As the layers of snow and ice slowly melt away, students prepare for the one of the warmest weekends of the winter season. However, the weather might not be the only thing keeping people warm this weekend.
Valentine’s Day comes Monday, and many campus organizations and services are doing something to celebrate this weekend.
To start off the weekend, Mizzou After Dark is holding its annual Valentine’s Day Bash. Students are invited to participate in a Newlywed Game Show-style dating game, speed dating, free caricatures and creating Valentine’s Day crafts.
Representatives from MU Vagina Monologues will also have an informational table set up.
“There’s also going to be karaoke, so it’s going to be very lively,” MAD Production Assistant Robert Neporadny said. “People can sing love songs, whatever they want, serenade people. It’s going to be very relaxed.”
The event will also feature free food. Pizza from Italian Village will be delivered throughout the night, and participants can enjoy a rich chocolate fountain complete with pretzels, Oreos and graham crackers.
“We’re hoping to draw a big crowd with the chocolate fountain,” Neporadny said.
The program will begin at 8 p.m. Friday. It is free to MU students and $5 for the public.
Sunday evening, Campus Dining Service is hosting an evening of fine dining at Eva J’s. Students can enjoy a five-course meal complete with china, tablecloths and full sit-down dining service.
“Campus Dining Services has a lot of variety to offer,” CDS spokesman Andrew Lough said. “While we do the day-to-day, routine things to feed a campus of this size, we also take the time to do something a little different and make things exciting once in a while.”
The dinner menu will include delicacies such as a duck confit salad, a locally-grown hangar steak on lobster macaroni and cheese and a chocolate torte for dessert.
“(This meal) gives us the chance to do something kind of outside the norm of a typical dining hall meal,” Lough said. “It gives our chefs and our staff a chance to really kind of show off what we’re capable of doing.”
Because of the formal nature of the meal, reservations are required, and semi-formal attire is recommended. The experience will cost two meal swipes per person.
This is the second year CDS has put on a Valentine’s Day dinner. Lough said last year, there were around 85 reservations. This year, that number has risen to 129. CDS is prepared to handle 150 reservations.
Also on Sunday, the Women’s Center will ask students to celebrate their own bodies.
A table will be set up at the Women’s Center, located in the basement of the MU Student Center. The table will include an area to design buttons and Valentine’s Day cards, a drawing for various prizes and free chocolate.
The goal of the event is to promote body positivity as part of MU’s campus-wide Love Your Body campaign.
“Valentine’s Day a lot of the time is focused on what you are going to do for somebody else, and so we thought it would be a great time to think about the love you give yourself and how that’s really important,” Women’s Center adviser Suzy Day said.
Tiger Garden will be open Monday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for any “procrasticupids” out there.