If you are reading this, I’m going to assume that you are sitting. If you happen to be walking and reading this on your phone or glancing at this while you wait at a bus stop, please stop now if you’re a guy and find yourself a seat somewhere. You’ll want to sit for this. Ready? Valentine’s Day falls on a Friday this year. Yup, a whole weekend of Valentine’s Day fun to plan for. Don’t stand up just yet– this is just the first of the next THREE YEARS when you will have a weekend Valentine’s Day. February 14th 2015? Saturday. February 14th 2016? Sunday. You will literally not be in the clear until 2017 when Valentine’s Day miraculously skips a day and falls on a Tuesday.

Tricks to Survive Valentine’s Weekend

If you don’t have dinner reservations already made, you are not prepared for this. Here’s a step by step guide for making the most out of this year’s Valentine’s Day

1. Dinner

Either make reservations now (thank OpenTable for saving you on that) or practice cooking now. If you’re a good cook, have fun with it. If you’re not an experienced cook, here’s an easy way to create a meal for two people.

You make one starter which can be soup or salad, one main, two sides, and a dessert. If you can’t do all of that, there’s no harm in purchasing chocolate covered strawberries or chocolate cake for dessert. Just don’t bring it to the table in the box. You don’t want this to feel like just any other night when it’s too cold to go out, so light some candles, put down a tablecloth, use real dishes (or reusable disposable which is a real thing), turn off the TV, and for goodness sake, pick your socks up off the floor.

2. Order flowers in advance

Of course you can always walk into a flower shop and pick up a bouquet of whatever flowers are left over on this busiest day of the year. I’m sure your significant other will love your baby’s breath and wilting flowers concoction.

Don’t want to be that guy? Here’s something you may not know—you can order flowers from a local florist and you will pay much less than you would if you ordered them online. Just tell the florist whether you want it in a vase or not, either a specific flower you want in there or a specific color scheme, and a price you’re looking to spend. For example, “I’d like a tall bouquet in a vase that includes gerbera daisies for $60.” (Sweetie, are you taking notes?) Flowers are nice because they’re thoughtful, but flowers in your woman’s favorite color is even more thoughtful.

3. Purchase a Gift

This is not as intimidating as it may seem at first glance. Ask yourself four questions: What is your relationship? How long have you been together? How long do you plan on being together? How much do you spend on an average date together? Your best gift idea depends on your answers to these questions. If your answers are, friends with benefits for 3 years, I don’t know and we just stay in, your best gift to her may be actually figuring out what you want. If your answers are we’re married, we’ve been together for 12 years, plan on being together forever, and “date? What’s a date?” you may want to buy her something that says “I still think about you all the time and want you to feel special.”

In general, it’s fair to say if you plan being with her forever, get her something she’ll keep and if you’re getting her something to keep, you can spend double what you would for a nice date. So, you’ve been dating for under a year, plan on asking her to marry you at some point, and spend around $300 when you do dinner and a show? Get her a trendy gold pendant. If you’ve been together forever, you plan on being together forever, and you still regularly go out on dates, spending a little something sweet on a diamond present might be where you should go. She won’t say “you shouldn’t have.”

The choice is yours. You can spend all of February 15th and 16th hearing about what everyone else did and got for Valentine’s Day or you can hunker down and put in the effort. So make yourself a checklist: dinner, flowers, gift, and check each off as they’re done. Alternatively, you can also take her on a weekend-long trip. I hear Aspen is nice this time of year.