With just over two weeks to go until Valentine’s Day arrives, we’ve pretty much resigned ourselves to the fact things will be a little different this year.
Whilst it’s true that we are somewhat used to adapting our seasonal celebrations for the circumstances nowadays, the loved-up among us won’t have forgotten that Valentine’s Day is new ground for the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, given that it was one of the last events to take place ‘normally’ before the stark realities of the crisis set in last March.
That doesn’t mean the occasion should to go un-celebrated in 2021 though.
Yes, we can’t deny that it’ll be a little different this year, but there’s no need to miss out on feeling the love with your special someone, especially as there’s a whole host of ways to safely celebrate from the comfort of your own home.
Independent businesses all across the region are gearing up for Valentine’s Day by delivering date night experiences directly to your front door.
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Here’s the best of the bunch.
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Lockdown Love-IN
Park N Party
https://www.instagram.com/p/CKUZFnXFMaG/
One Manchester-based immersive entertainment company is eager to put a unique and lockdown-friendly spin on the national day of love.
Starting on Friday 12th February and running for three nights, Park N Party – the team behind a series of sell-out drive-in cinema and theatre performances in Manchester – is adapting amid the third national lockdown by bringing the entertainment to you.
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And they’ve aptly-named it the Lockdown Love-IN.
Lockdown Love-IN is an exclusive streaming platform, which sees singer and media personality Chrissy Bray provide a night of entertainment and music, accompanied by your choice of menu package, which has been expertly-crafted by top chefs, including options from the team behind Michelin star restaurant, Simpsons, prepared to simply reheat at home.
You can find out more and book your tickets for Lockdown Love-IN here.
Beer Tasting Experience
Seven Bro7hers Brewery & Sis4ers Distillery
https://www.instagram.com/p/CKRCIBmHumy/
Salford-based independent companies Si4ers Distillery and Seven Bro7hers Brewery are teaming up to bring the region’s lovers and best pals an exclusive live beer and gin tasting evening for one night only on Valentine’s Day this year.
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The two-hour event will be hosted on Zoom and the wonderful tasting pack will be sent directly to your front door prior to the tasting taking place.
Each tasting pack includes:
3 x 440ml Seven Bro7hers beers (Salty Tiers Sour, Honeycomb Pale Ale, and Bubble House Brut IPA)
3 x 5cl SIS4ERS Gins (Signature, Strawberry and Lime and Thyme)
3 x Fever Tree Tonics
3 x bags of garnish for your gins
A box of Cocoa Cabana Ancoats truffles to share (vegan friendly and nut free)
You can grab your tickets from the Si4ers Distillery website here.
Doughnut Decorating Kits
Doughnut Kitchen
https://www.instagram.com/p/CKPOtOcBm4e/
This Manchester-based doughnut company is committed to bringing delicately-decorated sweet treats directly to your front door all year round, and Valentine’s Day is no different.
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The Doughnut Kitchen’s Valentine’s Kits come in a themed box, complete with:
x4 Large Ring Doughnuts
White, Pink and Milk Chocolate
Pink / Red Heart Sprinkles
Pink Shimmer Sprinkles
Mini Jammie Dodgers
Valentine’s Toppers
Prices for the kits start from £12.
If you don’t fancy getting stuck into the decorating yourself though, don’t worry, you can simply order one of the showstopping pre-made Valentine’s boxes to be delivered instead.
All orders can be made via The Doughnut Kitchen on Facebook or Instagram.
Cheese & Wine Tasting
Decent Drop
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Decent Drop
Decent Drop’s Valentine’s Day Gift Boxes are perfect for the sceptics and hopeless romantic.
Along with the usual six wines and six cheeses that the Manchester-based, lockdown-born delivery company is known and loved right across the community for, the special Valentine’s Day kit will include a bottle of fizz and a miniature bottle of BRAND pink gin. Decent Drop has also teamed up with artisan chocolatiers, Cocoa Tree Café, to include a box of six bespoke chocolates that are sure to bring you “mouthwatering joy”, along with some fancy oat cakes and delicious chutney to complete each set, as well as the usual tasting notes.
Two person kits are £100, with one person kits setting you back just £75, and you will also receive an invitation for the interactive Zoom event too, which will be held on Saturday 13th February 2021.
Not quite found something that takes your fancy just yet?
Don’t worry.
There’s still plenty of time before the big day arrives, and we will continue to update this article with all of the lockdown-friendly, COVID-safe Valentine’s events that we can find happening across Greater Manchester this year, so keep checking back to make sure you don’t miss out.
What's On
You can step inside a fashion show with Vogue’s immersive ‘Inventing the Runway’ show in Manchester
Thomas Melia
A Vogue immersive show titled ‘Inventing the Runway’ has arrived Manchester, and it’s even co-created by Anna Wintour herself.
Ever fancied learning more about the fashion world? Well, now’s your chance to hear everything you need to know from global fashion leaders and lifestyle magazine Vogue.
The Anna Wintour-approved immersive experience comes alongside the announcement of Factory International‘s Winter lineup, which features another new event all about voyaging to the moon.
Vogue: Inventing the Runway incorporates interviews, visual media and more to help attendees visualise fashion shows of the past, present and future.
Visitors will be surrounded by incredible visuals on all sides (including underfoot), fully stepping inside the world of high fashion.
As well as understanding how fashion shows became the pinnacle of a designer’s vision, this runway-themed display also includes looking back at iconic moments of fashion and pop culture.
‘Inventing the Runway’ by Vogue is focusing on outfits worn by models and A-listers alike, with narration from the one and only Cate Blanchett.
A glimpse inside Vogue: Inventing the Runway. Credit: The Manc Group
You can expect to see curated pieces by significant creative minds in fashion history like Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood and lots more.
Throughout the Vogue experience, as well as coming visually face to face with fashion, you will also hear a soundscape that perfectly reflects this innovative industry with a fusion of classical and pop music.
This fashion exhibition uses the same Lightroom technology behind the impressive David Hockney experience that opened back in December.
Anna Wintour, Chief Content Officer, Condé Nast, and Global Editorial Director, Vogue said: “At Vogue, we’ve been lucky enough over the decades to see many incredible runway shows, which have often told the story of fashion as much as the clothes themselves.”
“This Lightroom experience is a wonderful opportunity for a lot more people to experience first-hand the thrill of watching the history of fashion unfold right in front of them.”
You can experience Vogue’s ‘Inventing the Runway’ immersive show from 18 December to 10 January.
Find out more information and grab your tickets HERE.
Manchester favourites hosting a heartwarming festive social for those alone this Christmas
Danny Jones
Beloved Manchester bar and cafe, Haunt, have announced that they will be hosting a special social to spread some much-needed seasonal cheer to those who are spending Christmas apart from their families and/or friends this year.
Wholesome stuff from a wholesome bunch.
That’s right, friendly neighbourhood ghosts Haunt will be putting on a little free shindig for the 2025 festive period in an effort not only to share the typical kindness with locals based in and around the city centre but to help create “a sense of community, no matter what your situation”.
Announcing the completely open-to-the-public Christmas Eve party over the weekend, the team are looking to provide those who might otherwise be lonely or struggle during the holidays with a warm, arms-wide welcome, plus plenty more.
Writing on their social media account this past Sunday, bar manager JJ said: “People, it’s time to connect this Christmas! We will be providing free coffee and sweet treats from 12-5pm on Christmas Eve, as well as some games and workshops.
“We’ve put a lot of work into this, so it would be amazing to see as many of you there as possible! Also need this to reach the people that need an event like this most, so please share and repost.
“As always, look out for your people, I wouldn’t be anywhere without mine – JJ xoxo”
Come on, who doesn’t love seeing heartwarming stuff like this on their feed, especially when it comes to a time of year where so many suffer quietly amid the majority having a good time?
This isn’t the first time they’ve held a pop-up that’s caught our attention in 2025, either; it was only last month that we were surprised to stumble on a mini padel court in the middle of the room.
Once again, there’ll be brews and fresh bakes, as well as plenty of other activities to keep people entertained on the night.
As described in their post, Christmas can be tough for a lot of people, and if they can make even just one person looking for some kindness and companionship feel better for a few hours this year, then they’ll have done above and beyond their job.
It goes without saying that we love seeing local businesses taking the social and community side of their work like this to heart and putting in serious effort to make a difference.
Well done to JJ, the Chosen Family support group, and everyone at Haunt for setting this up; if you know anyone who might be interested in coming along, please do pass on the information.
You can grab your free tickets via Eventbrite right HERE, and maybe we’ll see some of you there.
Emily Sergeant -
27th January 2021 
