"I'm married but I won’t be spending Valentine's Day with my husband."

There’s no other day of the year as divisive as Valentine’s Day.

You either love it (and have a passion for collecting over-sized teddy bears). Or you hate it (and tend to resent anyone in a 10 metre radius holding a juicy bunch of roses).

Me? I kind of fall into the latter camp. Yes, I’m very happily married. Yes, I’m rather sickeningly in love with my partner. But I tell him about my feelings 365 days of every year. He’s got the memo.

I don’t need a special day, not linked to us in any way, to tell him that, or vice versa.

But do I tell my best girlfriends about my undying love for them over and over again? Do I share all the ways they brighten up my life and make me happy with them every day? No, not nearly enough as I should, anyway.

Which is why this year, in a nod to Parks and Recreation‘s Lesley Knope and her genius creation “Galentine’s Day”, this Valentine’s Day is going to be all about my “gals”. The friendship loves of my life.

Here's how I’m choosing to celebrate...

Send 'em flower power.

While I'm not the biggest flower person, there's something so delightfully unexpected about receiving a bunch of fresh, fragrant flowers from someone just because.

Surprise your best friends by sending them a single rose to their place of work (or wherever they’ll be on February 14th). It's guaranteed to bring a smile to their faces. Or at the very least, allow them to imagine what it'd be like to appear on The Bachelor.

Make a Galentine's Day hamper.

Chocolates. Teddy Bears. Roses. They're lovely, but they can all be a bit yawn-worthy, can’t they? Grab a pretty basket, tie a red ribbon around it and fill it with the luxurious things you know your best friend will love.

Include some lavish quince paste, gourmet cheese and some fancy only-on-birthdays crackers. Pack a bottle of French Liqueur, Chambord. It's refreshing raspberry notes make it super easy to create cocktails with (meaning your friend is more likely to invite you around for one).

Plus, it’s pinkish in colour - which ties into Galentine’s Day perfectly. Add some grapes and some cherries to the mix and you've got yourself a ready made picnic for two.

Send a handwritten card.

Usually Valentine's Day cards are cheesier than your Friday night takeaway pizza. But when it comes to professing your love to your friends? Layer that cheese on thick, lady. Send your friends a card with a handwritten note inside, telling them why you're grateful for their friendship and how you cherish all of the memories you've made.

Yes, this will require you to put them in an envelope, acquire stamps and pop them in a post box. You will also need to know their addresses - sure, texting is easier but nothing good ever came easily, friends.

Extra kudos must go to left-handed people (like myself) who will inevitably smudge the card and end up with pen all over themselves. If that doesn't signify true friendship, I'll eat my box of heart-shapes chocolates.

Oh, and you'll earn bonus friendship points if you come up with a poem - those of the 'roses are red' variety don't count I'm afraid.

Buon Appetit.

Dinner for two? Boring. Dinner for several of your best girl friends? Brilliant. Organise with a group of mates to head out to the kind of restaurant you'd usually reserve for special dinners to with your significant other.

Order some delicious food and cocktails and toast to the kind of friends that still make you laugh so hard you snort. Even when you’re in a respectable venue.

Have you ever had a Galentines Day?