On Valentine’s Day, the Hamline Peer Education  and Fashion Clubs to celebrate a day that is not so romanticized and overshadowed by its amorous cousin. National Love Yourself Day, annually celebrated on Feb. 13. Peer Ed and Fashion Club created Love Your Body as a way to promote self love and care that they celebrated on Feb. 14.

Tables were set up with bracelet making, self-care tips, make- your- own body or beard oil, food and coloring books and crayons. According to first-year and Peer Educator Ingri Masteel, this was the first year of the Love Your Body event.

“It’s still in it’s newest phases, since this is the first year we put it on,” Masteel said. “We have the affirmation bracelet making which can help people calm down or have something to remind themselves of the important things or things they forget to say to themselves.”

Beyond the bracelet making station was a table with several oils, including sunflower, olive, coconut and various essential oil scents.

“That’s to make some happy smelling massage oil; a massage is a good way to take care of oneself,” Masteel said. “We decided to include beard oils to appeal to male students… people tend to think self care is feminine and just for the ladies, which is not the case.”

First-year Soren Kremer affirmed her point when he arrived at the event.

“I didn’t know exactly where to go, and since body positivity is always directed at girls I didn’t even know if I was welcome,” Kremer said. “Then I got there and everyone was really nice, the Fashion Club helped me make a scratch off Valentine. Then I saw the sign that said beard oil which grabbed my attention and I ended up making a lavender massage oil. I liked all the different smells.”

Masteel described  the coloring table as a way to distract your mind with something pleasant.

“Being able to sit and colour is proven to decrease stress, that’s why it’s so popular. We included it with some normal colouring pages and with some sayings about being thankful and happy,” Masteel said. “Plus, crayons are fun!”

Along with Peer Ed, the Fashion Club worked  to make this event possible. Alisha Bowen, junior and President of the Fashion Club, said Peer Ed emailed them with a request to team up.

Another event hosted by both groups was a clothing drive.

“All the clothing we gather at these events are usually recycled and reused for our April Fashion Show, but since we’ve teamed up for this week the clothes are going to the ‘Proud to be me’ campaign that Peer Ed is involved with,” Bowen said.

Fashion Club’s collaboration with Peer Ed led them to reorganize their planned schedule.

“We usually have a ‘You Are Beautiful’ week sometime in March, but since this event was happening we moved it to this week. We have the positivity wall up all week and a bunch of events going on,” Bowen said. “We like to do something with self love and self acceptance for ‘You Are Beautiful’ week and this seemed like the perfect event for that.”