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?

30 Comments

  1. These are great ideas Jenny and not only for Valentine’s Day. I love a movie or games night in, some of my favourite co-op games to play are Injustice 2 or Sol Cal.

  2. I love these ideas Jenny, the ‘day of nice’ is such a cute and romantic way to show someone how much they mean to you. I definitely don’t see the appeal of going OTT on Valentines, if you want to spend loads that’s fine but I’ve never felt like material objects show love in the same was as thoughtful little things do. Excellent ideas!
    Beth x

  3. This is the first Valentine’s Day my boyfriend and I get to spend in person \o/ and while we do all these things on a weekly basis (he’s big on having “date nights”) this Valentine’s Day I think he said he was going to take me to lunch, get me Boba and I was going to take him to Melting Pot for dinner for his first fondue experience!

    It’s basically just another date night for us lol but I’m excited when I get to introduce him to things he hasn’t done before!

  4. WE don’t really do really V Day in my house because our anniversary is so close to it. These ideas are brilliant tho! I may go for one or two this year!

  5. Games night, YASS! We have so many board games but we never play them anymore, why??? And I love the “day of nice” idea, that’s so thoughtful and the personal touch is always so much more meaningful than a bunch of flowers – well, I think so anyway. Lovely ideas, Jenny, thank you for the inspo! x

    Lisa | http://www.lisasnotebook.com

  6. Great post! I think we’ll have a quiet supper together and I’ll make something special. It’s lovely to talk together and be together. After both having had shockingly bad previous marriages (think narcissists) we’re just so happy and grateful to have found each other. It’s utter bliss. Thanks for posting β˜€οΈβ˜€οΈβ˜€οΈ

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