Cheap, free or easy ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day

To some of us, associating Valentine’s Day with lavish gifts, romantic trips away or expensive meals just isn’t realistic or doable. Unfortunately, we’re not all in a position to be splashing that sort of money out on one day. If you are, then that’s great and I hope you find an amazing way to celebrate the day but for everyone else, I’ve compiled a list of either cheap or free and generally easy and low-key ways you can celebrate Valentine’s Day this year if you’re a bit stuck for ideas. I’m not a huge lover of Valentine’s Day (maybe if I was being whisked off to Monaco, I would be!) but it’s always nice to do something nice, right?

Make dinner at home: Instead of going out, why not just cook dinner at home instead? There are tons of recipes you can find which require easy and cheap ingredients. You could try a South-Western Seafood dish, which is full of colourful vegetables, a hearty beef chilli full of super cheap, Tesco value ingredients which taste just as nice or my personal favourite Thai fish cakes! And for afters, something like these no-bake Oreo truffles which are so easy, they don’t even need baking!

Exchange a personal gift: If expensive jewellery is out of the question, you could opt for a personal-only gift exchange. Something which has a lot of meaning but won’t break the bank and is also personalised, to make it that little extra bit special. I love a personalised gift, they’re my absolute favourite and I recently blogged about one from Gifts Online 4 U which I absolutely loved!

Make a ‘day of nice’ list: Okay, so you don’t need to call it that but that’s what I call it. Sometimes, if my boyfriend has had a particularly stressful or busy week at work, I’ll do him a ‘Day of Nice’ on his day off. Which is basically a check-list of nice things all day such as; a massage, cooking dinner, making a cup of tea, breakfast in bed, his choice of movie – that sorta thing! It can be really nice and it’s totally free!

Have a movie or games night: Or both! Pick a few movies each and then round off the night with some silly games. Card games, Twister, Monopoly or Cluedo are always fun. A low-key but cosy and fun way to celebrate the day with your loved one which doesn’t even require putting on make-up or getting out of your pjyamas if you don’t want to.

Have a picnic or lay on a spread: Get all the bits and bobs left over in your fridge and make good use out of them! If the day is nice, take it over a park (or even in your garden – at least then if it gets too cold, you’ve not got far to go to warm up) or just lay on a nice big yummy spread of food. If you’re going to buy some extra, Iceland do amazing party food.

How will you be celebrating Valentine’s Day this year? Do you celebrate at all? Do you go all out or keep the day nice and casual?