1. Spend Your Talent.
This one is easy for some people like myself. I love making cards and doing paper crafts so I always make my husband a special card for Valentines day. This year I will be enlisting the Booper to help make decorations for our home. Hearts are easy to cut out and hang around with pretty ribbons! You might be a great cook so you could make your specialty for your family. My husband plays music, so I like to have him play our song every Valentine's day. Whatever talents you have spend them on your family in a special way.
2. Spend Careful Thought.
Think of the person you are giving to. What do they love? What do they value? Most of the best gifts have nothing to do with the money spent, but the thought put into the gift by the giver. My 10 year old niece never has much money to spend at Christmas time, but she goes shopping and plans her list by what each of us really like, and somehow she always thinks of a perfect gift within her budget. Giving great gifts is her talent!
3. Spend Energy Planning.
As a very busy mom this one made me sigh just thinking about it. Energy can be a rare commodity at times. The idea is to spend all your energy before the big day, so you are prepared. If you're rushing around trying to pull things together at the last minute you will be stressed out and your loved ones will feel it too. By planning in advance and being prepared you are showing your special someone you care enough to not make them an after thought. I've failed to plan in the past and then ran out to grab something quick. Not only did this cost me more money, but my loved ones knew I didn't have them at the top of my list and they felt forgotten. I've felt this way too, remember last minute gifts can sometimes feel like no gift at all.
4. Spend Time.
One of the best gifts you can give yourself.. is time with those you love. Make a plan to spend as much time as you can together, and make the most of it! Some may arrange for a babysitter to spend quality time with their spouse, or perhaps it will be a family day/night. However you plan to spend the time, be prepared so you aren't sitting around at the last minute saying what are we doing tonight?
Some ideas for how to spend your time together:
- Family Game Night-board games, card games, or make up some of your own!
- Movie Night-Popcorn makes for a cheap snack! The Booper loves popcorn and movies so this might be our plan.
- Take a walk down memory lane. Visit the place where you met your spouse. Relive your first date. Go through family scrapbooks or albums and talk about past fun times spent together. Plan fun things to do together the rest of this year.
- Family Makeovers! This would be lots of fun if you have a daughter but boys could have a blast getting a new look too. Being silly together is part of being a family, so make it fun or give it a theme. (Rock Star, Cowboy, Movie Star, Princess, Kings and Queens..etc.)
5. Spend Resources.
Don't have money for a babysitter? Tap into those resources known as family and friends! If you have friends with children offer to do a trade. You offer to watch their kids one night, if they will watch yours on another, and if you're lucky you already have friends in mind! Looking for great places to go, restaurants you can afford, or fun things to do? Tap into your friends and family network and ask for suggestions! Facebook is a great place to ask for advice and suggestions, and you might learn about a great deal or something free to try. Even if you're planning to stay home try asking for family friendly movie suggestions from your friends you trust. Google it! I google everything, and have learned all kinds of new things that way. Be creative and think "outside the box" and you might be surprised to learn the value of the resources you have on hand for free.
We all spend on different things to make Valentine's day special but,
everyone will agree spending time with those you love... is time well spent!
Have a Special and Happy Valentine's Day! ~Becky
Those are great ideas! what a great post!
ReplyDeleteGreat article on spending and even apply it to many other events besides Valentines Day! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome!
ReplyDeleteThose are great ideas! I need to share this with my husband. :)
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it be nice if we did this all the time instead of just planning for one day a year? I let life get too busy and don't do the things I really would like to do. Thanks for the reminder of how to really show you care.
ReplyDeleteLove this!! Great idea and awesome post!
ReplyDeleteThese are some great ideas.
ReplyDeleteWe dont do anything on Valentines day unfortunately ill probably spend it alone with the kids like any other day =/
ReplyDeletethanks for ideas. We already implement most of these already for other events.
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas for making a memorable Valentine's Day on a budget!
ReplyDeleteGood tips
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas
ReplyDeleteI ALWAYS SAY SOMETIMES THE LESS SPENT IS THE BETTER TIME. THANKS FOR THE POST
ReplyDeleteFor my family Valentine's Day is just not about couples...we celebrate with our little sweetheart...our daughter!
ReplyDeleteWhat great ways to spend Valentine's Day
ReplyDeleteVery nice article. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI'm not good at crafts I will use my talent and sing a love song.
ReplyDeletegreat idea, thank you!
ReplyDeleteI can think of a few other treats to share with your partner on Valentine's Day, but this is a family blog, right? Seriously though, I like your focus on spending time together and doing little things that mean a lot. One thing no holiday is complete without and that doesn't have to cost all that much: chocolate!
ReplyDeleteLove this post! Always looking for less expensive ways to have some fun!
ReplyDeleteThis is nice....we will probably spend our day chasing after a kid and trying to stay awake. HA!
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of spending time. That seems like what we should be doing opposed to spending money.
ReplyDeleteLove these ideas!
ReplyDeleteNothing pays off like pre-planning! Great advice.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lot of great ideas.
ReplyDeleteThose are good ideas. Not everyone has extra cash to spend just because it's an over rated (holiday)
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas for someone who doesn't have alot of money, like me!! LOL
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of not having to spend a lot of money to show someone you love them! Great ideas!
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas! I feel like we all rush so much that we forget to truly spend time with those that matter to us, especially time without phones, tablets, and other distractions.
ReplyDeletehas been a long time since we were alone.
ReplyDeletedefinitely going to use parents for babysitting
ReplyDeleteThanks for the ideas and reminders of how to make V-day simple and not having to spend a lot of money.
ReplyDeleteI think that we are going to do a family game night. Maybe with prizes!
ReplyDeleteGreat Ideas
ReplyDeleteThese are great ideas.. very useful.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
I love these ideas, they will save us money
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas!
ReplyDeletegreat ideas! i can use some ideas for this valentines day and this helps out alot.. we are a simple couple so this is perfect! thanks so much
ReplyDeletethanks for the great money saving ideas!
ReplyDeleteVery good ideas! Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThese are great tips!
ReplyDeleteGreat tips!
ReplyDeleteGreat tips!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree about last minute gifts feeling like no gift at all. It just takes some thought.
ReplyDeletei collected shells from the beach on our last vacation and bought a frame to put them on so that may play into my talents! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for some really fun and inexpensive ways to enjoy Valentine's Day. When my kids were younger they enjoyed doing crafts for holidays~ Mary Fagans
ReplyDeleteFun
ReplyDeleteLove these! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post, there's a lot of thought behind it. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThese are all great ideas that may sometimes get overlooked.
ReplyDeleteSo true, spending time with, and spending time thinking about what they love and like is a wonderful gift for your sweetie!
ReplyDeletegreat ideas and tips! Thnx!
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas!
ReplyDeleteMy husband should read this! ;)
ReplyDeleteThis is great! Great ideas!
ReplyDeleteLove it!
ReplyDeleteWe'll spend our vday with dinner and a movie.
ReplyDeletegreat tips and ideas!
ReplyDelete#4 is the best to remember....as long as you're spending time with the person you love that's all that matters!
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing these posts I will keep them in mind of VD
ReplyDeleteGreat tips! I think we all need tips on the cheap! Keep bringing them all year long!
ReplyDeleteNever thought of things in that aspect. There are many other things you can "spend" other than money or time lol very insightful in my opinion. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas. I don't like to spend a lot on Valentine's Day.
ReplyDeleteHow sweet that you have a song! I hope he plays it for you today. Valentine's is about making it personal with thought and time; great idea on using your talent. Happy Valentine's Day!
ReplyDeleteSherry Compton