Don’t Let Commercial Hype Dictate How You Celebrate Valentine’s Day With Your Spouse

Advertisements have been all over television urging you to buy this or that for your Valentine. If you don’t buy “XYZ” for your Valentine, she/he will be disappointed.

SERIOUSLY?

Do diamonds really say how much you love a person? Is it really necessary to pay a restaurant twice what you would normally spend on any other given evening because the restaurant has raised prices?

Do ENORMOUS stuffed animals that sit in the corner of a closet say “I love you” better than anything else?

NOPE! NOT AT ALL!

Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday this year (2016). For most of us, that means we don’t have to get up in the morning and get to work. We have time to make our Valentine feel special without spending a lot of money.

Make a whole day of it, or make it a whole family day.

Some Ideas to Make Your Valentine Feel Special

Cut out hearts from colored paper. If you don’t have colored paper, cut them out of printer paper and color them. Write “I love you” sayings on them and leave them in strategic places where you know your Valentine will find them: as the bookmark in the book they are reading, attached to the television remote, on the container of milk or coffee, on top of the socks in the sock drawer, on the mirror over the bathroom sink.

Make breakfast special. What about pancakes with strawberry syrup or fresh strawberries? If you have one of those heart shaped griddle forms, you could make heart shaped pancakes or even heart shaped fried eggs. What about serving a mimosa (orange juice and champagne)?

Check the television movie channels or your movie library and watch romantic movies for the day.

Write your Valentine a mushy love note.

Make your own Valentine’s cards. I was going through a box of old paper work the other day and found some of the Valentine cards my kids made for me. It’s always special when you realize just how much effort and work someone put into a card just for you.

Instead of paying for a huge box of chocolate, play the game Candyland for something sweet.

Make  vanilla pudding and put red food coloring in it. Then top it with a whip cream heart.

Loved the one I saw on one of the morning news shows yesterday. The lady took thawed phyllo dough and cut hearts out. In one heart, she cut a smaller heart. Then she egg washed the full heart and placed the heart outline on top. After egg washing the heart outline, she put some cut up strawberries and raspberries that had been mixed with sugar in the center. She also egg washed the smaller heart cut out. And then she baked them. They were adorable. (Would love to credit the person with the idea, but I can’t remember what television station she was on or who she was because I was cleaning and listening.)

Take time and give the one you love a back rub.

Make a “love” coupon envelope. “Good for one back scratch.” “Good for one long walk in the park.” “Good for one evening cuddling in front of the fire.” You get the picture.

In short, there are so many different things you can do to show your Valentine exactly how you feel without emptying your wallet or bank account.

How will you make your Valentine feel special this Sunday?