** Enjoy these fun, frugal Valentine’s Day ideas from Jennifer. I know I’ll be implementing a few over the weekend!**
Can’t Buy Me Love – Frugal Valentine’s Day Ideas
The year was 1996. Our 1989 Corsica had just cost us $1,000 in repairs. Valentine’s Day was around the corner. As newlyweds, we were broke but willing to be creative. Rather than going out for a night on the town, we stayed in. I decorated our apartment’s sliding glass door with hearts of all shapes, colors, and sizes. We had a pasta dinner using heart-shaped pasta that I’d bought from a fundraiser. We had heart-shaped garlic bread and red Kool-Aid. We exchanged handmade Valentines. We made the best of a rough financial situation, and simply enjoyed each other’s company.
A few years later, I thought it would be fun to submit our frugal Valentine’s Day idea to Woman’s Day magazine. (I’m pretty sure it was one of those columns that paid $50 if they accepted your idea.) At that time, being frugal wasn’t trendy, so they were amazed at our frugal fun ideas. Rather than just putting a little blurb in the column I’d targeted, they called me! They conducted a phone interview about our experience and then sent a professional photographer to our tiny apartment to take pictures of us. (He tried to recreate the moment with his big white backdrop and cutout hearts. Not quite the right mood… but he tried.) And there we were…. in the February issue of Woman’s Day.
I thought it was pretty neat. Our family and friends were impressed. My husband wondered if he’d wasted his fifteen minutes of fame on a ladies’ magazine. Now we just laugh about it… and try to hide our copies of the magazine. But that frugal Valentine’s Day is one of the ones that we’ll always remember.
While we may have appeared frugal in 1996, we’re much more so now. With the bottom line in mind, here are a few ideas for celebrating Valentine’s Day.
Dinner and a Movie: The Frugal Version
The traditional dinner and a movie date can be a huge budget-buster. Instead, have a home-cooked meal. Maybe even splurge a little on steaks, a special dessert, or something that you don’t usually buy. Grab some Glade scented candles that you got for free at CVS or Walgreens and a free movie from a Redbox kiosk. (If you’re a first-time Redbox user, you can use the code BREAKROOM to score a free one-night rental.)
YouTube: Blast from the Past Night
My husband and I did this one evening and spent a couple of hours laughing. We took turns searching for songs from the time when we were in high school and college. As we watched the videos, we reminisced about big hair, pegged pants, and other quirky 80s trends. Maybe you could find some of “your songs” and reminisce about how you met.
Hide the Kisses
Buy a bag of Hershey’s Kisses, and hide them around the house. As your family moves through the day, they’ll find your little chocolate surprises. And if they don’t, then they might be reminded of Valentine’s Day when they find the kisses months later.
Wii Nite: No Kids
My husband likes to play Wii games. In fact, we play together as a family. The night that I took some time out to play games with just him was really fun. Not only do you get to do something that your hubby likes to do, you can also be more competitive than when the kids are involved!
Decked Out in Hearts
You might want to follow our 1996 theme and fill your home with hearts. Sneak into your kids’ rooms and tape hearts all over their walls. Hang them from the ceiling. Or make a heart trail leading them to the kitchen in the morning.
Eat Your Heart Out
Heart-shaped foods are always a hit around here. This year we’ll be having heart-shaped pancakes or muffins for breakfast, heart-shaped sandwiches for lunch, and a heart-shaped pizza for dinner. I have a heart cookie cutter that’s the perfect size for the sandwiches, and I’m even considering cutting our pepperoni into hearts at dinnertime.
Teach Kids to Love
Valentine’s Day can be lonely for some people. What better time to teach your kids compassion and love? Make special Valentine cards or treats, and hand-deliver them to friends and family members who might not otherwise receive a Valentine’s Day gift.
Jennifer Bruce is wife to Jason and mom to five-year-old Emma. She blogs at Saving and Giving where she encourages people to save money and be generous. Jennifer hosts a weekly meme called A Time to Give where she invites others to share simple (and often free!) ways to give. When Jennifer is not blogging, she can be found playing Candy Land with Emma, spending time with Jason, reading, or gracing the cover of Woman’s Day!
Amy here ~ Don’t miss out on other money-saving posts by Jennifer. Here are a few that caught my eye:
How will you spend Valentine’s Day this year? I think we’ll celebrate with some chocolate chip cheesecake and the Amazing Race premiere!
I love the Teach Kids to Love idea. Would be great for people in the hospital, etc.
@Katie @ Frugal Femina, I’ve always wanted to do this for some of my single friends. I suppose I take for granted having someone to celebrate Valentine’s Day with. I want to make sure that my daughter thinks of others. I like the hospital idea!
The ideas of hiding hershey kisses through the house is great. My kids will love it.
@Erica, I might try this one myself. I’m thinking that we’ll be finding kisses next Christmas!
These ideas are fabulous!! I just wish I had a sweetheart to do them with
I especially love your youtube idea! I never would have thought about that, but that would be a blast of a date. I was just thinking it might be fun to make a list of favorites to look up – like fav band/song, fav movie, fav old commercial, etc.
Great…now I want pizza with heart pepperonis!
Love these ideas! I”m going to get the kids going, so we can deliver some Valentine goodies/cards to some older folk in the church.