If you have school-age children, then class Valentine exchanges, teacher gifts, and class parties can add up quickly. What to do?
VALENTINE CARDS (who wants to spend too much money on those tacky store-bought cards anyway?):
1. See my post on 25 FREE Valentine photo cards HERE
2. Print from home FREE Valentine cards.
Some great ones are:
Bunny Cakes - Sweetheart Valentine Cards
Zakka Life - Clip Art Lollipop holders
Cottage Industrialist - Cute Dinosaur cards
123 Printcards
3. Have your child make Valentine cards using construction paper, stencils, stamps, etc.
CANDY:
You have one month to keep an eye out (with my help) for candy on sale! OR, give something a little different, like Valentine pencils, bookmarks, etc. Craft stores may have some of these for cheap. I will stay on the look out. One year for Christmas, my daughter took construction paper and paint pens and made bookmarks for her classmates. We used laminating sheets to laminate, and punched holes in the top of the bookmark to place curly ribbon. That would be another great idea in lieu of candy!
TEACHERS:
Now listen. I don't believe that you need to go spend money on a $5 box of candy OR a valentine coffee mug OR a stuffed animal for your child's teacher. If I were I teacher, I would probably agree! You can keep it simple and let your child show his/her appreciation in unique ways.
Last year, we bought a box of Red Velvet Cake mix, some frosting, some sprinkles, and some mini-muffin paper holders (valentine themed). We made 24 Mini-Valentine cupcakes and gave each teacher 6. We bought valentine cupcake boxes, but you can be creative and find an inexpensive way to "wrap" the cupcakes. You can also make Valentine cookies. You can put them on a red plastic plate, wrap with cling wrap, and jazz it up with some curly red ribbon. This is a great treat for the teacher, and if you keep an eye out for cake mix, cookie, or frosting coupons, you can save even more.
Another great idea is to have your child make his/her teacher a Valentine's Coupon Book to give the teacher with coupons for "tasks" that your child can complete to help the teacher at school.
Other Valentine's Day gifts:
YOUR OWN CHILDREN:
Do you get your children Valentine gifts? If you want to continue to do so, by all means go ahead. But if money is tight, can I suggest that you don't buy them anything? Seriously. Your child will not be permanently devastated. Instead, I suggest that you give them the gift of YOUR TIME. It is a much better gift to spend some Valentine's TIME with your children baking cookies, watching a movie, or playing a board game. Or make them a Valentine's Coupon book as well, with coupons for tasks that you will complete, such as "making your child's bed," or fun things to do together, such as "popcorn and a movie."
YOUR SIGNIFICANT OTHER:
Okay, people who know me, KNOW that my husband and I don't really celebrate Valentine's Day. Awful, right?! I don't think so. I give him a PASS this day. I don't want him to get caught up in all of the hype and stress out about getting me something for Valentine's. I like to save that for our Wedding Anniversary. It's much more special. First of all, being a restaurant General Manager, he works every Valentine's day. So we don't see each other anyway! Plus, I don't want him to have to spend a lot of money on something expensive, AND I don't want him to waste his money on something cheap! We celebrate our love EVERYDAY (cheesy, huh?), so we don't need to get caught up in the commercial drama of Valentine's . I promise this isn't just a cop-out, I really don't get into this holiday, and neither does he, so it saves us money!
BUT, if you like to celebrate Valentine's Day with your significant other, you can do it without breaking the bank! You can go to your favorite restaurant's website, or restaurant.com to get gift certificates at a fraction of the cost. Many newspaper inserts have coupons as well.
Search your local paper or ask around for FREE events in your area.
May I suggest giving your spouse a romantic night at home? Instead of fighting the crowds, you can order take-out or cook a great meal. Then you can watch a romantic movie, or give him a nice massage! Get your creative juices flowing! I
THE KEY TO A SUCCESSFULLY FRUGAL VALENTINE'S DAY IS PREPARATION. If you start now, you avoid the risk of being ill-prepared and spending a fortune!
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