I had a frugal post almost written, but since it is Valentine’s Day this weekend I thought a frugal Valentines post was in order. My “Learning to Wait” frugality post will publish next week.
My frugal tip for Valentine’s Day:
Skip it
Seriously, why fight the crowds (and the weather) for some Hallmark holiday? Save your money and celebrate Valentine’s Day in March.
But, if you must celebrate sooner rather then later here are a few frugal ideas.
Valentine’s Challenge: Avoid the Valentine’s crowds and celebrate a few days after February 14th with this fun challenge.
Eat Cheap on Valentine’s Day: These inexpensive and copycat meals can make a dinner at home go from so-so to so fun!
Chocolate: For all you chocoholics out there, check out these delectable desserts from my friend Lynn. Personally I would skip dinner and just make one of these yummy treats!
Valentine’s Coupons: Give the gift of service with these downloadable coupons. There are coupons for moms, dads, teachers, neighbors, kids and more. Print out these coupons and give them with a side of brownies to share the love!
Valentine’s Treasure Hunt: I love this idea from Beauty and Bedlam, perfect for kids who love to play hide and seek!
Creative Valentine’s Ideas: Sometimes the best gifts are the ones you make yourself. These ideas are easy, fun, and cheap!
Cheapie Date Ideas: Jessica shares some great tried and true cheap (and I’m talking FREE) date ideas. I love that some of them include serving others and getting fit!
Romantic Dinner at Home: Several recipes including one for “love potion.” Is it just me, or do the words “love potion” make you giggle just a bit?
For more frugal ideas visit Life as Mom.
Makes me sing “Love Potion #9″ in my head.
We can’t skip Valentine’s, but we do celebrate it a day late most years. That’s because my oldest and only daughter’s birthday is the 15th. I do go out and buy candy the morning of the 15th to get it cheaper.
Thanks for all the neat links and ideas.
I have two girls who have birthdays the week after Valentines. They love all the heart goodies they get for Valentine’s Day and I love the clearance prices!
skipping it is a great idea. i ignore this holiday every year.
We also do not partake in this holiday. We try teaching our children that we can show our love to one another everyday and not have to take one day out of the year to do that. Plus, we have showed them the prices of items and what we can save by not celebrating. Great post!
I’m keeping this post to use when honey comes home.
My husband and I actually celebrate his version of V-day, “Best Friend’s Day” on the 15th of Feb. This way, we can catch all the clearance V-Day items … saves money on cards, etc., and it is more special because the day is meaningful to us. He decided he wanted to celebrate the fact he got to marry his best friend. I like that
I’m glad they like them — a double bonus.
My birthday is just a few days before V-day, and growing up all I ever got was pink and hearty… and to this day, it’s left me with a love/hate relationship with Valentine’s Day.
I love the idea to skip it! But we are going to do something little for the family. Just a special cake and root beer floats and a pretty tablecloth.
We will be buying lots of candy on clearance after it is over!
The hard thing is when you have older teens who are not in a relationship and feel left out! I am trying to make it fun for them!
Blessings,
Mrs. White
I love it Barb! We don’t celebrate either… but I know many people still do.
At school we focus on God’s love for us and how we can love like Jesus. We study the parables and marvel at the Good Samaritan. We brainstorm how we can show love every day.
I love working at a Christian school!
We do our fair share of heart crafts too, but always with God’s unconditional love in mind.
I love the idea to skip it. We don’t exchange presents. We make the kids cute little crafts with them, but my husband and I don’t exchange gifts with each other. Most people think we are crazy to skip it, but they might have thought that before.
love the idea of skipping it! we are having family fun night this year. nice dinner {at home} games & a movie
Valentines Day is NOT my thing…unfortunately, my husband LOVES it! In fact, the other day he reminded me that I need to get him a card this year, LOL! Apparently, I have forgotten the past few years
My husband and I are not buying anything for each other. We will celebrate at home with out children, nothing fancy, but plenty of love to go around!
with our children, sorry for the typo!
I’m with you — skip it! I don’t buy into the whole commercialism of it PLUS I don’t like anything that makes someone feel obligated to do something. I want them to do it just because rather than because it’s obligatory due to the Hallmark Holiday.
So, I’m making a nice dinner (well, nice??? just a good meal) because we’re NOT going out. We tried that once and WHAT A NIGHTMARE! IT took us about four hours just to have dinner and that was WITH RESERVATIONS!!! That night we swore we’d never do that again. So, we’ve invited the grandparents over and the boys are helping me prepare dinner. We’re making them each hand painted picture frames and I’m going to let them stamp them with my heart stamps and then we’ll spray/seal them. The frames were $1 each at Michaels! You can’t beat that. The photos that we’re going to put in them… will be about $0.50 each at Walgreens when I get them printed out tomorrow and so everyone wins!
I get new photos of my boys… the grandparents get some QT with the family… and it’s relatively cheap (other than the cost of food but hey… I like homemade lasagna!)
Great suggestions!
We LOVE your Valentine Challenge. Such a great idea. And thanks for posting our printable V-Day IOUs!
We celebrate Valentines day some but more so because it’s my birthday. Hubby says that’s the only reason he married me becuz he can remember my birthday (joke). Sometimes we go out on that day to eat. Denny’s gives you $8 off your tab if you eat on your birthday. So since we live in a small town, it’s not much of a wait. I usually give out a piece of candy and a card to hubby as well and that’s about it. Rarely do I get both birthday and valentines presents, which is ok. He gets me flowers once in awhile. He’s a practical guy, so far it’s been good!! It’s not the gift but the thought/love that comes with it!! Happy Day!
Love these ideas! My husband and I decided to wait until after Valentines to celebrate our anniversary! Prices are ridiculous for flowers and candy right now!
Did you see my frugal Valentine’s Craft idea?
Yeah, we don’t do too much for Valentines. I’ll write a letter or something or give a little candy, but that’s about it!
I’m a Valentine’s baby so I loved getting all the mushy stuff for my birthday! I still love all the heartsy stuff, but I don’t want my hubby spending money on flowers that cost $100 on that day but cost $30 any other time. I love it when he brings me flowers spontaniously. That, to me, means more than giving me something just because of a holiday. This year, however, we are planning a get-away weekend. Not because of Valentines, but because we didn’t get to celebrate our 15th anniversary back in November.
Our last daughter was born the 23rd, love those after holiday sales.
We will be baking cupcakes and cookies together.
On Valentine’s we always make dinner together. I enjoy working together in the kitchen. And it’s the one day of the year that I make the dessert that my husband loves and I hate. We exchange gifts, but this year we’re keeping it simple. I made beef jerky for him, which he enjoys and I don’t make very often. It cost me about $4.
PS I just recently found your blog and I enjoy it. I laughed really hard when I read the story of how you and your husband got together.
I’m with you. We’re celebrating tonight with takeout Chinese while both kids are out for the evening (although I got a small gift last weekend).
We’ll have pizza maybe on Sunday WITH the kids for THEIR Valentines gifts.
hi there! just stopping by from my blogfrog “promotion” on my website, great ideas i love the thought of skiping a hallmark holiday, love your site, anne
We celebrate Valentine’s Day, but we call it “I LOVE YOU DAY”. This year we are including some dear friends and their families in our celebration. All sharing a meal together and bringing our favorite items. (I blogged about it http://foodfunfamily.wordpress.com/2010/02/12/valentines-day/)
My husband shows me he loves me everyday by helping in so many ways, providing for our family and just being an all-around fabulous man of God! We, in turn, don’t need a holiday to remind us to say we love one another. Yet, we put our twist on the day by telling all in our lives how much we love them.
Jada
Valentines candy is always half price the day after. And if there is ever a day to NOT eat out, that is def Valentine’s Day! That ranks up there with trying to eat out on Mother’s Day… Let’s just celebrate EARLY or late.
You do have the best advice. I’m all for skipping it!
Well, I guess my husband subscribes to your theory of “forget it”!! He’s not much in the romance department, so he NEEDS a holiday to remind him to do something special!! This year he was getting close to the doghouse, but I found out he had a secret plan that got squashed because the “babysitter” had to cancel!! While I was reading your blog, I came across these ideas and decided we could just cook dinner together and have a more frugal holiday at home! Made the kids a simple and sent them off to watch movies – they did a great job of being quiet and letting us have some adult time! We used your ideas for steak marinade and blackened scallops….and I found a yummy recipe for roasted asparagus and mushrooms at Allrecipes.com….also made cheddar biscuits (similar to Red Lobster) and cherry cheesecake. It was a wonderful idea to cook together, save money and get to visit without all the hoopla that goes into going out on a date! We decided that we probably spent less than $20 because we had most of the ingredients on hand AND we didn’t have to pay a babysitter! Thanks for all your great ideas and recipes – I look forward to trying more!
We definitely “skip it” in the sense that we treat it like any other day of the year. We fill it with lots of love, hugs, kisses, and kind words – just like always.