Valentines Day “DO instead of BUY” Treasures.
Valentines Day is big business. How much do you LOVE someone is NOT something you BUY. A stuffed gorilla, a box of cheap chocolate, or an over-priced gold necklace with a diamond heart does not tell someone how much they are loved. Your words and actions DO! Talk it over with your spouse – find out if a Valentines Day celebrated at home with gifts from the heart instead of the credit card will be more valued this year. Be creative and be giving (both when giving and receiving!).
Here’s some ideas to get you started (Thank-you to everyone who sent in their ideas!) ...
- Make origami baskets out of white paper and decorate with stickers. Fill the center with a small bag of candy (that you paid 75% off on at the end of Halloween or Christmas). Add some red curling ribbon from Christmas and your kids will be set to go.
- Use those fancy stamps that you purchased at a stamping party. Let the kids stamp away on their own Valentines Cards. Yup, even let them use some of the embossing glitter. They will have a blast and you get the memories of the night everyone stayed up too late finishing the Valentines.
- Haul out the heart-shaped cookie cutter and bake some home-made Valentines. Bring some of these to work to share with co-workers. Kids love them too!
- Try to remember where you put the Valentines you bought last year (or was it the year before LOL) and stashed someplace “safe” in your home. There will come a time when your kids are too old to use up the Valentines (please don’t ask me how I know this – hee hee).
- Let your kids write their own Valentines. We always planned about three or four Valentines per night (little kids write very slowly). This is part of the fun and the learning.
- Scour the Internet and your local library for great Valentine’s Day crafting ideas. Remember, select something where you can shop at home. The last thing you want to DO is have to make a run to the local craft store for too many new supplies.
- Wear red on Valentine’s Day. Get the kid’s red and pink clothes out the weekend before. There is nothing worse than discovering your kids need a special color for the day, and that particular color is still in the laundry! Join in with the kids and dress up for Valentines Day too. In fact dress up for Valentines – even if you plan on making the day special just for you!
- Pamper yourself today. Head into your special bath supplies, candles, the chocolate stash, whatever. As the kids say, “Get yourself all doodied up.” If you are alone, take a picture of yourself and email it to someone you haven’t seen in awhile. Get the conversations and old-times flowing.
- For the kids: Cook up a red and pink supper. Stuffed red peppers, tomato juice, tomato pizza, spaghetti and meat sauce, tomato soup, shrimp, cake with pink frosting, strawberries, watermelon, red wine, beet salad, red wraps, tomato salad, radishes, raspberry sherbet, apples, frozen currents on ice cream – LOL I am running out of ideas! Let your imagination flow.
- For that special someone: Cook their favorite meal. Iron the best tablecloth. Dust off the candlesticks (they don’t have to be red). Set the table with the “good” dishes. Then enjoy a night just for two. Pamper yourselves.
- Don’t feel you have to celebrate Valentine’s Day on the 14th. (Side note: DO tell your special someone when the “new” date is going to be, so they won’t think you forgot). Trade babysitting with another family so two couples can enjoy a special night without having to worry about babysitting fees.
- For those of you who are alone for Valentines, celebrate with a friend. Invite them over to watch old movies and enjoy supper (invite a few others who are alone and have potluck.) I think I am going to have to DO this, since my guy will be travelling during the week of Valentines. We’re going to have a girls night instead!
- Pack a special Valentine's Card in your children's lunch - just for them. Yours will be the most special one they receive that day! (Remember to tell them how much you love them!)
- Someone once told me they picked out cards for each other in the store, gave them to each other while they were there, and then put them back! TOO FUNNY! I think I'll just write a love letter instead!(I'll save on gas money!HAHA!)
We are lucky enough to have a burner and some CD's here(shop at home) so I may burn some loooove songs for a Valentine date night! Thanks for all your inspiration! I couldn't print off the cash Christmas labels, as I'm just about out of colored ink. All ready with my credit card to go to Staples for ink I stopped in my tracks and thought' shop at home'! I got out Christmas stickers from a million years ago and decorated my jar and a credit card cover! So glad you were here!
Thanks again!
kyla
- I just read "How MUCH do I love you?". My husband and I have been married for almost 9 years and we always celebrate Valentine's Day, but never buy each other gifts or go out. It is just not worth the money. It is way too busy to go out, and we don't need to buy eachother gifts to show our love. For the past few years, we have decided that the best gift we could give eachother is time. With family and work, time together is precious and much needed. So we set an evening aside, ( it doesn't always have to be on Valentine's Day ) put my son to bed early, have a nice dinner, watch a movie and enjoy our time together.
- Tina, Beaverton, OR
- I don't have an SO or children. I also don't work in an office that has
obligatory valentine's candy. So for me Valentines comes and goes
without any expenditure or plan for DOing. :-) Very cheap and frees up
time for me. I love it. Linda.
- With little ones that still aren't that crafty with scissors, etc., I buy valentine's cards after the day for the next year... generally cost about $1 for all that I need. They can 'sign' their names after I address each one to a friend. We also bake up heart shaped sugar cookies and go heavy on the pink icing and sprinkles. This year we will pull out the chocolate fondue package we got at Christmas as a gift and splurge on strawberries. The library has been supplying us with Valentine's Day stories and movies, too.
- This is not completely cost free - but it's very inexpensive...especially when the kids are younger.
From the time my oldest was about 5 until....hmmmm...last year when my kids were 19, 17 and 15 we have had a Valentine's treasure hunt. When they were in grade school and had to give valentines to all their classmates I used the leftovers from the boxes to write silly clues (with really bad rhymes) that led them all through the house. (Example: "look behind the door for clue number four") The last clue led them to the treasure...which was a shoe box filled with inexpensive treats that I collected during the months before. The fun was in the searching (which got more difficult as the kids got older), not what was in the box!
My daughter leaves for college this summer and she wants to have a Valentine's scavenger hunt this year! Now, of course, I have to buy a box of those "school" valentines. :) And, the tradition continues, my son used the technique to give his girlfriend her Valentine's gifts last year (which was NOT inexpensive, but they are young, in love and living at home LOL!! Time for reality soon enough!)
- I’m sure this has been done a thousand times, but since my Love Language is Acts of Service, this really
hits home for me. What about making up some good old coupon books? This should be pretty easy to do
for most people as almost everyone has a computer, but it could also be done by hand on hand made
Valentines.
- For husbands, they might give their wives coupons for 1 Free Back Rub, 1 Night He makes dinner, 5 times
cleaning the toilet, 1 night Free to go out with your girlfriends, 5 times to fill up the car with gas, etc..
Okay, so maybe we wives think they should do this automatically but sometimes a little reminder is nice too.
- For wives, they can give their husbands coupons for 1 whole Saturday off to do whatever he wants to,
1 night or weekend with no kids, two movies where he gets to pick the film, a meal where you’ll fix
whatever he wants, or breakfast in bed, 5 “get out of jail FREE” coupons when he messes up or says the wrong
thing, 5 coupons for HOT S-E-X (can be combined with no kids night coupon).
- For kids to give to parents, 2 Coupons for cleaning my room without complaining, 2 coupons for doing
the dishes or straightening the living room, 5 FREE whenever hugs, 1 coupon for cleaning out the inside of the
car, 1 coupon for washing the car, 1 coupon for cutting the grass, 1 bike ride together, 1 night I go to bed early,
- For Parents to kids, 5 “get out of chores” night coupons, 1 day out with just mom or just dad, 1 afternoon at the park,
2 game nights where the child picks the game, 1 night for dinner of the child’s choice, 2 “get out of jail free”
coupons, 1 bike ride together, 1 trip to the Ice Cream Parlor (okay it isn’t free, but it’s still Way Cool when you’re
a kid), 1 night a friend can stay over, etc…
- For kids to siblings, 2 coupons for “I’ll do your chores one evening”, 1 coupon for cleaning the others room,
1 date to play a board game together, 1 date to go to or rent a movie of the others choice, 3 times you can play
with my Nintindo DS (a favorite of my 5 year old who’s always asking her big sister if she can play), 1 FREE make-over
(for sisters provided they are old enough not to trash the entire house with nail polish, hair gel and make-up).
Those are just a few ideas. Anyone can use their imagination and come up with coupons they know the other
will LOVE! I hope this is useful. We’re really tightening our belts this year and trying to get out from under a
MOUNTAIN of debt. I think your email was just what I needed to get me inspired. Blessings… J in
Monument, CO
- Dear Cindy,
I really enjoy your e-mails and the paper package is wonderful DO idea. Please remember that candles are only safe in tempered glass. Putting a candle in ordinary glassware can cause the glass to shatter, and potentially cause a fire.
Be safe! Happy Valentines!
- For Valentines treats, making your own is an inexpensive option, esp if you are a baker with a decently stocked pantry. I have bakers chocolate already; if I pick up a small container of whipping cream (pretty inexpensive), I can spend a day making chocolate truffles with my family. I might do brownies instead; I have everything for them. Both options are much cheaper than buying commercial chocolates!
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Go to the library and sign out Valentine's Day books for the kids (and perhaps a little romance novel for yourself). Remember to read the Valentine's books as their bedtime story. Take a look and see if there are any Valentine's Day movies or romantic music CD's as well.
- Call up a special friend you haven't seen in awhile. There is a good chance they have been thinking of you too!
- Nothing says I love you like a heart-shaped home-made pizza pie! Seriously though, give it a go. If you and the family are staying in for Valentine's, make some dough in the morning and it will be ready to shape by suppertime. SHOP at home FIRST in your fridge and pantry for pizza fixings are you are set to go! (Add a red or white candle to the table and everyone will know it is a special occasion.
- (I love this one!! - Cindy) We had over a hundred extra wedding invitations printed for our wedding ten years ago. I am going to take one of them and add a special note to my dearest husband. I would definately marry him all over again!
Remember, memories are made of the things you DO, not the things you BUY!
Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!
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