbon or Rye and party like it’s 1929! Grab your kit from Bootleg Botanicals on Esty here, for only $35.

10. Lubricate the Gears of Love with New American Chocolate 

TCHO is an American chocolate company that aims to bring new thinking to an ancient food with cocoa beans from Ghana, Madagascar, Ecuador and Peru. Besides their decadent chocolates improving our daily lives, they also make direct investments in their cocoa farmers. The Joyeux “Gear Love” Valentine Gift Tub is a delicious way to show love to your favorite gear-head or cyclist. It contains 50 bars of award-winning chocolates. Increase mutual salivation this holiday by ordering your Gear Love from TCHO here, for $29.95.

Happy Valentine’s Day from Urban Gardens!