160 Ideas for Cheap and Fun Valentine’s Day Dates for Couples or Families!

I asked Freebies2Deals readers to give me their BEST Cheap and Fun Valentine’s Day Date and Family Ideas! Hopefully one of these can give you something to do this Valentine’s Day!

• Reader LeAnn:  My husband and I went to a bookstore and gave each other a $10 limit. With $10, we split up and bought the other a gift. It took almost 2 hours- and was so much fun! He wants to do it once a year now, at least. It was fun trying to avoid each other in the store (we went to a big one,books-a-million)…and I got him 3 items (2 were on clearance, ) and he got me a book that I had been wanting, and he did not even know that I wanted it. Its also fun trying to find a gift within the store that fits your spouses personality- and stay within the price limit. It turned the entire date into a game  Then we went to dinner, and discussed our gifts.
• Reader Kristen: I always get a heart pizza from papa Murphy’s and sparking cider. My kids think it’s the best.
• Reader Erica:  Fill out slips of paper to put inside heart shaped balloons (from dollar store) with funny activities (Ex. do the robot, see who can do a handstand the longest, see who can win a staring contest). Fill up the balloons, stick them to a wall, and pop them. If you get creative on popping them (like using a sling shot or blow darts) even better. Once you get the message, you must do what the paper says with your date. Best to do this on a group date!
• Reader Kathryn:  We have a tradition of doing cheese fondue for dinner at home in the crock pot. The kids love it as much as my husband and I! And of course chocolate fondue for dessert. There are good recipes online–you do have to do a little hunting for a cheese fondue recipe that doesn’t call for wine, so find your recipe ahead of time!
• Reader Cristal:  My husband and I love to do things for our kids… we have heart attacked their lockers at school, or their bedroom doors when they wake up. A treasure hunt of paper hearts leading from their bedroom to a small treat, make a candy bar poster (for dad:)), make sugar cookies let them decorate them and do the knock and run at neighbors houses, candlelight and red dinner, secret notes to everyone, the 14 days of valentine’s for my husband with his favorite snacks and treats with a what I love about you note and balloons with secret love notes inside. thedatingdivas.com is an awesome site for fun inexpensive date ideas.
• Reader Tay:  A deck of cards decorated with paper “52 things I love about you”
  Or leave a love note for every day leading up to valentines day.
  I love you alphabet. Every letter describes why you love them.
• Reader Michelle:  We like to make heart shaped individual pizzas together as a family on Valentine’s Day. The kids love making their own and its fun working together in the kitchen.
• Reader Krista:  For a more romantic thing I’ve done where I turn our bedroom into a “Hotel Room”. I made sure everything was super clean and all the clutter and laundry was put away. I had our bathrobes out, made a do not disturb sign to go on our door, I made a fake room key, lit some candles, got a bottle of sparkling cider and put chocolate mints on the pillow. (A side note: remember to take the chocolate mint off the pillow before getting into bed. Otherwise you will have a melted chocolate mess on your pillow like I did! We had a pretty good laugh about it at least!) I spent $7.00 on chocolates and cider for this one. If you have a little bit bigger budget you could get some really nice sheets or something to add to your room to make it more special.
• Reader Jo: We took chocolates and flowers to all the widows and single adult women in the neighborhood. They dressed up (all boys at the time) in nice suits and ties and said a poem as well. It was really cute and the women all loved the attention from their little valentines.
• Reader Laurel:  I purchase fortune cookies from the oriental section at my grocery store. I put personalized fortunes in them for members of our family. Then chocolate dip them & put some sprinkles on top before giving them out
• Reader Penny:  Homemade coupon books are so cute and easy to make!
• Reader Edwina:  Couples can avoid the Valentine date rush by having their date in the morning. Search for a nice breakfast nook in town and enjoy each other’s company without the noisy crowd. But you can actually save a little money if it’s done at home.
• Reader Nicole:  Gift idea: Clean his car, inside out. I like to do this while he’s at work, so when he comes out he is surprised/met by a nice clean car.  He used to put so much time and care into his car, until we got married… and then we had kids… so it gets pretty neglected, not to mention beat up.
• Reader Crystal:  Me and my husband make each other special CD’s every year. I choose songs that remind me of our special memories together and he does the same for me. We put the cd’s on while we give eachother massages with massage oils by candle light.
• Reader Danielle:  We cut a bunch of hearts out of construction paper. Each family member writes one thing they love about each person on a heart. Then the hearts are given to the person who they are written about. It’s a lot of fun to write them and makes you feel very loved when you collect your hearts at the end with nice messages from each person in your family.
• Reader Meghan:  Husbands…Buy roses at Sam’s Club. My brothers all do this, so I’m not exactly sure how much it is, but I think $10 for two dozen? They are gorgeous, and all you have to do is strip the thorns and extra leaves, trim them, and put them in a vase yourself! Way cheaper than a flower shop, and you get twice as many.
• Reader Brenda: This idea is Bingo lovers. Take a cheap bingo game, can be bought at Dollar Stores. Use Valentine candy for the bingo makers. I used valentine M and M’s and candy hearts for the bingo markers. For the prizes I went to the Grocery Store and bought carnation for 50 cents a piece.
• Reader Erin:  We’ve made scratch-it cards before that have 3 different options on them such as a 15 minute foot massage, $3 movie at the cheap theater, ice skating, etc. We had a romantic dinner at home (easy since we don’t have kiddos yet) and then whoever received the scratch it card was able to choose the activity. It’s a lot of fun and super easy! All you need is construction paper, paint, dish soap, and a sharpie. You can find a really great tutorial and free Valentine’s Day printables from https://patandlindsay.blogspot.com/2012/02/diy-scratch-off-valentine-cards.html.

Ok, that should get you started!  But there are a total of 160 DIFFERENT Ideas on this page. So head over and you can see them all!

Feel free to share these ideas with your friends on Facebook or Pinterest! That way, everyone can save a little money. 🙂