Putting something together for Valentine’s Day for you and your sweetie can get overwhelming. So, what I would like to do is put together a huge list of cheap and fun activities that you can either do as a family or with your love.
Once we have a bunch of comments and ideas, then I can put them all in a pretty list for all of you to see. I will even share it on Pinterest so you can save it for later!
Plus, anyone who leaves a comment with a great cheap/fun Valentine’s Date or Family Idea will automatically be entered to win one of five $5.00 Amazon Gift Cards! (No entry forms or anything.. your comment is your entry. Don’t leave your email address in the comment. It will show up only to me if you put it in the email field)
Thanks for your help in putting this awesome list together! I know everyone will have great ideas we can all share!
Stacey
Go to a $1 movie and sneak in your own snacks! 🙂
Leeann Wiliams
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.
Kristen Johnson
I always get a heart pizza from papa Murphy’s and sparking cider. My kids think it’s the best.
Erica E
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!
Melissa
I try to give something from the heart, so I make him a nice valentine day card with word for him that truly come from my heart. In the card I include home made printed coupons for things like a massage, a kiss, romantic dinner, etc. I prefer a nice dinner at home that I would prepart and then we can rent a movie and snuggle up together. Going out is great, but it is being close to each other is what we like.
nita
Service project for someone…share the love. Visit a rest home is a great one. Or more intimate a message movie night.
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!
Brittany Szymanski
We like making a homemade spa. Massage, candles, all in the comfort of our own home! 🙂
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.
Carissa
Every valentines day my mom and dad would give each of us kids one of those cheap heart shaped boxed candies and a card I loved it every year and cheap I plan on passing it on to my kids!
Emily C.
We do this too! The kids love it!
Shirley
Buy a bag of candle votives from the dollar store and put them outside the door in the shape of a heart.
Autumn
My husband and I often do Fondue date nights with friends (I have all the fondue pots and everything). Last year I decided to do a fancy candlelight fondue dinner with our children in celebration of Valentine’s day. We got out the fine dishes and glasses and had sparkling cider. I was amazed at what an impact it had on our children (6, 4 and 3 years) and what a nice dinner it turned out to be. I think it will become an annual Valentine’s day tradition. Because the previous post described it being difficult to find an alcohol-free cheese fondue recipe, here’s our family-favorite: 2 8-oz cream cheese, 1 cup milk, 1 tsp. worchestershire sauce, 1/4 tsp. salt, dash garlic powder and 2 oz. blue cheese. Combine all but the blue cheese in a saucepan on the stove over medium-low heat. Heat until cream cheese is completely melted and smooth. Stir in blue cheese, pour into ceramic fondue pots and serve with cubes of french bread, assorted veggies and tart apples.
Sheena
Love this idea!
Tay Brady
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.
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.
Jenny
Lego minifigures – $2.99 and they’ve got just about one of everything.
Also doing a cheap (since it has to be packed small and is being taken internationally) advent calendar for my husband who’ll be away.
Jessica
Tradition of the heart shaped pizza. I am not one for big, extravagant gifts so we all tell one another why we love one another. Making coupon books are fun with the kids too. My son has made one for my ex husband before. Coupons for cleaning his room, doing the dishes, a hug, etc.
Heather Palmer
I have dyed the milk and pancake mix red for the family to celebrate. They think that’s a lot of fun. . I also buy some fun thing all the kids can do together like new cool markers or play doh.
Krista Holdeman
I love cheap dates! Especially those I can do at home so we don’t have to find a babysitter!
Last year for Valentine’s day I couldn’t get a babysitter so I put the kids in bed and then left my husband’s suit out on the bed with a formal invitation to a sweetheart’s ball like the one we went to on our first Valentine’s Day together. I decorated our downstairs with silk flowers from our wedding, icicle lights from Christmas, lit some candles and put on some romantic music. I managed to fit back into the same ball gown I had worn to the sweetheart’s ball. (I am giving myself a pat on the back for that because there have been two kids since then.) I put together a fancy dinner and we ate it downstairs and then danced to the music and enjoyed our own private ball. I think I maybe spent $15 on dinner and that was the cost of the whole date.
Another one I’ve done is have a “picnic” inside. I bought some of those glow in the dark stick on stars and put them on the ceiling and spread out a blanket. We had some crackers and dip and I had made this really yummy chocolate mousse and some brownies that I had cut into hearts and served in fancy glasses. We just laid on the blanket and snuggled and talked and it was wonderful! I spent probably $10 on the snacks and the stars.
When we were really really broke a date we did was give each person a dollar and go to the dollar store and pick out a gift that represented the other person’s personality. My husband picked out bubble bath for me because I “make him feel all light and bubbly” and I picked out silly putty for him because I love how silly he is and how much fun we have together. Cost: $2.00
Another fun one was again, no babysitter so after the kids went to bed. I stole their play-doh and we had a sculpting competition. We also had some favorite childhood snacks like twinkies and chocolate milk poured into fancy wine glasses. Cost: $5.00 for snacks.
We do a lot of themed movie nights too. For example, my husband loves the movie Nacho Libre so we had nachos and watched that. Another is we had Chinese food, learned how to do a simple origami thing like a crane and then watched Kung Fu Panda. You can get boxes of fortune cookies at Macey’s for cheap and it is fun to see how silly the fortunes can be. You can cut cost if you make your own Chinese food but we just went to Panda Express and shared a three entree meal for less than $10.
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.
I have lots more ideas but those are some of my favorites! My husband and I are just silly cheesy people and we’ve learned that with little kids and a tight budget we can have just as much fun getting creative at home after the kids are asleep! This way we get to have date night every week!
Jo Romero
We do this on our anniversary but it would work well here too. We write each other a letter of what we love about each other (specifically for that year and in general) and then we make 10 predictions of what will come for the following year. (You will be pregnant, I will have a new job, We will have a new fence, you’re hair will be short, etc…anything really) We don’t read them until the next year. (so we read last years together and write one for the next year) It is always so much fun to see what we have accomplished. One of the best years was one I cheated on and a month after we wrote our predictions I looked at my husbands and made it my goal to accomplish all of his predictions. (I will start my MBA, we will pay off debt, etc….) I did pretty good and it was a fun undercover project to make him happy 😉
Michelle Houser
Everyday in the month of February write on heart, one thing you love about them and leave it on the door or table to see when they wake up.
Jo Romero
another idea outside of family that my kids enjoyed was when 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.
Lisa
Write down reasons you love them on paper and wrap them around individual riesens candy.
For a fun family activity, you can never go wrong with bowling!
Charity
My kids are doing pencils this year. I’ve stacked up on clearance pencils since after school and we are going makes valentines with love arrows and cute write saying.
Megan
We made heart shaped pancakes and french toast for dinner. Then everyone wrote or drew a picture that said one thing they love about being apart of our family. Later , we shared them and put these on a bulletin board for everyone to see all month long.
Jennifer
We always get a few $5 papa murphy’s heart shaped pizza’s.
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 🙂
Erin D.
My idea is similar to Leeane’s. Last year we went to B&N each with a list of things to find (I.e. a book from your childhood, somewhere you want to take me on vacation, a new skill you want to try, etc.) and found corresponding books. I think we had a list of ten and we went our seperate ways trying to avoid one another. We texted each other when we were done. We met at the cafe, ordered dessert and talked about what books we had chosen, which really was an interesting conversation about dreams, hopes, goals, and how much we love each other. We only bought dessert, but it was one of our very favorite valentines together.
Chelsea
My friend Cher made a blog a few years ago. She doesn’t post to it anymore, but all her ideas are still there. This is a whole list of ideas for date kits, all with free printables and ideas on how to put them all together. You’ll love it, and so will your spouse! https://loveactually-blog.blogspot.com/
Toni
We don’t like to go out to dinner and face the crowds during valentines so, we always bring out the fine china and make something at home. We go online and find a recipe for something really nice that you could find on a restaurant menu and make it. We love trying new things and valentines is a great excuse to splurge on something you wouldn’t normally make. You can make most anything for a fraction of the price that you can buy it at the restaurant and it can turn into a lot of fun making it together. That is if you both like to cook, which we do. Then we always make the table look nice and usually light a candle or two and play some nice music and enjoy the evening. Now that we have children we also include them and it ends up being a great way to teach your kids good table manners in a more controlled environment.
allesha
I don’t get into Valentine’s Day, so we keep it low key. Heart shaped sandwiches & Jello jigglers for lunch with some red drink. I try to be extra happy and give lots of extra smiles and touches. After the kids go to bed, then it’s chocolates, love talk, and massage.
Toni
I work at an assisted living facility and every year they have a dance. Me and my husband dress up and go dancing with the seniors who live there. It’s special a day especially for the ladies and gentlemen who don’t have someone to slow dance with.
Rebekah
I want to ditto all of the Papa Murphy’s heart shaped pizza comments, we love doing that as a family thing for fun. One of my favorite Valentine’s Day gifts I’ve received from my husband was this awesome coupon book one that he made…I made it last two years and could cash in things like a foot rub, or a girl movie of my choice, etc. I loved it. 🙂
Hanna
I saw the cutest idea yesterday! You get 14 balloons and put a note inside or tie it to them and put them on the bed along with breakfast in bed.
Janet
My husband and I do at home spa night, where he buys me special bath salts and bath candles and we give each other massages.
Kaylene
I remember growing up my parents would always wake up early and cook us kids a special Pink Valentines breakfast and while we were eating there would always be a special knock on the door. When we’d open it there would be treats for each of us (6 kids!) It was always so fun! Made Valentines very memorable.
Becky F
We make / decorate valentine sugar cookies. (My mom did this for me growing up – we each got a giant one with our name on it & decorated with tons of frosting)
Ashley
We used to pick somebody from our church and give them a “heart attack”. Decorate and write cute things on paper hearts and glue them to popsicle sticks and then go stick them in their yard so they find a heart attack. 🙂
Emily C.
I make a treasure hunt with silly rhyming clues to have our family running all over the house to find their treats/gifts. They like the searching at least as much as what’s at the end.
The past few years I’ve found small metal mailboxes in the dollar spot at Target in late Jan. or early Feb. We let everyone decorate one and then leave love notes for each other leading up to Valentine’s.
Have a appetizer and/or dessert cook-off contest.
colleen
We like making heart shaped sugar cookies together with the kids. Then we decorate them and write or draw the things we love about each other on the cookies.
Kammie
Homemade Valentine cards for Great Grandparents and Grandparents. Heart shaped sugar cookies, chocolate dipped strawberries (or easy fondue: chocolate chips with a huge spoonful of caramel ice cream topping!), and homemade heart-shaped pizza. We still put the Valentine on the doorstep, ring the doorbell, and run from some of our elderly neighbors to remind them we love them too!
We also try to find a church dance to attend to remember the early times!
Debbie
Homemade heart shaped pizza with our kids,movie night ,candy treat and Valentine sparkly juice (sprite and cranberry juice)
Allison
We love the melting pot but it is too expensive and not worth fighting the crowds so we do homemade fondue every Valentines day! It’s one of my favorite traditions and I can’t wait to do it with our kids once they grow up as well!
Laura Hayes
Do a theme dinner night! One Valentines Day, I did a “France” theme for our dinner. Do I know how to cook French food – no! That morning, I just put an invitation in my husband’s car to invite him to France that night, made a yummy dinner of our favorite meal, had a slideshow of pictures of France playing on the computer while we ate, and played some soft music playing in the background. It was a fun, easy way to do something different (have a theme) with something we do every day (eat dinner)!
Michelle Carter
We decided while we were dating that we didn’t want to fight the crowds at restaurants so we rented a movie and got pizza. 9 years later and we’re still going strong with that tradition, which is super convenient since we now have kids involved.
Lori Stevens
Since my kids love treats (who doesn’t?) I have made pink, heart shaped rice Krispy treats, heart sugar cookies, chocolate dipped strawberries and candies apples. For meals, we have pink, heart shaped pancakes for breakfast and Papa Murphy’s heart shaped pizza for dinner. We write love notes to each other and exchange them after dinner. It is simple yet my kids love it!
Penny
Homemade coupon books are so cute and easy to make!
Jami w
We always celebrate in feb 15 🙂 that way we get candy/chocolates and flowers all discounted! It’s kinda a silly holiday so we don’t think it’s necessary to celebrate it on the actual holiday. I’m a fan! More flowers for me!
Michelle
Pink/red dinner. Red jello, lasagna or a pasta with red sauce, sparkling cider (the kids love using the fancy glasses) and Valentines decor. Much better than going out and waiting hours at any restaurant.
alisa
We always make our own heart shaped pizzas and sometimes get pink soda (like cherry 7up) to drink with it. My husband works nights so the kids and I celebrate together.
Litera
It’s a day of “love “so do things that your significant other “love”. Like my boyfriend loves foot rubs, steak, and beer. So I would get him six pack of his favs, grill up some porterhouse steaks and rub his feet while watching basketball!
Tiffany McDaniel
Our family “ding dong ditches” each other through out the day with homemade valentines. It becomes a game where we try to catch the person leaving the valentines. We also do 14 days of service for one another in the family.
Tiffany
My husband and I usually can’t afford to go out to a fancy dinner, so we make our own dinner together. Since we have very different tastes, it’s usually me making myself a homemade macaroni and cheese while he cooks a steak, but we hang out in the kitchen together and eat the meal together while the kids watch a movie elsewhere.
HEATHER
We always put hearts all over our kids doors with things written on them about things we love about them. We also put candy suckers on as well because candy always make things better when your a kid.
Lindsay
We always do a heart attack for our parents and have our 4 kids write little notes and draw pictures for their grandparents. It’s only the cost of the paper and the time but it really makes their day and teaches our kids to show love and appreciation to others than just mom and dad.
Jessie
We’ve done this too. I love it! I think it helps us to remember all the things we appreciate about eachother.
Denise
We did this for Grandma. She was widowed and loved it so much the hearts stayed on her door for months. The kids, teenagers at the time, loved doing it and seeing the hearts stay up for so long.
Amanda G
In the past, I have bought items from the dollar store and put post-its on each item with cute sayings. For example, Mints=You were “mint” for me. Super glue= I’m “stuck” on you. I also tried to include some of his favorite candies or drink to a small basket.
Kristen @ Celebrate Every Day With Me
It can be hard to get out when you have kids. I wrote a post about 30 Ideas for Date Nights “AT HOME.” https://celebrateeverydaywithme.com/2012/09/30-ideas-for-date-nights-at-home.html
Cheri
Everyone thinks of chocolate when they think of Valentines right? One thing that we did as a family for a family night could be easily done for Valentines – either as a fun family night or with just your sweetie. We have fondue night. I cut up fruit and a pound or angel food cake and we dip it in the wonderful “fonduey” gooey chocolate. We are fortunate enough to have 2 fondue pots, so we fill the second one with oil and cook meat with it. The best part? It takes a while to cook and eat fondue style so we have a great time together. You could even look at thrift stores for a fondue pot.
Jordan
Make “valentine’s pizzas” together at home and then go ice skating and to dessert/hot cocolate.
Shelise
Since having kids, we have decided to make Valentines Day a family holiday. We don’t do gifts or anything. We just make a heart shaped pizza, buy some sparkling grape juice and sprinkle candy hearts on the table. The kids love it and it means less sentimental crap in our house (neither my husband or myself are sentimental so a teddy bear for Valentines is just a waste to us).
Alecia
Get a deck of cards, write 52 Reasons that I love you 🙂
Caitlin
One of my favorite Valentine’s memories comes from a year when we were totally broke, so we went grocery shopping with a $15 limit, then made our own chicken pasta with pesto and garlic bread together. Not only that, but I went through the house to find every candle we owned, lit them all in our front room, and ate dinner by candlelight…so we saved on utilities, too, ha ha!
Emlyn
Ditto the homemade heart-shaped pizza, plus strawberry milk with crazy straws and little gifts for each kid from Mom and Dad. 🙂
Jessie
One year I had to work Valentine’s Day and it was a Saturday so my husband was home. While I was getting ready for work he surprised me with a Valentine breakfast by candle light, he even made heart-shaped pancakes. It is one of my favorite memories. This was before we had kids but now that we do have kids we have carried on the tradition and the kids love it.
Another way we have celebrated Valentines is to go out the night before or for lunch that day. If you go the night before you can trade babysitting with another couple and beat the crowds. If you go for lunch most restaurants have a less expensive lunch menu. I’ve noticed in the past some big chains like Macaroni Grill do a coupon for the week of Valentines.
Amee
Homemade pop-up cards with hearts/clever sayings bursting out of them. Always a hit.
Reanna Tuft
We make home made valentines cards to the Grandparents and give them a plate of yummy sugar cookies the kids made just for them and deliver them after school. We usually get the $1 heart shaped chocolate boxes for the kids from the dollar store and make individual heart shape pizzas together for dinner. Then instead of a babysitter we put on a movie for the kids to watch in one room while my hubby & I enjoy our own movie cuddling together and then we just tell each other why we love each other. 🙂
Kelly H
1) Pretend to be newly engaged (leave your wedding rings at home) and go to bridal/wedding shows – get free samples of the goodies and have fun acting like you did when you were first engaged.
2) Same as #1 mostly, but if you have a sweet tooth like me, set up cake tastings with your spouse- many bakeries offer free tastings for engaged couples.
3) Indoor picnic and movie night after the kids are in bed – set up a blanket on the floor with lots of pillows (keep the candles higher in case you get rowdy) – don’t want to knock a candle over
4) Leave post it notes all over the house – different location each day – telling one thing you love about your spouse for the entire month. Fun locations – under toilet seat, in fridge on a can of beer, inside his favorite mug, rolled up in a pair of socks, wrapped around his tooth brush, etc.
Abbey Kessman
Using scissors, craft foam or any hard heart shape on stiff paper, markers and pipe cleaners, you and your kids can make valentine (or any holiday) pencil toppers.
Cut to foam to your shape, use the markers to personalize your message on the cut out, you can also sign it on the back.
Poke the pipe cleaner through the bottom of the shape and bend it down to secure it to the pipe cleaner.
Then coil the pipe cleaner tightly around a pencil and gently pull up on the heart so that part of the coil bobs freely above the pencil, with several loops anchored around the eraser end.
Works for any holiday – I have even used it to send encouraging messages for my kids and grandkids!
Susan
Decorate heart-shaped cookies and deliver to friends anonymously!
Edwina P.
For couples-An easy and relaxing breakfast date.
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.
For the whole family-A treasure hunt game at home.
Hide clues inside the house and let your spouse and kids play until they find their Valentine’s gift. The clues can include tasks which must be done in order to get the next clue from you. Double the fun and let them do the same thing to you.
LeAndra
We make heart shaped pancakes with red food coloring for breakfast. My husband and I usually do “second dinner” after the kids go to bed too. 😉
Jessica walker
Last year my husband got a red piñata. He also sent me on a scavenger hunt around the house that led to hearts with different reasons why he loved me written on them
Camillia
Couples massages, after kiddos are in bed 🙂
Monika
We always have a “RED” dinner as a family. We make lasagna, red rolls, red Jell-O, salad, and red velvet cupcakes or pink frosted sugar cookies. We usually have a fun red punch too. We decorate the table and just eat with the kids. They love it! Sometimes we invite extended family over for the fun too.
Cody
We always celebrate the day before to avoid the crowds!
Erika
Heart-shaped pizza, frost sugar cookies and snuggle up with a movie. Keeping it simple and staying in ends up being more enjoyable 🙂
Erica
For the Married couples without kiddos in the house.
Start out by getting dressed up, then cook a special dinner together (or, one person can be bartender while the other is the cook) make sure to cook something you pick out together and don’t get to have all of the time. Also make sure you get dressed up so it feels extra special!
After dinner set up a candle lit room and play a game of strip poker, If poker isn’t your game of choice, you can turn any game into a strip game! To make it extra spicy, the loser must give the winner a full body massage (you could buy some special body oils beforehand)
Don’t forget to bake a heart shaped cake for desert!
Chelsie
Our Valentine’s tradition is a candlelit spaghetti dinner with the kiddos! They love getting all dressed up, drinking juice from champagne glasses, and have dinner by candlelight.
Lindsey
My husband and I started a tradition our first year married. Since my husband dislikes crowds, and restaurants seem to be way crowded on Valentine’s Day, we barbecue steaks at home. This was our way to have a nice dinner, but avoid the crowds. Sometimes we have bbq’ed while it was snowing! Sometimes the steaks are a little too done on the outside. But, it’s something fun that we always look forward to–even with kids.
Heather M
Every year we have a two course fondue dinner. For the first course we dip all sorts of vegetables and French bread in a homemade cheese fondue, and for dessert we dip strawberries, bananas, and marshmallows in chocolate fondue. The kids talk about it all year!
Britta H.
We either have a nice and casual inside picnick or we set the table fancy and eat by candlelight.
Donna Paul
I do this for all holidays foor all my nieces and nephews. I buy 5 sheets of window clings ( generally $1.00 each) and cut them individually. I divide them and put in an envelope with a holiday card. I try to send them 3-4 weeks ahead so they can have fun putting them on the windows, mirrors, refrigerator, etc. It let’s them know I love them and they are cheap to mail too!
Janet H
I’ve got eyes for you!
Use glue dots to attach 3/4 inch googly eyes to the base of chocolate kisses. Put them, along with a few plain kisses in a clear treat bag and staple the top. Cut a label from card stock and fold it in half width wise and write or type, “I’ve got …….for you” leaving space for a pair of googly eyes.
It’s a fun valentine card for school children or for family!
Lisa
Bake fresh homemade bread (or cupcakes) – with a surprise in it. It could be a note that says how much you love them, or a “prize”. Just make sure it doesn’t melt!
Paola
This year I’ll be making a Love wall where every day starting Feb 1, we’ll each put a note up about something we love about the other person. It’ll help bring in the “love” all month long 🙂 Then on V day we’ll have our heart shaped pizza, sparkling cider, ice cream, and cuddle with our 20 month old 🙂 Nothing better than spending time with family!
Raygan
I’m the first one up in my house, so last year I woke up early and bought heart-shaped donuts and had them all ready to go for my kids and husband when they woke up. It didn’t cost a whole lot but it was a sweet surprise.
Alissa
Give him some massage oil with a gift card for a free massage by you. Turn on some light, quiet, relaxing music while you give the massage. I’m sure you can find a Pandora station you like, then the music is free too!
Bri Bolander
I eave little notes everyday before valentines day. This year on Valentines we are going to do a progressive dinner with friends. They we each only have to prepare one thing. And its done at everyones house so the mess is split up. The couple who have kids will get a babysitter and split the cost and have it at one central location.
Bree
Make a video together – recreate your first date, the proposal, etc.
Michelle H.
We ‘door bell ditch’ presents. My husband rings the door and our little boy finds gifts on the front step. Last year was a heart shaped balloon, a few chocolates and a toy set we forgot to give him for Christmas (oops). Make sure to ring the door bell for each gift to make the fun last!
April Anderson
We love getting take-out from our favorite restaurant and pairing it with sparkling cider. Then watch a movie with the kids. I like not having to clean up!
April young
Heart shaped pancakes for breakfast
Kathy
I make my husband’s favorite meal & we watch “our” movie after the kiddos are in bed! We had a horrible experience trying to go out on Valentine’s day with all the crowds several years ago, so we are great with staying in. We usually spend $15 on each other and do little gifts for our children.
Melea, this was an awesome idea! I’ve found so many ways to make it more fun for my family! Thanks to you and everyone for commenting!
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.
Nicole
One year I took some face cards and pasted a bunch of photos of us (two of each picture) on them to make a “memory” game.
Will
I buy leftover discounted Christmas gift sets and candy at Walmart and give them on Valentines day to my sweetie.
Carol Ann
On year I got window paint and wrote all over the windows of my hubby’s car while he’s was work. I left candy and a gift inside on the drivers seat. He loved it because it was such a surprise.
lisa
We have gotten take out and put lights up and stuff in our home, then went country swing dancing. We made shrimp Alfredo at home and painted pictures for each other, gone to dinner and the arcade, indoor mini golf, and just got special treats and watched movies at home. We try to do different things every year.
Leah Parkinson
I like creating cards with my kids using a potato and cutting it in a heart shape then dipping it into paint so it is a stamp. We make cards for our loved ones and share.
Michelle
We love to go to Dunkin Donuts. They have a free app with coupons you can use on your smart phone. We get hot chocolate and sit and talk in the comfy chairs. Can’t beat a date night for $.89!
Sara M
I make red and heart shaped food all day long. Sometimes I buy the kids their own box of the valentines heart candy. One year my husband “wrote” me a letter with all the phrases from the valentine heart candy’s! It was so fun to read! I bought a bag of Hershey kisses and taped them all over his dorm room when we were dating! (Or you could tape them all over his car!) That was a fun one!
Ashvin
Decorate with Heart shaped images with entire house to express the valentines day
Julie
Make your own heart shaped pizza for dinner and have sparkling grape juice with it.
Julie Stephens
Now that we have a kiddo and can’t go out on a date, I make a nice, somewhat fancy Valentine’s Day dinner, rent a Redbox, and we eat a yummy Valentine’s dessert (something pink!). I also have Valentine buckets that I fill with little treats and surprises to wake up to that morning.
Andrea
What a bunch of great ideas! I’m excited to see the list =)
Karey
I like to make my husband a home made Valentine’s Day card and put it in his truck the night before. I also put a bag of his favorite candy (the heart shaped York’s) and balloons or a blow up heart shaped inflatable in his truck. In the past I have taken balloons to his work and tied them on his truck (that way all his co-workers get to see the balloons).
Hillary Maxwell
We have a “love” breakfast. Each child get a list of reasons we love them at breakfast on a rolled paper. The list is as long as they are old! That night we have a candlelight dinner as a family, but we always eat dads pick for dinner. My hubby don’t do any chores after the kids go down but spend time together (movie, games, no TV just talking, etc.).
Okie
As poor newlywed college kids, we spent one Valentine’s walking around town hand in hand with warm cups of hot cocoa. We popped in to the library and pulled some books of love poetry off the shelves then snuggled on the less than comfy couch and read each other sappy poetry, making googly eyes at each other and just being cheesy and nauseatingly cutesy. 🙂
Alison Pike
We make Giant heart shaped sugar cookies for each family member to decorate and eat!
Dara White
Each year we have a candlelight dinner with our kids. We try to have something that we don’t normally eat, plus we get out the nice dinnerware and goblets and use our candles. Sometimes we get the kids a very small gift and sometimes we don’t. We just like to do something together.
It started out when they were very young and we couldn’t afford to go and do something ourselves and pay a babysitter. So we decided to make it a family affair. Sometimes we watch a movie afterwards or play a game.
Tyana
This year I’m making designs out of colored candy canes. Then prob watching a movie after the kids go to bed.
mariela
I do a red velvet pancake breakfast before the hubby goes to work (last year it was when he came home from work, he was on night shift. lol) They have some mixes at the dollar tree (so I’m guessing most dollar tree esque shops will have some form of inexpensive mix, if not target has a 4$ box) and it’s a great way to start off your day and it can be done for the whole family. 🙂
Jamie V.
Depending on the weather, a picnic would be fun. And if it’s not nice enough, how about an indoor picnic? Push all the furniture aside, lay out a blanket, play a nature sounds CD and pretend it’s a beautiful spring day.
Sherri
The 4 kids & I use a old xmas popcorn tin to stock up on Dad gifts. We start with black fri free stuff(toothbrush,mens vitamins, breath strips) then save our mens grooming coups for the after Xmas sales when grooming kits & office stocking stuffers & his faverite candy go 50%off or more. This year the kids are making him a card with his 1st grade photo and their 1st grade photos on the computer. Then they are making a giant gift basket for him. Each year they pick a different theme & each tries to be more creative than their siblings.
Janice Barraco
We have private hot tub room rentals by the hour.
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Janice Barraco
Call for a reservation in one of our private hot tub rooms.
Brittany
Heart attack your kids door. Starting on Feb 1st put a heart on their door with something you love about them written on it. Put one on every day so they have 14 things you love about them on their door! 🙂
RichA
I wish I could say I have a tradition for my kids but I dont other then just giving them some small gifts. I think I will start some this year with all these great ideas! Thank you!!!
April Welch
We do 3 things. One I buy Valentine paper and I make my husband and kids cute Valentines. Also the kids make Valentine’s for their grandparents. I make my own heart shaped pizza and I color the dough pink. I also make Valentine’s cookies and I write my husband and kids love notes with frosting on the cookies.
Heather Taylor
A red and pink breakfast us what my mom always did for us the morning if valentines day! Pink pancakes & milk, red syrup, strawberries & cream, etc. it was always fun and then after school she had a treat waiting then a red & pink dinner too with porcupine meat balls and pink mashed potatoes and Shirley temples to drink! I can’t wait to pass these valentines traditions down to my kids!
Jade
My plans are to give both my boys (3 and 5) a book (Valentine For Jesus and Zombie Love, found on Amazon) and since my 3 year old doesn’t like candy or much of anything I’ll give my oldest a bag of kisses. We’ll have brinner (Breakfast for dinner) and I’ll use cake icing to draw a heart on the pancakes or cut out hearts with cookie cutter. And hopefully kids will go to bed at a decent time and me and the hubby have alone time which doesn’t cost anything. 🙂
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.
triestep
My kids love balloons so I always get them fun valentines’ day balloons and little stuffed animals and sneak them into their bedroom at night so they wake up to a fun surprise. Then, we have pink colored heart pancakes with strawberries and whip cream.
For my husband some years I’ve done a heart attack…write things I love about him on hearts and put them in his car/closet/etc. I had my kids help me do one last year and it was a lot of fun to have them think of things they love about their dad.
Gretchen Skelly
One of my favorite Valentine’s Day dates has been when my husband packed a picnic for us and brought it to my work. We spread out a blanket that I keep on the couch in my office, and we sat down and ate. No crowds at a restaurant, no wait to be seated, and no kids running around (they were in school) and we just had a really pleasant 45 minutes before he had to go back to his office and me to mine. We celebrate with the kids at home by making heart shaped pancakes that are pink, and usually we will do a special dinner at home.
Karisty
Wait until the kids are in bed and then spend extra special time alone with each other, no chores just extra cuddle time or whatever and talk about previous Valentines days together, favorite memories or things you’ve done together and even better if there are special treats you know the other one loves that they don’t get often.
Lani
Every Valentine’s Day my husband and I get each other a book. We both love to read and this has always been a tradition for us starting from the days when we couldn’t afford as much.
Kandice
If you’re 30 or younger you can do Under 30 Classically Charged tickets with the Utah Symphony/Utah Opera. They have a show that weekend, and you can tickets for as little as $10. I’ll be going to a concert that weekend that should be fun. 🙂 (https://www.utahsymphony.org/tickets/student-tickets)
Heather
My husband and I go on our valentines date the weekend before or after valentines day to miss the crowd. Then, on Feb 14 every year our family (husband, me & 4 kids) eat papa Murpheys heart shaped pizza, breadsticks, sparkling cider by candlelight. Then we try to watch a funny valentines movie (madly Madagascar, alvin & chipmunks valentines dvd)
Jorgie Hadder
We like to splurge and go to the melting pot for special occasions, but this year we’re going to do at home fondue! Very excited to see what we come up with!
Teresa Froomin
I write a reason that I love my husband on little colored slips of paper and put 50 of them in a jar. I decorate the jar w/ the words “50 reasons why I love you!” and heart stickers. He can reach into the jar throughout the year and see exactly how much he is loved.
Allie
I found a KSL deal for a $69 couples massage that includes chocolates and sparkling cider! So excited, hoping to make this a new tradition!
Sally
We have a candelight dinner with champagne glasses and sparkling cider. My kids love it. I always make sure to give my children a little valentine gift with a note. We always make sugar cookies to deliver.
Traci Glick
Something my mom always did and I have loved keeping the tradition is decorating the kitchen table with Valentine decorations! And then when we got home from school we had “our favorite special treat” next to our name tag! It was so fun to look forward too! And to top it off we would have a fun Valentines Dinner with pink and red colors-jello, pink mashed potatoes, strawberry lemonade, etc. It was so much fun!
Paige
I like to decorate for valentine’s day. It kind of brightens up the dull months of winter. We don’t do big gifts, but I like to find something fun, like fuzzy socks.
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.
Carrie
One year when hubs and I were dating, I did the “14 Days of Valentine’s”. I just went to the dollar store and bought a whole bunch of fun little Valentine’s stuff and gave him one item each day from February 1st to the 14th. They had all sorts of fun things there – stuffed animals, jumbo cards, balloons, treats, etc. It was a lot of fun and gave us an excuse to spend a little time together each night! He still has some of the things that I gave him, too!
Natalie Bartlett
Making homemade valentines day cards / decor using paper hearts great activity for the kids!
Also making a homemade dessert with all the family
Heart attack grandparents doors
Have a valentines game night with friends
Jennifer Jones
My dad would always make us a special breakfast with paper hearts on straws and he would make chocolate heart candies for us. I carry on the tradition but add personal messages.
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.
Annalese Thorpe
The same… Buy roses at Costco!! Red themed dinner..
Jessica Dunn
Last year my husband planned a surprise date with two other couples. Although going to the ballet was not cheap, it was the effort that he put in to it that anyone can do. Tell your sweetie to block off a period of time and surprise them with whatever you plan. The anticipation of the event will lead to a lot of fun and flirting!
Melissa
My mom has a Valentine party for the grandkids at her house. They play different games and decorate sugar cookies and make valentines for each other. It is also a time to remember my grandma who used to have Valentine’s day parties for her great grandkids.
Use a red dry erase marker to write love notes on windows or mirrors.
I bought Christmas candy (after Christmas) and separated it into bags of red and silver for Valentine’s Day and green and gold for St. Patrick’s day. The hard part is keeping it hidden from the kids (and me).
We also do the pink heart shaped pancakes or pizza or sandwiches.
And we like to doctor up store bought valentines by adding googly eyes or glitter or putting a different faces on the characters.
Marie
Chocolate fondue at home with tons of different things to dip and can even do different types of chocolate and a fancy drink. Yum!
Nicole
Cupid always leaves “pop tarts” on the doorstep in the morning. I go outside through a door other than the garage door, ring the doorbell and leave the pop tarts there with a card on them for each family member. One year I even tied a balloon onto each balloon.
It has made for some excited kids on Valentine’s Day!
Nicole
I meant that I tie a balloon onto each box!
k.
I always bought underwear with hearts on and hung them on the bedroom door of my children’s rooms. For spouse a message written with lipstick on the bathroom mirror!
Brittany
We like to stick to classics- we usually make heart cutout cookies and decorate with the kids. For each other we unofficially kind of stick to a theme of books/dvds. We always get each other a card- usually one of the long winded, but sentimental kind that fits each other. I love printing off all those little valentine printables you can find on pinterest and using them throughout the day also. Nothing overboard here!
Shelly
When my son was in 3rd grade we made Valentines for his classmates with construction paper, paper doilies and glue, and he wrote a nice note to each of them on their cards. We then stuck a pencil to each card. It was so fun to do that together, and it was so inexpensive, as the paper was really cheap, and I’d gotten the doilies and pencils at a really cheap clearance sale the year before.
Christie cook
My hubby and I give each other a dollar amount and buy the cheesiest things for dollar tree and Walgreens. On Valentine’s night, we have a candlelit dinner with our children, complete with salad, soup, entree, and dessert courses!
Brenda Lion
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.
Raelyn Gunderson
Idea one great for your kids or for their class party. Make a great ice cream float with a red soda, such as Shasta, add a scoop of ice cream and make a red straw by clipping both ends odd a red twin let stick.
Idea two, in our dirt poor newly we’d days my husband and I went to the grocery store and both found a perfect card and present. Showed each other what we “would have got” then bought a soda and went home!!!
Idea three… Make heart shaped cupcakes by slipping a glass marble between the cupcake tin and the cupcake liner.
Pam H.
A cheap Valentine’s Day Date Night idea is to rent a couple romantic comedies, pop some popcorn, and enjoy a night of laughs and more!
Erin Curtis
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.
One of my friends did these as Valentines for her kids and they LOVED them as well. 🙂
susie king
A cheap Valentine’s Date is go for a short scenic drive a little before sunset.
Marilee
Like Carrie I have done the 12 days of Valentine’s. For example: “On the fourth day of Valentine’s my true love gave to me 4 love potions” (water bottles with new labels and drink flavoring). You can also do papers with love jokes, a cd with love songs, paper hearts with reasons you love them, valentine balloons, candies (kisses etc.). Things that cost more should be done at the beginning when you only need a few things. Less expensive gifts like songs on a cd can work well for higher numbers.
Emily
Our first Valentines day after we were married we definitely didnt have much money. So my husband surprised me with a dozen heart shaped sugar cookies with pink frosting that he had made himself. Also a big stuffed dog (that my little girl uses as a pillow now) that is soooo soft with a heart on it. They were the best cookies Ive ever had because they were made with love. Other years he has hidden messages all over the house and sent me on a treausure hunt. I’m very lucky to have him!
Nicole
Pack a picnic, take to a park, watch the sunset
Jeff Retke
I used to ALWAYS leave my wife clues for a “treasure hunt” for her to complete throughout the day. Sometimes Rhyming poetry kinds of notes other times not, I would give specific instructions on what times she should look for the next clue etc. Each clue lead to a small treat with a larger Valentines gift at the end, like flowers or whatever. I didn’t think it was much of a big deal until the year I went out of my way to create this Styrofoam ball with bicycle spokes pushed through with each spoke being a hanger for a picture of my wife’s life including pictures of her past, her son, and even a picture of her ex-husband, her and our son. We eventually hung the ball from our bedroom ceiling, and she said she “liked it” but she was so disappointed that I didn’t do the treasure hunt my efforts at the artistic picture anger seemed like a a complete bust. 2 lessons I always do the treasure hunt now, and I try not to spend lots of money as my wife’s love language is spending time together. I could buy her all kinds of nice stuff or not, but if I don’t put the time into “being with her” then everything else is a waste of time. Find out your Valentines love language and cater to that.
rs gold sell
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