Need Valentine's Day Ideas? These Apps Can Help.

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, it's MVP time. Not the Most Valuable Player kind. More like Most Valuable Partner. You don’t need a bag full of rose petals or a dozen tea lights to whip up a romantic evening for two. With these apps, you can take care of everything—presents, dinner reservations, and thoughtful gestures—with a smartphone. And if you need a way to bail on a bad date, we’ve got that covered, too.

Sesame Gifts
Price: Free
Platform: iOS, Android, Web
If you're reluctant to buy jewelry or spa treatments, Sesame is your go-to service. With a gift box for seemingly every valentine, the app lets you swiftly pick a present, select a contact, and get on with making plans.

OpenTable
Price: Free
Platform: iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Web
Nothing says afterthought like a 40-minute wait on Cupid’s favorite evening. Want to avoid a queue? OpenTable, one of the most popular reservation apps available, lets you reserve a table with any participating restaurant and earn points you can redeem for dining rewards and Amazon gift cards. The more reservations you make, the more points you get, making a follow-up date with your valentine even more attractive.

Couple
Price: Free
App: iOS, Android
So the two of you have already made it “Facebook official,” but would rather keep your mushy selfies out of the public eye? Try Couple, an app for, well, couples. With the social network for two, you can send text and voice messages, videos, and photos that disappear Snapchat-style after your partner—and only your partner—has seen them. Sharing your location, to-do lists, and calendars with your significant other has never been easier.

Blue Apron
Price: Free
Platform: iOS, Web
A homemade dinner for two is not only romantic, but also daunting. Assuming you’re not a five-star chef and you don't own a Wolfgang Puck-designed pressure oven, check out Blue Apron, a subscription service that mails you all the ingredients you need to prepare a delicious meal. It’s like Seamless, but you get the credit for doing the cooking! The service costs $60 and up per week. All meals come packaged in refrigerated boxes with step-by-step instructions for preparation. You can even tailor the chef-made menu options to your valentine's dietary preferences. No meat in the bibimbap? Not a problem.

Hello Vino
Price: Free
Platform: iOS, Android
If your knowledge of wine doesn’t extend past “red” or “white,” then you might run into an issue picking the right bottle for a romantic evening. Avoid the Two-Buck Chuck and let Hello Vino assist you in making the call. When you tell the app what you’re looking for, it presents a list, including award-winning wines and choices under $10 (in case you’re feeling thrifty).

1-800-Flowers
Price: Free
Platform: iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Web
If you want those roses to arrive on time, you better order them right now. The 1-800-Flowers app integrates with your contact list so you can quickly choose a recipient and arrange for delivery. If you want bonus points, find out what her favorite flower is and send a big bouquet of them instead. Just beware: The arrangement that shows up at the door is not always as dazzling as the one in the pictures.

Fingle
Price: $1.99
Platform: iOS
Think of Fingle as Twister for your fingers. You use your digits to drag squares to various targets in this intimate iPad-only puzzler. We're talking all ten fingers, which makes for some serious and complex hand-on-hand contact. Better yet, there are over 90 puzzles to solve together, so you’ll run out of things to talk about long before you run out of levels.

Gotta Go!
Price: Free
Platform: iOS
Of course, even the best laid plans will fail you. If you need to escape an awkward date, comedian Chelsea Handler is here to help. With her Gotta Go! app, you can choose an excuse from her list or create one of your own and have the app text or call you at an appointed time. It can even use your contact list to make it look like your friend’s cat is really stuck up a tree. Seriously! I wish I could tell you more about it, but I really gotta go.

Gravy
Price: Free
Platform: iOS, Android
Don’t have a date yet? Well, don’t celebrate your loneliness alone. Get out and meet someone! Gravy can help by telling you which events in your area are “trending.” It even sorts those events based on your interests. The one thing it doesn't have? Pickup lines. You'll have to come up with those yourself.