How to create the perfect Valentine’s dinner date by looking at Google Trends

By Alma Fabiani

Updated May 18, 2020 at 05:15 PM

Reading time: 2 minutes

I’ve never celebrated Valentine’s Day. I hated how cheesy movies usually depict it, although my inability to keep a relationship for more than a few months may actually have been the real reason. But this is 2020, and I’m in a (somewhat) healthy relationship, so why not try to catch up on all those previous disgustingly romantic dinners and create the perfect Valentine’s date?

Since listing all the best restaurants to have dinner in London would be boring, I’ve decided to look at Google Trends’ most searched terms linked to Valentine’s Day 2020. I wanted to see what people actually search for when preparing a lovey-dovey meal for their partner, casual hook-up, friends.

In the UK, I discovered that what romantics googled the most was ‘Marks & Spencer’s Valentine’s Day’ meal deals. The truth is, once I realised that this was how this piece was going to turn out, I almost gave it up. But who was I to turn my nose up at a good ol’ M&S meal deal? After a few minutes of scrolling down the website and checking how much I would have to spend on each offer, I saw the perfect opportunity, the one that changed my mind—the love sausage.

Upon reflection, I still can’t tell you why the love sausage was the last push I needed. I’ve been a vegetarian for quite a while, therefore that “bacon-wrapped British pork sausage with a hint of truffle” was not going to be “the star of [my] breakfast in bed,” and it definitely was not going to “set pulses racing.” It just looked funny, and even though it didn’t end up on my menu that night, it pushed me to go to M&S and take a selfie with the infamous love sausage.

On the website, I also saw the ‘Nuts about you’ cheesecake, which I decided not to buy later on. By now, you must be wondering if I even bought anything at Marks & Spencer, or if this is just an excuse for me to ramble about sausages and nuts, and you would be right, I didn’t buy anything at M&S. The thought of eating a meal deal for my first proper Valentine’s dinner made the experience ten times worse.

So I decided to put my main focus on another country. Forgetting about the UK for a moment, I headed over to the US. For Americans, the most searched term was ‘Starbucks Valentine’s Day mug’. I’ll be honest straight away, I did not get a mug, either. The simple fact that there are no Starbucks near my house—only two Costas in a row—discouraged me in one Google search.

That’s when it hit me, creating the perfect Valentine’s dinner date was not about planning this elaborate evening—perfection is subjective. I spent my evening eating broccoli soup (that I didn’t make, should I add) with fancy bread and that was enough. News flash everybody: the perfect Valentine’s dinner date does not exist, or at least it varies depending on the relationship.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), this year, spending on Valentine’s Day is taking off, with up to $196.31 spent per lover this year. That’s up 21 per cent from last year. And this makes me wonder, do any of these people live in London? Spending a whole week of my rent on whoever I’m dating feels like a bit of a stretch. So, yes, I boycotted the M&S love sausage and didn’t bother to leave the comfort of Dalston to find a Starbucks and the perfect Valentine’s Day special edition mug, but the main thing is that I tried. I did my research, gave you the best options—I just failed to put them into practice.

Hopefully, this failed attempt at creating the perfect V-Day dinner date will be a lesson for each and every one of us. My last piece of advice? Whether you want to celebrate Valentine’s Day or not, don’t stress it. Treat yourself. And ignore Google Trends.

Keep On Reading

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

French riots following fatal police shooting of Nahel Merzouk tear both his family and country apart

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

Documentary photographer Valentina Sinis tells all about the Iraqi Kurdistan women burning themselves

By Charlie Sawyer

Paris Hilton spills the tea on being a socialite and mum of 2 on new Call Her Daddy podcast

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

Colombia sterilises first hippo left behind by Pablo Escobar amid ecological disaster

By Alma Fabiani

No bonus episode for The Summer I Turned Pretty. Watch cast react to season 2’s top scenes

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

With the rise of narco influencers comes a rise in narco-funerals. Here’s what you need to know

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

How Jenny McCarthy’s predatory kiss with a teen Justin Bieber impacted the pop star

By Abby Amoakuh

Jenna Ortega exits Scream franchise following firing of Melissa Barrera over Palestine comments

By Charlie Sawyer

Who is Alabama Barker, and why does the internet think the Kardashians hate her?

By Alma Fabiani

Conspiracy theorists believe Amber Heard’s daughter Oonagh is ex Elon Musk’s love child

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

AI-generated porn is growing in popularity. But will it simply become another man’s world?

By Mason Berlinka

Internet rapper Lil Tay dead at 14? Here’s everything you need to know

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

What’s poppin? Not Jack Harlow’s Thanksgiving halftime performance

By Alma Fabiani

How to unlock Netflix’s secret category codes to access hidden films and series genres

By Charlie Sawyer

TikToker reveals the underwhelming food served at the White House Pride event

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

What’s the happiest country in the world? Spoiler: it didn’t win fairly

By Louis Shankar

From his Daily Mail column to mayoral election rumours, we haven’t seen the last of Boris Johnson

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

Thousands of Black British youth contemplate leaving amid rising racism and extremism

By Charlie Sawyer

Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner divorce: Joe Jonas seen wearing wedding ring amid internet rumours

By Charlie Sawyer

364 days away from election day, Trump leads the 2024 US presidential election polls