FRUGAL VALENTINE GIFTS ARTICLE

Frugal but Thoughtful Valentines gifts

-by Desne Doman

You don’t have to wait until Valentine’s Day to use these ideas. But at least do something for this Valentines Day no matter how long you have been together. (I’m guilty of being a little cynical and ignoring Valentines’ Day or just giving the odd funny card but this year I’m going to attempt just one simple idea and who knows…)

Gregory Godek in his book “1001 Ways to be Romantic” describes two kinds of romance – obligatory romance and optional romance. Obligatory romance is celebrating Valentine’s Day, anniversaries etc., whereas everything else is optional romance, i.e., little surprises, massages, midweek surprise dates…. Optional romance is genuinely romantic but you should at the very least do something on the obligatory celebrations.

Here are some frugal Valentine’s gift ideas.

Put together a slide show of your year together with music. Use either Power Point or one of the better freeware programs like http://www.freshdevices.com/picture_viewer_software.html

Buy a box of his favourite chocolates, open it and wrap each of the chocolates in a love note. Reseal without eating any.

Get a heart shaped gift box (cheap from the local $2 shop); fill it with some love notes, promises, romantic verses (see http://www.saviodsilva.com/09/poem2.htm) and valentine jokes (see http://www.stvalentines.net/shortvalentinejokes2.htm). To make it extra special put a small red shaped box inside and label it "filled with a thousand kisses-take one as needed ".

Cut out some heart shapes (fold a couple of pieces of paper in half and cut a question mark shape on the fold). Start each message with "Why I love you”. If you have 20, mark the first one - 1 of 20 and so on. Hide them in your partners’ lunchbox, around the house and leave a saucy one under the pillow. Valentine’s Day can turn into a fun treasure hunt.

Send a Valentines ecard – but ensure that this is not the only thing that you do for your partner on Valentine's Day (combine with one of the above). http://www.123greetings.com/events/valentines_day/happy/ has a good selection with options to send it at a future date. Untick their newsletter option (preview card) if you do not want further communication.

Make a book of vouchers - an oldie but a goodie. The vouchers could promise a massage, a foot rub or something naughty but nice. For some printable coupons see http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/valentine_coupons.htm An Australian site that has all sorts of printable vouchers and ideas is http://www.enrichedyou.com.au/ss.html then click Freestuff

Write your partner a love letter – some examples and ideas at http://www.electpress.com/loveandromance/page13.htm and http://www.cyberparent.com/love/loveletter.htm

Make them a bookmark of a favourite photo of the two of you and a nice romantic verse. Or use these printable ones at http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/valentine_printables.htm. Place in his/her favourite book for a surprise – combine with vouchers etc.

Have a romantic picnic dinner – on the living room floor. Use candles, a bottle of your favourite wine, romantic music playing and prepare a simple meal of his or her favourite dishes. Add a fruit bowl, cheese and chocolate for a special touch. Not only will you be avoiding the crush at the restaurants, dinner is your treat and should things lead further the picnic rug is in a pretty private location.

As soon you hear your partner coming home from work, open the door dressed for romance (favourite underwear). Have some flower petals leading to the bathroom. The bathroom can be setup for romance with the bubble bath, scented candles and a bottle of champagne, with love songs playing in the background (for a love song list see http://www.stvalentines.net/songs.htm).

Lovers Caution: If you have dressed (or undressed) for romance, learn a lesson from one of my girl friends. She had us in stitches and our husbands envious.

Before her partner came home she showered, perfumed and wrapped herself (without a stitch on) in cling wrap (food plastic wrap) adding only a big red bow around her neck. When she heard a fumbling at the door she flung it open with the words “I love you!”

She stunned both herself and her husband’s best friend. He was leaving something at the door he had borrowed. It was her most embarrassing moment, but her husband’s best friend reckons it was the best valentine’s gift he ever got!