Valentine’s Day is about sharing your love. Forget the usual cheesy crap and give holiday favors you can enjoy as a couple. Here are our favorite present picks for pairs who want to get frisky and give each other the gift that keeps on giving …

Valentine’s Day is probably the most emotionally charged day of the year—and we’re not just talking about lovey-dovey feelings. To celebrate cupid’s special day, we’re posting your stories about your best and worst Valentine’s Days. To submit, email vdaytales@thefrisky.com by Monday, Feb. 9, and include “Best Valentine’s Day” or “Worst Valentine’s Day” in the subject.

After the jump, Nora tells us how she’ll be celebrating Feb. 14.

Valentine’s Day shouldn’t be about who loves you, but who you love. It’s the one day out of the year when you should make a personal accounting of those people in your life who make you gleefully vomit little candy hearts. Being loved back isn’t nearly as important in life as boldly, recklessly, sincerely loving someone regardless of any returns on investment. Making love, not taking it, is the primary occupation of the human condition, our core programming, whether we realize it or accept it or not. All other activities and pursuits are secondary.

Instead, Valentine’s Day feels like emotional extortion. To many men, it’s an inconvenience to dread, a relationship hoop set aflame that one must deftly prance through like an expertly trained poodle. And to other men, it’s a day of opportunity.

Valentine’s Day is probably the most emotionally charged day of the year—and we’re not just talking about lovey-dovey feelings (though there is a lot of that). To celebrate cupid’s special day, we’re posting your stories about your best and worst Valentine’s Days. To submit, just email vdaytales@thefrisky.com by Monday, Feb. 9, and include “Best Valentine’s Day” or “Worst Valentine’s Day” in the subject.

After the jump, Kirsten tells how her garbage disposal ruined Valentine’s Day for her and a repairman’s wife.

From anxiety over one’s relationship status (or lack thereof), to figuring out a non-lame way to celebrate, Valentine’s Day, more than any other occasion, has the power to elicit panic in even the most reserved, well-tempered individuals. Perhaps the most nerve-wracking experience of the whole occasion is choosing an appropriate gift, one that sends just the right message without inadvertently offending anyone in the process. Worse than the stress in choosing a perfect gift, though, is the disappointment in receiving one that totally sucks. After the jump, 20 Valentine’s Day gifts we hope you don’t get stuck with this year.

Valentine’s Day is the second-biggest time of year for wedding proposals, but the average amount spent on an engagement ring is expected to drop 9.8 percent this year, down to $2,900. Well, hard times don’t have to mean forgoing a ring altogether. Whether you want a real (but tiny) diamond, or something that looks like a diamond, you have options, even if you or your love are just scraping by. Remember, it’s not about the ring, well, unless you’re a Diamond Digger.

I don’t know about you, but I usually spend Feb. 14 either in a fight with a boy or sulking at home. Valentine’s Day might be the most emotionally charged day of the year, and we are dying to hear about how you’ve spent it over the years (not only because misery loves company—we also still want to believe in love). Over the next couple weeks, we’ll be sharing readers’ stories about wonderful, lovey-dovey, jealousy-inducing Valentine’s Days, as well as V-Days that are so heartbreaking they’re sure to inspire a country song. So, send us your tales—but keep them to 500 words or less, please—and we’ll pick a few of our favorites to post. To submit, just email vdaytales@thefrisky.com by Monday, Feb. 9, and include either “Best Valentine’s Day” or “Worst Valentine’s Day” in the subject.

Valentine’s Day is mere weeks away, and if you’re in a relationship, don’t expect to get much in the way of presents. A study found that couples are expected to spend nearly 17 percent less on gifts and Valentine’s Day merchandise compared with 2008, or an average of $102.50. With skimpy Valentine’s Day gifts expected among couples, it’s not a bad time to be single. You don’t need to waste your hard-earned cash on a nice present when you might not get something of equal value (or anything you like) in return. You don’t have to spend money on new lingerie, sexy dresses, or bikini waxes. And you don’t have to throw away dough on sex toys, teddy bears holding roses, or boxes of chocolates. Why don’t you celebrate yourself and take the $102.50 or whatever amount you would have used to buy a present and buy yourself something you like. Not only have you been saving money by not being in a relationship, but we buy ourselves the best presents anyway.

Looking for just the right T-shirt to fit your Valentine’s Day mood? Every Little Counts has a selection of graphic T’s that work with any Valentine’s situation—whether you’re on the prowl, in love, or ready to get busy. Feel like making love? This one‘s for you. If you’re coming off a breakup, love hangover may do the trick. A violent, sensual, sensitive girl? Here you go. If you’re hunting for totally, tenderly, tragic Mr. Right, this might help. Or, maybe you just want to make out. The line was created by Amy Snider, a Los Angeles-based designer, who’s also a blogger. [Every Little Counts]

You know how the Possom, the Kangal Fish, and the Rattlesnake are among the worst things a guy can do while kissing? Well, believe it or not, men also have preferences when it’s time to pucker up. These tips really aren’t difficult to incorporate into your kissing routine, so you’ll be new and improved by Valentine’s Day.

Just as I feel a sense of satisfaction about making it through the holidays season solo, now Valentine’s Day is already rearing its fugly pepto pink head in drug store aisles across America. Puke!  Can’t a single girl catch a break? It’s not even New Year’s yet and mid-February merchandise is out.  And the way my relationships go…the dude I’m dating this week probs won’t even last seven weeks—so, how’s all that V Day chocolate going to? Those candy hearts are going to go bad before my manly flavor of the day does! [The Consumerist]

I only think about my underwear in the millisecond when I yank them out of my dresser drawer in the morning. (Thong or no? Is this going to ride up at the gym?) My bra never matches my out-of-season holiday panties or my cotton boy shorts with a French poodle printed on the butt saying, “Ooh la la!” But whenever I’m in a serious relationship, I give painstaking consideration to my unmentionables. I’ve gotten on a plane wearing an elaborate black-and-pink lace getup under a T-shirt and jeans to meet my boyfriend, and shown up at his doorstep wearing nothing underneath a dress.

Think we have too many lame romantic holidays in the U.S.? Don’t visit South Korea. There, marketers have cooked up even more days to make single people feel bad about themselves. White Day, on March 14, is when men give gifts to women. (Local custom dictates that women give men presents on Valentine’s Day.) Black Day is today, and it’s when singles wear dark colors and commiserate over meals of black food, the favorite being Chinese-style noodles topped with a thick black bean paste sauce. Yum. If Valentine’s Day, White Day, and Black Day aren’t enough for you, there’s Green Day in August, but it hasn’t gotten much traction. Celebrating Green Day involves drinking cheap liquor from green bottles and walking in the woods. [Reuters]

The night before Valentine’s Day this year, I received a frantic text message from my friend Sara, who I knew was on a mission to pick up something frilly to wear for her new boyfriend. “OMG, I’m in the store and I don’t even know what the eff a garter belt is. Help…” I flipped open my cell phone and left her a message that was one for the books: “Sara,” I said sternly, “if you don’t know what a garter belt is, he sure as hell won’t know how to take one off. Look for a babydoll top and cute underwear. Step AWAY from the garter belts.”

It doesn’t matter whether you have a significant other or not, there’s no avoiding Valentine’s Day’s red roses, candy hearts, sexy lingerie, or cheesy cards (about one billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year, according to the Greeting Card Association). So we asked two writers whether they think the holiday is totally lame or super awesome, after the jump.

Yesterday we heard from the guys, but how do the ladies feel about Valentine’s Day? Lori takes to the streets and gets the dish.

Who doesn’t love a power ballad and especially on the schmaltziest day of the year? Our picks, after the jump!

We sent our girl Lori out to ask men and women how they felt about Valentine’s Day, what their plans are, if the holiday has become too commercial, and if it’s really all that big a deal to be single on February 14th. Today we get the guys’ perspective and tomorrow the ladies will chime in!