Valentine’s Day is right around the bend and that means that the pressure will be on from loved ones to do something for them. Besides, it’s a good time to show you care and how much you’re in love with your sweetie even if the point of Valentine’s Day gets a bit lost in all that commercialization. No matter… it’s fun to eat sweets and look at hearts and see red and pink and white and doilies and get some extra cuddling in.
Last year, I was tempted to just be a full-blown dead beat Valentine and just OWN it. I ended up bailing on that idea when reality set in and I decided I didn’t want to be a total a-hole. I ended up making my husband a sugar cookie shaped into a heart that I proceed to decorate obnoxiously I mean, awesomely. Here’s the link to that post.
Since I don’t have a kiddo (just nieces and nephews that I am completely smitten with). The below list is focused on ideas for adults. I was thinking about what I liked when I was a kid and what I would have liked to get for V-Day when I was a little youngin. Here’s what I remember liking: doing crafts, eating sweets, being told I’m loved. I guess I haven’t changed too much since all of that still sounds awesome.
Free or nearly free ideas for your love. Mix and match. Do one or a couple or all.
- Go through your closet/house and find things to sell. Trade in your clothes at Scout: Dry Goods & Trade or a similar store for money or items from their shop. Pawn other items you’re done with at a pawn shop and use your newly acquired money to get your sweet heart something.
- Cook a romantic dinner using pre-existing ingredients from your cupboards
- Make your Valentine breakfast- again using ingredients or mainly ingredients you already have
- Give a full-body massage
- Straight up tell them why you dig them
- Make 365 reasons why you love them and give them 1 a day for the whole year
- Decorate your place with hearts you cut out of computer paper. (Here’s a link for some fancy heart cutouts if you wanna get fancy like that. Here’s a link to another paper decoration idea here.)
- Swap houses/apartments with your friends for the night. You have a date at their house while they have a date at yours.
- Have a movie marathon and make ice cream sundaes with all the fixin’s
- Clean the entire house for them
- Send steamy texts
- Make homemade chocolate-covered strawberries: 1) Melt a package of semi-sweet chocolate chips in a double boiler and add a small amount of oil 2) Remove from heat and quickly dip the strawberries into the chocolate 3) Place on wax paper and refrigerate for several hours until chocolate is firm
- If you’re hitched: read your wedding vows to each other/watch your wedding video/look at your wedding album
- If you like giving cards there are free versions you can print out online (here’s a link and another one here for some cute ones) and if you want a “real” card check out the dollar store
- Make them a mix CD of songs you love that you think they too might love
- Call in sick together, then cuddle and watch movies/trashy day-time TV all day
- Make them a cake
- Make them cookies
- Look through photographs of when you 1st got together. Have 1 printed and put in a frame (perfect re-gift opportunity with the frame).
- Compliment them when others are around
- Decide to give them an ongoing Valentine gift. This is where you do a little nice thing for them each day for an extended period of time. For example: listening intently, picking up a piece of candy for them, do something unexpected for them, give them your full attention when they talk, forgive quickly, add something they like to the grocery list and surprise them with it. Tell them what you’re up to or not. They might be shocked by the extreme niceness you’re dishing out. This will make them feel loved and appreciated which is the goal of Valentine’s Day if you ask me.
- Reminisce about how you met
- Send them a secret admirer letter. When it arrives – you know nothing about it. They will be both flattered and maybe a little freaked out, but hopefully mainly flattered.
- Give your Valentine a homemade spa night. Face mask, massage, mani/pedi, scalp massage. Guys love this even if they won’t admit it.
- Get naked. Proceed. Ewww. TMI.
What do you do for your loved ones that is free or costs very little?
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