For the couple that isn't all about a Carrabba's date or a teddy bear, several UF organizations will put together events for Valentine's Day.
One group has taken high school candy grams and added a twist. The Gators for Wish Kids club has been selling cookie grams on the Reitz Union Colonnade and will sell them until Tuesday for $3 each, said the club's president, 21-year-old marketing senior Lauren Vallario.
The grams include a poem, a message and two cookies. Recipients will receive a text to pick up their cookie grams at the Colonnade on Tuesday. A package for family members is also available this year.
Club members will table at the Colonnade every weekday until Tuesday from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Students with animals on their minds can attend a vegan meal with Student Animal Alliance.
The UF-based group, which includes non-student activists, is holding a Very Vegan Valentine Dinner at the Civic Media Center on Saturday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. A $5 donation is suggested.
This is the first time the group will be hosting the dinner, according to Civic Media Center coordinator Robbie Czopek, 28.
"Having a vegan meal is a more welcoming and all-encompassing thing than one with meat," Czopek said.
The idea came from the group's Thanksgiving meal, which he said attracted about 50 people.
Music lovers can have Phi Mu Alpha music fraternity brothers serenade any valentine in Gainesville.
The $35 package ($45 for non-UF students) includes three songs and a rose, according to the chapter's music director and 21-year-old UF music education senior David Santiago.
Santiago said he expects about 25 to 30 serenades to be purchased this year.
"The best part is singing with all the brothers," he said. "We carpool from place to place so we get to spend a lot of bonding time together."
The proceeds will be given away for the first time to an undetermined philanthropic cause.
For more information, call 352-226-4873.
