We could make a book of the responses we received to our Love Stories contest—a long, sappy and occasionally heartbreaking book. You sent us tales of missed opportunities, of love gone sour, of cheating hearts. But mostly you sent us stories of connections made, of love that prospers. That’s a nice antidote to the prevailing cynicism and self-conscious irony of the day.

Approximately one billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent annually, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year, right behind Christmas. Sometimes, however, cards just will not suffice. A Wikipedia search for Valentine’s Day yields several histories of the holiday and the ways in which different countries traditionally have chosen to celebrate it. It is safe to say that nobody does Valentine’s Day quite like Americans: the shopping frenzy, the search for the perfect and non-offensive gift, the nerves and expectations—we take it to a whole new level. On the other hand, it’s hardly a holiday in Norway. In Japan and Korea, they’ve come up with reciprocal holidays in March and April for all the men who didn’t make an effort back in February to redeem themselves and get out of the doghouse. And the Chinese have their own counterpart, called “Night of Sevens,” on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, when girls write their names and numbers on mandarin oranges and throw them into a river, hoping somewhere down the line there is a cute little boy searching for the right peel that will lead him to his future lover. That sounds pretty nice. However, here at home, we prefer spa packages, flowers, lingerie, basically anything that makes someone feel pampered and special. And why shouldn’t we? After all, valentine comes from the Latin word valor, meaning worthy. So browse the following list for some ideas about how you might celebrate your own worth or that of another on Valentine’s Day. And maybe, just in case, throw an orange peel or two in the river while you’re at it.

If you look around the drugstore this time of year, you’ll notice a lot of chocolate in red, heart-shaped boxes, and a bunch of people gathering in the greeting card aisle. According to the Greeting Card Association, Valentine’s Day ranks second only to Christmas in volume of cards sent, with over one billion delivered worldwide. Think of it as a billion little arrows flying around the planet, aimed from the bow of that amorous little archer Cupid and his minions at the United States Postal Service—straight at someone’s heart.