Latin Music, Flowers, and Potatoes: Welcome to Valentine’s Day at Princeton

Love was in the air, on the ice, and on email listservs this Feb. 14 at Princeton, where everything from chocolate-fueled gatherings to sweet potato deliveries kept students busy throughout a particularly eventful Valentine’s Day.

Frustrated by the limited flower options near the university, Jack Whelan ’19 offered Trader Joe’s rose bouquets to students via the student mailing lists. “I’ve gotten many more requests than I was expecting,” he wrote in an email. “My room is stuffed full of flowers, which is new.”

Meanwhile, Tiffany Chen ’20, Clare McKee ’20, and Gabriella Pollner ’20 hand-delivered raw sweet potatoes to students’ dorms in an event dubbed “Potatomania.” The three roommates sold about 50 to 60 potatoes in total. Their favorite accompanying message? “You’re the tater to my tot.”

At the Princeton University Art Museum, the Princeton University Student Advisory Board (SAB) hosted “Failed Love,” an annual event with live music, dessert, and art. “A lot of couples are out right now, so it’s working as an alternative for people who want to do something but maybe aren’t in a relationship,” said Rachel Mrkaich ’21, a member of SAB.

A little ways away, Campus Club was home to both “Sweets for my Sweetie” — organized by the Princeton Students Events Committee — and the “Valentine’s Day Fiesta,” co-organized by J-Lats, the “first Jewish-Latinx organization at Princeton,” according to its president Abraham Wastertein ’21, and Princeton Latinxs y Amigos. In the first floor dining room, students decorated cards and created rose bouquets while munching on cake pops and other sweets. Downstairs, the tap room was full of pink decorations, Latin music, and kosher treats ordered in from Brooklyn. As students danced to the likes of Shakira and Don Omar, Wasterstein said, “I think it’s important to have different options on Valentine’s Day, because we don’t want students to feel like they have nothing to do.”

At the final event of the night, the “Date and Skate Night” at Baker Rink, students skated, dated, and enjoyed coffees and teas made by the Princeton Coffee Club. “We’ve had a positive reaction thus far,” said Coffee Club president Alex Kaplan ’21. “[There has been] at least 100 customers, if not more.”

Despite the festivities, however, Valentine’s Day — occurring as it does at the start of second semester — was not without the usual Princetonian obligations.

“I’m going back to work and studying after this,” said Mrkaich, with a smile. “Besides, there’s no love interest as of right now.”