Thursday Thrifty Throwdown: New Year, New You Challenge #6

[HeatherNYC]

A romantic night out. A gift or two wrapped with a red bow. A dozen roses. Add up all of the traditional Valentine's Day gifts and festivities and you could spend your whole monthly budget for "fun stuff" in one day. Even if you do a basic Whitman Sampler with a few piece of folded paper from the card aisles, you are dropping at least $20. For this Thursday Thrifty Throwdown. It is New Year New You Challenge #6 - Free (or Pretty Much Free) Ways to Say I Love You.

 -- Make your honey's favorite meal. Break out the china, print out a menu, light some candles. Yes, the food will cost money, but the whole evening will cost much, much less than a night out at a restaurant.

-- Just say no to cards. I love Hallmark. I come from a family of mega-card givers, but this year, why not make your own card? Grab the glitter and glue and paper from the kids craft drawer and design a one-of-a-kind note for your sweetheart. I'm sure the laughs will be followed by a few smooches.

-- Make a Business Card love note. Just the right size for his (or her) wallet, design a little bit of love to be tucked in a slot and carried around every day. Maybe with a phrase just the two of you know the meaning to or rows and rows of hearts, you can do whatever you want.

-- Create a new iPod playlist. Spend a bit of time on the computer and put together a new playlist for your special someone. Ones that have strong memories tied to them or ones that just make you think of him.

-- Paint a pet rock. Okay, so this is a little corny, but instead of buying a cute stuffed animal or some tie or something, make a pet rock. Grab one from the garden, paint it all over and put a little goofy face on there. Perfect little "I Love You" buddy to sit on a office desk or in the coin dish in the car, it is a great way to lift spirits while apart.

What is your favorite free way to say "I Love You" to your Valentine?

[ReesesPieces]

I just made a Valentines playlist for my iPhone, and since we wont be going out (we have a newborn so we stay home no matter what) we will have a nice dinner at home with some music and maybe if I'm lucky my hubby will dance with me in the living room. :)

[mommyprice09]

I like to write a little note or letter

[mommyprice09]

i also buy him a card that says what i wanna say

[AzariahsMother]

We dont really do anything or exchange anything on this day. Kind of another day for us.

[AzariahsMother]

However, for DD I try to buy her card candy, or some kind of treat.

[ta2dirishlass]

Red wrapping paper on her presents :) DD loves red.

[Khepmd]

I made a 50 'list of stuff to do' with the 'naughty' in red and the benign in black, printed em up, cut em in strips, folded em in half, and put em in a mason jar with a big sparkly red heart sticker on it!

[Khepmd]

He gets to choose:)

[MamaBear2cubs]

We are not big on valentines day.

[amonkeymom]

These are neat ideas!  If I had a current SO, I'd give them a try.  :)