Valentine’s Day should be like any other day…but then again, it is a good reminder to get a little more creative this time around! I love expressing my appreciation to my hubby, but being that creativity is not my forte, I need help! How can we express our love in a simple, frugal and most importantly, meaningful way?
Here are a few ideas from our household…
The Power of Words
Last year, I had fun cutting out hearts from red construction paper and writing things I appreciated about my hubby and hid them all over his office and in his clothes hanger in the closet. I pasted them to the door, to his computer screen, bookshelf, etc. I also bought a cheap mug with red hearts all over it and wrote little notes with a permanent marker. I filled it with chocolates and placed it on his desk. This was so fun! I think I just took the last one down this last week because I was getting tired of looking at them. 
Love CD, Balloons and the Like
My favorite valentine memory was during our courtship. While I was at a dentist appointment, Aaron sneaked up to my car, got in, and filled it with balloons, a bouquet of roses, a jar with my favorite candies, and a lovely CD in the player with love songs (ones without “love” in them though, as he wanted to save that word for our engagement). He wrote little notes on sticky’s everywhere and one on the outside of my door saying, “will you be my valentine?” Do you think I say no? The funny thing was that I didn’t notice that the car alarm went off while he was trying to get in…This would be something fun to do while your hubby is at work!
Table for Two
One year, although not actually for Valentine’s, I set up a table for two in our living room with a white table cloth with simple decor on the table. I served one of his favorite meals by candlelight, champagne glasses and all. Having just the small table was perfect for setting the romantic mood!
Idea from others…
Take lipstick and write a special note to your spouse on the mirror. I like that one! Alas, it is probably challenging to clean up.
Make heart shaped pancakes for breakfast. This isn’t as hard as it sounds. If your batter is thick enough, you can hand-pour a decent shaped heart. Or use a mold, if you have it. My hubby loves pancakes…I think I might make them the normal way and then use a heart shaped cookie cutter and cut out the shape after they are cooked.
The heart theme can extend to dinner, too. How about a heart shaped pizza?
Further Links
Creative Frugality offers ideas from readers on frugal and creative valentine ideas.
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I have been enjoying your blog so much…. I’ve been reading past posts and just wanted to say that I did the table for two ideaon Fri night for this v-day… it blessed my husband so much
If i were to make those what would the recipe.Oh and by the way they are cute!
Are you asking about the pancake recipe? If so, you can find it here.
I just wanted to share a tradition of my parents on Valentine’s Day: Dad always came home from work with a bundle of- get this- Daffodils for my Mother! They certainly weren’t standard valentine issue, plain, inexpensive- yellow and, I should say, he usually had some heart shaped box or other token for her. But the Daffodils were an absolute must…
But it was Chicago and Daffodils for sale were about the first sign of spring we could hope for. Plus, I always just knew there was more to it. My parent’s anniversary is the week before and I suspect the daffodils had something to do with their honeymoon or of coming home from it to their first apartment….I think this because Mom, who loves all things red and especially roses, was always so pleased to get the little daffodils. There seemed to be some secret passed between my parents, a locking of their eyes while we kids jumped around them, making chaos and clambering for Dad’s attention.
I was an adult before I learned that a standard V day meal was what they’d had for their wedding dinner- so Mom played a similar part in the holiday.
I guess if I have a point, here, it’s we certainly aren’t required to buy into the commercial vision of any holiday. I’d like to think my parents found preserving a precious memory over many years a far more meaningful gift, than anything they could have bought each other.
Growing up, Mom always did a heart themed dinner. Heart shaped biscuits and heart shaped butter pats are two things I remember! We also had a special treat of red juice and Sprite mixed to drink in stemmed glasses. Very ellegant! Each family member would leave a little decorated card or letter by each other family member’s plate to show how we loved them. Sometimes Mom would include a little goodie too. It evolved over the years to each of us including a little goodie for each other too. Each little thing was always less than a dollar and tried to remain healthy (like a fruit leather or heart eraser).
Now I look for ways to be creative with my husband in our celebration of a day for couples. This year we chose to go out to our favorite Thai place since we hadn’t been out in a long time. The most important part of the day for me is a love letter. I miss the days when our letters flew back and forth before we married. Sometimes I need to see those words of love written down again. My sweetie is very eloquent! I try to spend some time hand making a card for him to find in his car, lunch back, coat pocket, or on his pillow!
Dry erase markers work better than lipstick. Just be careful not to write anything you wouldn’t want company to read, if they stay over and shower lol.
There are also window markers that can be used on mirrors.
I love all the ideas! Thanks everyone! I really like the idea of serving fondue. We received an electric one for a wedding gift, and I have yet to use it. I am going to serve a special fondue night!! I can’t wait, and neither can Aaron!
great ideas lindsay…i think i’ll do the table for two…we’ll need the time to just stare in each other’s eyes after we come home from spain
blessings…
Valentine’s day is the only day I have chocolate all year. I’m not a huge sweet person. My dh buys me some of the best chocolate. Godiva! Usually he’ll get me some piece of jewerly. My fave is platinum.
I usually set up a card table in our bedroom. And have rose petals on the table. And a pretty tablecloth, complete w/ candle sticks! I use our wedding goblets, I HAD to have pewter plates, and stuff for our wedding. And our wedding was before pewter was made popular! And I usually make one of our favorite meals. And a little bubbley of course! I bought some of the personalized m&m’s this year.
I love the idea of a table for two in the living room.
We always have a heart-shaped pizza for dinner on Valentine’s Day. Chocolate fondue or strawberry milkshakes make yummy desserts.
My husband usually buys a little something, then uses his artistic skills to draw a beautiful card. I cried the first time he gave me one of those.
I’m still planning to have that one framed (just haven’t done it yet).
Last year I filled a gift bag with a couple of layers of goodies. The top layer was sweetheart conversation hearts that I had hand-picked for their messages, as well as necco candies (his favorite). The next layer down was Hershey’s treasure candies because he’s my treasure and a mini personal fan because he blows me away, the next layer was candy hugs and kisses and a coupon for a massage. That part wasn’t so frugal, but you could make a massage coupon and do it yourself!
There was more to it, including poems for each layer describing why I chose what I chose.
Before we got married, he had this little stuffed monkey named “Steve” that sat at his desk. So our first valentine’s day, I got him another stuffed girl monkey (named Moira) and made up a little hand-drawn stapled-together book about how Steve and Moira met and fell in love and would always be deskmates.
Another time, I arranged with my mom to baby-sit the kids, and we were going to go to a movie. But I allowed ample time before the movie, and sent him off to the store for something I just HAD TO HAVE!!! While he was gone, I quickly got everything in to place…a scavenger hunt! When he came home he found the first note on the door. You can make this be about what ever you want, but mine wasn’t PG, so I won’t give any details. LOL! I basically sent him through the house picking up various things and the treasure was ultimately me
I pulled that one off for very cheap.
Another idea is to go to a card store and read them to each other, picking out cards that express what you’d like to say. You dont have to actually purchase them, or read them outloud, just trade them back and forth.
I look forward to hearing more ideas and reading those links!
My hubby always goes totally overboard on V-day, he loves holidays so much(I am so blessed God chose him for me!!)I usually buy him something but his favorite gift every year is the pound of truffles that I make for him. They are so easy yet so decadent you would think they were from a specialty shop.
1/2 lb of good bittersweet
1/2 lb of semi sweet chocolate
1 pint of whipping cream
1/2 cup of strong brewed coffee
1 t vanilla
Heat cream to steaming(don’t boil it will spoil the cream)!
Chop the chocolate into tiny pieces
melt the chocolate into hot cream
add coffee and vanilla
Let firm up about an hour or so…(I do it in the fridge)
Once firm enough to scoop, using a melon baller I scoop the out and set on wax paper
I then roll them in either cocoa or powdered sugar and put them in a cute tin or box.
My hubby goes crazy for them(I don’t hate them either!)
That is just one lil tradition I started to show him how much I love him.
This sounds yummy, thanks for sharing the recipe!
Last year for Valentine’s Day, I made a red (pink, purple) themed dinner for my hubby and the kids. I made a heart shaped meatloaf, covered with tomato sauce, and purple mashed potatoes (I used those purple potatoes, but still had to add a little food coloring to get good color. This year, I am going to try regular potatoes with some beet juice to make them pink.) I can not for the life of me remember what veggie I did, so I am going to have to be thinking about what to do this year. All our dishes are different colors of Fiesta Ware, so I just picked out the red, pink, and purple ones to set the table. It was fun for everyone, and I think it will be a good tradition to repeat each year. It’s not a romantic dinner alone, but we had fun and included the kids in the celebration.