Valentine's Day events in Toronto are suitable for those who want to celebrate in pairs, solo, or with a posse, because each and every experience of love is a singular and unique journey which sometimes leads to film fests, live music, comedy, sex talks, or live readings of terrible internet experiences. If you've gotta hate on the holiday, there's also this anti-Valentine's pub crawl, or Criterion's Fassbinder collection. That's with an "i."

Here the top ways to weather Hallmark's greatest accomplishment in Toronto this year.

Love After Materialism (February 7, Trinity Square Video)
Warm up for V-Day with some new media and video work on the themes of love, longing, desire, and all that nonsense by CĂŠcile B. Evans, Karilynn Ming Ho, Jaakko Pallasvuo, and Heather Phillipson. The show is free to enter.

Annex Flea (Feb 8, Centre for Social Innovation)
The Annex Flea is holding a special Valentine's Day fair the weekend ahead of the big day, so you can snap up handcrafted gifts for the cutest person/people in your life. They're also hinting that potential cute people might be shopping at the flea. No promises.

OkStupid: Live Readings of the Best Worst Online Dating (February 11, Handlebar)
Pretty self explanatory: literary readings from the saddest corners of the internet. Well, no, probably not Widows of Warcraft, but... pretty sad.

TIFF Next Wave Film Festival (February 13 - 15, TIFF Bell Lightbox)
For the cultured urban teen daters, the annual teen friendly festival, programmed for (and partially by) 14-18 year-olds has offered a consistent mix of teen-friendly classics over the years. V-Day screenings of crowd faves include Heathers, Moonrise Kingdom, and Dazed and Confused. AH

Wavelength 15 (February 13-15)
Wavelength's festival of indie music is back for Valentine's weekend, and offers a three nights of indie entertainment for couples who are more comfortable holding hands in a crowd of plaid than sitting tete-a-tete over candlelight. Watch out for our full preview.

Supperclub & Show (February 14, The Steady)
Bloorcourt's The Steady - originators of the donut bagel - will be throwing a five-course dinner on V-Day with each course themed around the stages of a relationship. The dinner will be paired with live sex talks. Read more here. NM

Jane Austen Fireside Tea (February 14, Toronto's First Post Office)
If you like your lit more classic than OkCupid, this Jane Austen tea party features a toasty fire and 19th century inspired snacks.

Love At Winterfolk (February 14, Black Swan Tavern
On the Danforth as part of Winterfolk, Listeners and lovers can enjoy a special "WF Kocktail Kiss." Beginning with the Latin songs of Laura Fernandez, the night heats up with HOTCHA!, continues with The Trio of Fun (Ken Whiteley, Wendell Ferguson, Tony Quarrington), and finishes with the Cajun music of Swamperella. RA

Every Day is Halloween (February 14, The Central)
For Toronto's spooky set, every day is Halloween, so release the bats at this Valentine's Day party featuring live performances by SINS, Classioline, and DI Auger, plus DJ Darkness Visible and DJ BRADRESPAWN. The best costume wins you $50, so start planning your romantically gruesome ensemble.

The Mary-Janes of Comedy Present... The Underwear Show (February 20, Comedy Bar)
If you want to donate to charity and wait out the weirdness of Valentine's Day proper, this comedy show on the 20th featuring 'the best stand-up comedy couples in the city" is a fundraiser to purchase underwear for the Bloordale Women's Shelter.

See also

The top 25 restaurants for Valentine's Day in Toronto

What did I miss? Leave your romance-worthy events in the comments.

Contributions by Ryan Ayukawa, Alexander Huls, Natalia Manzocco

Photo by RetroRoadsidePhoto