As Valentine’s Day looms ever closer, many have begun to worry about planning that perfect evening with the special person, or group of friends, they care about. Although no amount of planning can ever guarantee a seamless evening, a few fresh ideas never hurt. With this in mind, Postscript has compiled a guide for some awesome activities in and around Kingston, whether your evening out is with that cute guy or girl in your favourite class, your one and only, your best friend or everyone in your address book.
First Date
• If you’re going out for coffee, show your date you have a sensitive, ecologically-conscious side and take them to Coffeeco or the Sleepless Goat. Once you have your coffee you can chill out in the café and chat, or take it to go and explore one of Kingston’s many used book stores—Wayfarer Books right next to the Goat and Berry and Peterson Booksellers just up the street. Scoping out used books is the perfect opportunity to browse and chat and compare tastes while first getting to know each other.
• You or your date not coffee drinkers? Go out for tea, either at the Classics Tea Lounge, Kingston’s only bubble-tea store, or the Tea Store farther downtown, where you can order fresh-baked scones to go with your gourmet tea.
• Looking for something on the classier side? Go upstairs at the Grizzly Grill for drinks and a game of pool, then take in an indie flick at the Screening Room.
Romantic but Quirky
• Reserve a table (well in advance) at Wooden Heads for some truly phenomenal pizza, then walk over to Classic Video with your romantic counterpart and rent a movie—it’s only $5 for 3 movies, and offers much better selection than Blockbuster. Open a bottle of wine and enjoy a quiet evening in with your lover-boy or girl.
• Go stargazing with your honey at the Queen’s Observatory, which holds regular public
open-houses on the second Saturday of
every month.
• Embrace the romantic cutesy couple image and treat your sweetheart to weekend brunch at The Pan Chancho Bakery and Café. One meal there and you be dreaming of their french toast with apple butter crème fraîche
for weeks.
Just Friends
• There’s nothing better than seeing a great concert with one of your best friends. Check with Destinations to see if there are any concerts coming up in the area, or hit up The Grad Club on any Friday or Saturday night for
live music.
• Feel like recapturing the fun of middle-school birthdays? Make your way over to the Frontenac Mall for laser tag at Laser-Blast or go bowling at Cloverleaf Lanes. The Frontenac Mall is admittedly a bit off the beaten path for students, but if you have access to a car, can co-ordinate bus times (routes 10 and 71 will get you there) or get together a large enough group to share a cab,
the experience is well worth the effort—I guarantee your evening will be legen—wait for it—DARY.
Ladies’ Night
• Start your girls’ night out right with fancy martinis and tapas at Tango. On Wednesdays they offer a $15 Martini’s and Manicure special from 6 to 10 p.m.
• Call up all your closest girl friends—the ones you haven’t had a good chat with in forever—and meet them at a restaurant you’ve always wanted to visit but never got around to—try
Lotus-Heart-Blossom, Curry Original, or Take Sushi—then head to the Sleepless Goat and order a bunch of their amazing cakes to share as a group.
• If you’re looking for something healthier, you could organize a group of girls to try out the hour and a half hot yoga Karma class at Feel yoga. The class runs every Thursday at 9 p.m. and costs only $5, with all the proceeds going
to charity.
A Bro-mantic Evening
• Get together with a couple of buddies for fried food, beer and a sports game at Fanatics or the Brass. If you can’t make it this Saturday, Wednesday is cheap wings night at the Brass, and there’s live music there every Thursday, Sunday and Monday night, starting at 11 p.m.
• If you’re looking for something a little more up-close-and-personal, head down to the K-Rock centre for a Frontenacs game. Check out their schedule at
kingstonfrontenacs.com.
• If sports aren’t your style, live music at Clark on Thursday nights is the perfect combination of beer and music, made even more attractive when you factor in Clark’s new pizza menu.
A Group Affair
• The Merchant is great for going out with a large group because there’s tons of seating, great drinks, delicious and highly shareable appetizers such as fries, nachos and wings, as well as live music that isn’t too loud for conversation.
• What does an apiculturist study? What was Superman’s name as a child? Which organ in the human body is most often transplanted from one human to another? Think you know the answers to these questions? Every Thursday at 9 p.m. you and your best
buddies—couples and singles alike—can team up and challenge the best minds of the Queen’s community at The Grad Club’s weekly trivia quiz night.
• Check out Time to Laugh, the comedy club beside Stages. You can buy drinks, relax and enjoy a live performance, giving everyone plenty to talk about (for better or worse) after the show.
The Valentine’s Day Anti-date
• Hang out with your cat or other pet. Tell them how much they mean to you.
• Call up a friend, order take out and rent some horror movies. Tell them how much they mean to you—just make sure they know it’s not in the context of a commercialized Hallmark holiday.
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