Queer-ish Valentine’s Gifts for the Queers You Love-ish: 2023 Ed-ish 

By Mikey Rox 

Spread the love this Valentine’s Day with these festive, fun and sometimes frisky gifts to fill all your special someones’ (hey, we don’t judge) hearts with happiness and felt appreciation.  

Love Script Pillows 

PillowScript’s royal-hued love script pillows – in muted green, red, blue or gray – imbue your personal space with optimism, openness and a velvety softness smoother than Cupid’s bare bottom. $50, PillowScript.com 

 

Tale as Old as Time 

At once slim and sleek, the Vincero Kairos and Eros Petite mesh and leather-banded watches look stunning on a beauty or a beast. $99-$178, VinceroCollective.com 

 

Fondue Feasts 

You dip, she dips, they dip bite-size savories and sweets into BOSKA’s cheese and chocolate fondue sets equally suited for a sophisticated date night at home or as the centerpiece of a ’70s-inspired Galentine’s party. Better dust off the orgy lamp. $33-$44, USA.Boska.com 

 

Covered in Love 

Kisses and hugs and on-the-couch snugs are instantly cozier in Sunday Citizen’s XOXO throw or the Mamas Blanket x Calhoun & Co.’s pink-and-red girl-power blanket for wrapping up near-and-dear babes and broads. $170, SundayCitizen.co; $138, AustinMotelStore.com 

 

Playboy Pleasure 

One might assume that a synonymous-with-sex brand like Playboy would already have a leg (or two) up on the adult-toy industry, but its recently launched, first-foray Playboy Pleasure line couldn’t be rushed: The inaugural collection includes vibrators with heating, tapping and thrusting functions; a spinning butt plug; multi-motor cock rings; toys with flickering tongues; solo strokers, and a first-of-its-kind flapper shaft for the G-spot. You’re gonna need a bigger tarp. $26-$200, LoversStores.com 

 

Chinola x Vesta Chocolate 

Skip the Stover’s and improve your chocolate-gifting game with limited-edition Chinola bonbon and ganache chocolates, the melt-in-your-mouth collab between Dominican-sourced Chinola Passion Fruit Liqueur and Vesta Chocolate, co-founded by Chef Roger Rodriguez. $25-$48, VestaChocolate.com 

 

Lace Charms 

Customize your kicks with splashes of sparkle when you outfit their laces with burnished beads and baubles – like Lace Charms’ Digital Pink Bundle, featuring gold stars and rosy bling-blings – fit for sneakerhead kweens and king-kings. $30-$75, LaceCharms.com 

 

Happy Juice 

You’ll get your lips kissed when you twirl a Sunkist on the stylish Verve Culture artisan citrus juicer (available in gold, rose gold, and black), your new go-to hand-operated appliance that gilds the lily of an already decadent holiday brunch in bed. $98-$150, VerveCulture.com 

 

Power Flowers 

If Miley can buy herself flowers, so can you: Treat your resilient self to Perfect Plants’ bounty of blooms – including houseplants, trees, shrubs, hedges and a wide selection of coveted Drift rose bushes – that’ll keep your space fresh long after love stales. $40+, MyPerfectPlants.com 

 

Gas You Up 

Motivational neon signs that empower you to “Rise & Grind,†“LISTEN TO YOUR HEART,†“Hu$tle,†and “BE A BAD ASS WITH A GOOD ASS†not only add pops of radiating light and liveliness to your home and office, but they just might reduce your therapy bill too. $200-$600, CustomNeon.com 

 

Big AND Beautiful 

Lizzo launched a thousand hips with her body-positive lyrics and lifestyle, and you can continue that self-satisfying trend with Le Chic Miami’s hand-painted, more-to-love basswood Venus hoop earrings, available in three everywoman skin tones. $27, LeChicMiami.store 

 

All the Restaurants 

Former New Yorker magazine editor turned self-taught artist John Donohue recognizes that most Americans’ first dates take place at restaurants (Starbucks is #1 while In-N-Out Burger clocks in at #2, according to a survey of Clover app users), which is why he’s made it his mission to commemorate the occasion with signed, limited-edition prints of your fave romantic dining destinations, including Manhattan’s 12 Chairs Café and Abilene Bar, Jaleo in D.C., and London’s Noble Rot. $95, AllTheRestaurants.com  

 

Bye-Bye Dry January 

Build a more discerning home bar in 2023 with a curated selection of luxury liquors, including Empress 1908 and Jaisalmer gins, Rampur Double Cask and Bearface Triple Oak whiskies, Tequila Ocho Plata, and L’etoile du Nord vodka. Prices vary, Drizly.com; TotalWine.com 

 

Jaisalmer Gin Negroni 
1.25 oz Jaisalmer Indian Craft Gin 
1 oz Camapri 
.75 oz Cocchi Torino Vermouth 

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass. 

Add ice and stir until proper chill and dilution are achieved. Strain into a double rocks glass.  

Add a few large pieces of clear ice.  Garnish with an orange twist. 

 

One Love 

Dateless for V-Day? Toast your single status – self-imposed independence should be celebrated (just ask Shakira) – with a bottle of Beau Joie Rosé Champagne and poppable Doughp cookie dough bites, in upbeat flavors like Cinnamood, Brownie Beast, Cookie Monsta, and Red Velvet Vixen. $135, TotalWine.com; $12-$16, Doughp.com 

 

Mikey Rox is an award-winning journalist and LGBT lifestyle expert whose work has been published in more than 100 outlets across the world. Connect with Mikey on Instagram @mikeyroxtravels