6 Affordable Ways to Celebrate Valentine’s Day at Home! #ValentinesDay
Affordable Ways to Celebrate Valentine’s Day!
After many, many years together, my husband and I have done a lot of things to celebrate the day of l’amour. From fine dining, filet mignon, weekenders away to other cities and surprising one another with fancy dinners and a night of dancing, a room filled with rose petals and the works.
We’ve also had the blessing to share this day of love with our daughters and celebrate in fun ways like making our food heart-shaped EVERYTHING.
Not to mention, we’ve winded down and have found that celebrating at home is just as enjoyable as going all out! After all, it’s each other’s company that far outweighs all the commercialized hoopla right? For that reason, I’ve compiled 6 affordable ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day at home for couples below.
1. Cook Together.
There’s nothing more rewarding than making a delicious meal together. On Valentine’s Day, it’s a great day to cook each other’s favorites. Dara and I have had such great laughs and inspired conversations while we cook together.
Don’t forget, the most wonderful part about making a meal together is enjoying the fruits of your labor and food can definitely be very sensual. Have fun with it and be sure to make finger foods that you can both share and enjoy!
2. Have Your Own Wine Tasting!
Pick up an inexpensive bottle of wine, chocolates and cheese to try out at home. I recently had the chance to try out Two Oceans Wines from South Africa and we had fun with it and tried it with chocolate and cheese.
It is an entry-level dry Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot, Ruby red and soft. You could taste the ripe plum and red fruit flavors and Dara especially enjoyed its slight sweetness. I prefer an extra-dry but, this one was tasty when paired with dark chocolate!
Have Fun!
This is the perfect wine to have your own wine tasting at home that doesn’t break the bank! Have fun with it, bust out the cheeses, the cold cuts, even the pates and don’t forget the dark chocolate! Check your fridge and pantry and see what you have on hand.
Bread with herbed butter, smoked salmon or stuffed mushrooms could do the trick. You can always pour a glass with the dinner you just cooked together too! You can find other foods to pair with this wine, here.
3. Make Your Own After-Dinner Dessert!
It’s not Valentine’s Day unless you have chocolate covered strawberries. They are simple to make and even better to pair with a glass of wine. All you need is washed strawberries, your favorite 1/2 cup of semi-sweet dark chocolate, a boiling pot of water, a glass bowl and 4 TBSP of heavy cream.
Add the ingredients into the bowl and stir until melted. Dip your berries and place them on a wax-paper covered cookie sheet in the freezer to harden. Enjoy!
4. Dance Cheek to Cheek.
After all, how often do you get to do this? I think dancing can be one of the most intimate forms of affection and attention for a couple. So, dust off that entertainment center, put on some Marvin Gaye or Maxwell and groove.
Light up the fireplace and just enjoy one another, have those quite intimate conversations that no one else will ever hear, look into one another’s eyes and remember why you fell in love in the first place. I know it sounds corny but, it’s so important. If you can’t do it year-round, at least take the time to do it on V-Day!
5. Watch Movies.
Yes, it may seem menial and boring to most but, when you’re a parent or even a busy couple without kids, it’s hard to find the time to spend time together. There’s nothing like cuddling in front of the TV and watching a new movie or your old favorites.
Some of our best nights together have been watching sitcom re-runs, our favorite snacks and a heated blanket in our laps. It’s heaven and best yet, it doesn’t cost you anything, especially if you have Netflix!
6. Give Meaningful Gifts.
After many years together, I rather forego those diamond earrings and put that money towards another beach vacation with our family. You learn to be sensible, right? *wink* But, all in all, give gifts that give your loved one your time because your time is far more valuable. A coupon book is a fun and easy way to give a meaningful gift for almost no monetary value.
There are tons of coupon book printables online that are free or if you’re creative, make your own! They can be used for any stage in a relationship as well. If you’re like us, you’ll love the coupons that read, “Wash the Dishes” or “Cook Dinner’. If you’re a new relationship, you will most likely use saucier coupons that involve dice and other fun stuff! Have fun with it and only you know your partner best!
How do you celebrate Valentine’s Day?
Let me know, til then–cheers m’deres!
Nancy Polanco is a freelance journalist, lifestyle content creator, and editor of Whispered Inspirations. She is a proud Mom to Gabby and Michaela and partner and best friend to Darasak. Having worked as part of a health care team for almost a decade, Nancy is happy to be back to her passion. She is a contributor to the Huffington Post, TODAY’s Parents, and an Oprah Magazine Brand Ambassador.
We are getting another foot of snow tomorrow night, so we will be snowed in with a movie and hopefully takeout.
Well, perfect excuse to cuddle and a glass of Two Oceans wine!
Going to be a quiet weekend here,its calling for bad weather till Tuesday,guess Dinner,wine and a movie
That sounds great!
This is so thoughtful. Any of these ideas are right up my alley for creating the perfect date night, any night, with my boyfriend!
Thanks, it is more about time than gifts!
We are going to try cooking together this year for Valentine's Day. I'm looking forward to it.
It can be a lot of fun and really intimate for sure.
We are going to get the girls flowers after the 2 year old goes to bed, so they can get something when they wake! We aren't doing gifts for each other… but with the snow storm coming, I think I am going to make some breakfast and get lots of snuggles with the whole family!
My recent post A family member, I #52weeksA4A week 6
Aww, enjoy!
Those are some really cute ideas. Some times going out gets way too expensive.
It adds up!
Last year I told my husband ALL I wanted for Valentine's Day was to dance with him. So we turned on some romantic music and just danced – cheek to cheek! – for half an hour or so. That's what I want to do this year too.
Ahh, magic!
So any great ideas! We'll be spending the day at the auto show together!
Have fun!
Watching movies, wine tasting and having some dark chocolate sounds fabulous to me. That might be exactly what we do.
Enjoy!
What great affordable ideas! I'm all about meaningful gifts now too!
They are so much more valuable!
Really great ideas! My family will be making dinner together and then cramming onto the couch to watch a movie or two.
Those are the best nights too!
That is a great way to celebrate too!
My husband has made me chocolate covered strawberries in the past. They are sensational and I loved him just that much more for it. <3
They are amazing! Better that he made it!
We are celebrating at home! I love snuggling up with my honey at home!
It is the best, huh?
These are wonderful ideas. My husband and I love to cook together for date nights. I think that would be a great way to celebrate Valentine's Day.
I must agree!
My hubby is away at work right now, but if he were home, we'd cook a nice meal and watch a movie. It's the simple times that mean the most!
I think so, we have the best conversations while we cook!
These are great ideas. I love when we can cook together.
We try to do it often!
What sweet and romantic ideas. One's that you definitely need a sitter for!
For sure!
I love to celebrate at home, with three active kids my husband and I love to stay home and make a family meal, then watch a movie together. once the kids are in bed we have some romantic alone time.
That is how it is most of the time, every couple years or so, we send the kids to the grandparents!
We cooked together and watched movies this valentine's day — great minds think alike!
My husband or I usually end up travelling or working for Valentine's Day so these are some nice suggestions for us.
These ideas would work perfect for birthdays as well! Love keeping things simple – cooking dinner together and watching a movie is a perfect way to celebrate!
I hate spending money..these ideas are great! I will definitely be trying these out for his birthday! Thanks!
We always spend Valentine's Day at home, we try not to buy into the hype about it. We usually cook a nice dinner and then curl up on the couch and watch a movie.
That sounds perfect.
These are great ideas for anytime. It's important to do enjoyable things together; unfortunately life gets busy and we can forget to make time of "us."
I agree!
We do all of those things so much more often than Valentine's Day. Thanks for the list.