Valentine’s Day is the perfect occasion to surprise your loved ones with something unique and meaningful. Why not add a little chemistry to your gifts?
If you’re giving a gift to someone who isn’t a chemist, it could be a fun outreach experiment to spark curiosity about chemistry in this person. And for chemists, you could maybe create a quiz or a nice reminder of everyday chemistry.
We hope the ideas below inspire you and would love to see your creations or hear about your gift ideas! Feel free to share them with us—whether it’s a description in the comments (sorry, photos can’t be uploaded there), or a photo via email or social media (see our accounts below).
Ideas To Spark Your Creativity
Rose
Flowers, especially roses, are the classic gift for Valentine’s Day. Add a card about the red color or the scent of the rose. Create the card yourself or print out one of these. Click on the picture to get higher-resolution pictures.
And you can find more information in the article: The Aroma of Roses.
Chocolate
Chocolate is always a great idea for Valentine’s Day. Include a card with a chemistry fact or create a quiz about chocolate.
Cocoa butter crystallizes into six forms (I–VI) with identical composition but varying arrangement of the lipid molecules. Form V is preferred for its glossy surface, hardness, and smooth melt on the tongue, while the thermodynamically most stable form VI has a dull surface and soft texture.
So how do you make sure your chocolate stays in form V? – You can find the answer right at the beginning of the article Chocolate – The Noblest Polymorphism or in this video on Chocolate.
Soap
Heart-shaped soap makes a lovely gift—add a card explaining the saponification reaction for a creative touch.
Triglycerides can be saponified with sodium or potassium hydroxide to give glycerol and fatty sodium salt or soap. Potassium soaps are more easily soluble in water, softer, and more pleasant on the skin than sodium soaps.
Or make your own soap. For those of you who speak German, you can find a description at Prof. Blumes Bildungsserver für Chemie.
Cooking
Cook a romantic meal together—it’s pure chemistry! Explore molecular gastronomy with techniques like making edible spheres or foams, or get fascinated by melting, solidifying, and vaporizing and discover the chemistry all around you.
The Maillard reaction, also known as the browning reaction, occurs when proteins react with reducing sugars under high heat, creating an attractive golden-brown color and enhancing flavors. Caramelization occurs when sugar molecules with low moisture content are heated.
Protein denaturation, such as when egg whites that are particularly rich in protein are heated or mixed with an acidic substance, breaks weaker chemical bonds in protein molecules, transforming their complex structure into long chains of amino acids.
Find more inspiration, for example, in our Cooking & Chemistry Collection.
Elemental Love Notes
Write messages using elements from the periodic table, e.g., using Iodine, Lutetium, Vanadium, Yttrium, Oxygen, and Uranium as shown on the right.
A Personal Chemistry Quiz Game
Create a playful quiz with questions about your relationship or fun science facts. This can be a sweet and interactive way to celebrate your bond.
You could use, for example, questions like: Which famous chemist was born on the day your relationship started or the day you got married? Which element relates to a place you have lived in or visited? The relation could either be via the name of the element, for example, which element is named after the city we first met?
(get inspired by the Quiz: Guess the Places Behind These Element Names) or by the place where the element was discovered.
Balloon
Whether filled with helium or not, a heart-shaped balloon is also a lovely idea for Valentine’s Day. And everything about their chemistry can be found in the article The Chemistry of Balloons (and Rubber).
Balloons are primarily made from natural latex or synthetic rubber. Rubber is a natural polymer from Hevea brasiliensis (rubber tree or rubber plant) and consists of isoprene building blocks.
Also of Interest

Spotlight: Molecules of Love
Molecules such as adrenaline, dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin are involved in romantic feelings

Quiz: Love Stories Among Chemists
Quiz about famous chemist couples