I’m A Cheap Valentine: How we celebrated with $17

Many people don’t like Valentine’s Day because it’s pricey- gifts often include perfumes, jewelry, and bouquets of roses. Prices for everything romantically related, especially roses, skyrockets. With a little creativity, it doesn’t have to be expensive at all; in fact, you could do Valentine’s Day for almost free! 

I started off Valentine’s Day with a doctor appointment:  not my idea of fun! But thanks to some wonderful blogs, websites, and my friendly neighborhood Goodwill, I’d already prepared for our celebration.

The Decorations
You might have already seen my “Easy Valentine’s Day Banner” that I posted about earlier this month.

Owl image from The Graphics Fairy.

What’s Valentine’s Day without roses?

When I was too sick to go to church Sunday, and had to stay in bed and work on school work, Brian bought me the most gorgeous rose! I put it in a recycled bottle and arranged it on our coffee table.

I found these wooden letters at Goodwill! They were 99 cents each, and they’ll look wonderful year round! (In the background is an art easel I also bought, but I didn’t use it for anything related to Valentine’s Day, in case you’re wondering.)

 The Presents
I printed these free valentine’s from Peptogirl, gave some away, and hid some around the apartment for Brian to find. My favorites are “Just My Type,” “Sew in Love,” and “Owl be yours.” Too cute! I snuck some into his lunch box, I taped one to his computer, and one to his shaving cream.

I also printed this adorable valentine and wrote a message to him inside. This valentine was also free, and I got it from mmmcrafts.

{What can I say? I love puns!}

For Brian’s main gift, I was inspired by “How To Make A Marriage Bed” from A Holy Experience. I shared the link to this post before, so if you’ve read it, you’ll remember the letter to Ann Landers. Ann Voskamp shared a letter to Ann Landers from a daughter writing about her very-much-in-love parents. Every time they made love  they put a dollar into a box, saving for their dream trip. On their 50th anniversary they went on a second honeymoon to Hawaii.

I found the perfect box at Goodwill for $2.99.

 After our picnic, Brian was supposed to open the second envelope. In this one, I had this sticky note:

Unfortunately, by the time we got to the park, it was dark. It was really too bad, because I had outfits picked out and ideas for the pictures, and it would have been so cute! Next time, I guess!

 So Brian opened the third card. In this card, I put the rest of the free printables for the picnic at home: the heart and movie tickets.

Eat Drink Chic

Eat Drink Chic

 The Food
When he walked through the door, The kitchen was covered in powdered sugar, and I was wearing an apron, mixing frosting, looking a little flustered. In my mind, I had the ideal cupcake: tall, soft confetti cake, topped with fluffy pale pink frosting and adorable paper toppers, TomKat Studio style.

TomKat, Ice Cream Shoppe Party

the sugar sign is from Eat Drink Chic

On the cupcake to the left, you can see how runny the frosting was, and the remains of the first batch. Notice how flat they are? I substituted 150 ml of milk for the missing egg. Someone online said it would work, and I believed them.

• As far as gifts go, it is the thought that counts! It doesn’t have to be expensive to be perfect.
• As far as decorations go, you can find great stuff online for free! 
• And, you’ll never have to buy Valentine’s again; there are SO many blogs and sites that offer them for free!
• After Valentine’s Day, get ready for next year! 
• When you look at the stuff that’s 50% off, think about how you could re-purpose it for Mother’s Day or a birthday coming up.