Valentine's Day On a Budget

Valentine's Day can be one of the most expensive holidays. It is the holiday that you are supposed to say "I love you" to your significant other. To many people this means spending big bucks. Because the more you spend the more you love them, right? Wrong! Showing someone you care on Valentine's Day does not have to cost a lot of money.
The first thing to do is to think about what this person really likes. Personally I like chocolate. And flowers. Notice I didn't say fancy, expensive chocolate or red roses. Any kind of dark chocolate (about $2) and a small bunch of flowers from the grocery store ($8) and I will be pretty happy. So basically my husband can make my day for about $10. I bet you can do the same! Here are some ideas.
1. Put together a box of this person's favorite things. For my husband this would be licorice, popcorn, Sam Adams beer and a bicycling magazine. It could be anything. You more than anyone will know their favorite things, so surprise them by getting them all together. The small things, that is. You can't purchase diamonds on a budget. People feel very loved when they know that other people pay attention to the small things about them.
2. Bubble bath and candles make a great gift. This will be relaxing and romantic all at the same time.
3. Take the day off of work to spend with them. This would work especially well if this person doesn't work. If they do, you might need to do some arranging with their employers, which could be hard to do and might not go over very well. But how wonderful for someone to know that you took a day off of work just to spend it with them.

4. Cook them their favorite meal.
5. Leave them love notes - all over. On the bathroom mirror, in their car, in their lunch, on the newspaper, etc. Anywhere they will be leave a little note.
6. Fill their car with balloons.
7. Do something that they want to do. If your wife loves sappy romantic movies, but you hate them and won't go - go anyway, it will make their day.
8. Do something that they don't want to do. Do they despise cleaning bathrooms, grocery shopping, vacuuming out the car, bathing the kids, etc? Do it for them.
9. Make your own card detailing everything you love about this person.
10. Give them a back rub.
11. If you must take them out to eat for Valentine's Day you have a couple of options. You could take them out to lunch, or you could take them out to dinner another night instead. Of course you will still spend Valentine's Day with them doing frugal things right? But you will be saving a good bit of money and hassle by going out to eat a different night.
12. Don't buy roses. There are lots of wonderful flowers out there and just because the marketers try to tell us that everyone needs roses on Valentine's Day does mean that everyone needs roses on Valentine's Day. Pick a different flower or perhaps a potted plant. Potted plants live a lot longer than cut flowers do, so they would be reminded of your love for years to come, not just a week.
13. Here is a cheesy one from my husband - give real kisses instead of Hershey's kisses.
If you really want to take your significant other out to dinner on the most expensive night of the year and buy them a dozen red roses, go for it. But be prepared to spend a lot of cash, at least $100. Pick some or all of these ideas for a much less expensive and memorable way to say "I love you".