Five Ways to Surprise Your Valentine or Special Date

Valentine's day is February 14, and knowing the right way to surprise your Valentine might mean the difference between a good Valentine's day and a great one. Valentine's day is a day for lovers, and most know the standard flowers-candy-card-jewelry requirement. But there are other ways to surprise your Valentine, many of which do not require going into debt to make the day memorable.

1. Floor Picnic - Rent a few romantic movies, cook a delicious meal (or buy one from your favorite takeout store), buy a brand new blanket, and spread it out on the family room floor. Be sure to have a romantic bottle of champagne or sparkling juice chilling in a bucket. For an extra Valentine touch, surprise your valentine with special ice! Just choose a clear plastic champagne bucket and chill ice cubes with rose petals or strawberry slices so they look beautiful in the bucket. Be sure to make clear ice cubes. Don't know how? Well, you have to start with DISTILLED or filtered water. In a clean steel cooking pot, boil distilled or non-salt filtered water. Allow it to completely cool. Then, boil it a second time. Pour into your favorite ice cube tray and freeze. Floor picnics are best with a lot of finger foods like fruit, cheese, and hors d'ovres. Small cakes called petitfours are one of the best desserts. You can make your own by cutting a frozen layer cake into small 2" cubes and dipping them in chocolate.

2. Love Notes - A lovely way to surprise your Valentine is to leave notes for them. When it may not be possible to spend Valentine's day together, small notes telling your Valentine why you love them is a wonerful way to show them how you feel. Choose different types of stationary or print your own stationary to add variety to your romantic expression.

3. Coupons - Everyone has heard of surprising your Valentine with coupons for favors, moments, etc. Printing these coupons is a great way to show you care, but the sentiment has been done a lot. To make the coupons more personal try lesser-used favors like Bake You Cookies, Let You Sleep In, Uninterupted Football / Sitcom Day, Get out of the Doghouse, Scoop the Litterbox, etc. A steamier way for intimate Valentines to enjoy coupons would be to make a Kama Sutra basket, filling the basket with a romantic cd, massage oil, a box of chocolate, a book on the Kama Sutra, and a set of coupons for positions you'd be willing to try.

4. A Starry Night - For those who are a fan of cellestial bodies, surprise your Valentine with a telescope! Include a card saying heavenly sentiments like "You are the star in my life" or "I'm over the moon over you."

5. Couple's Spa Date - One of the hardest things about going to the spa is when you have to do it alone. Surprise your Valentine this Valentine's day with a hair cut/style, massage, wax, manicure and pedicure for TWO! Many spas offer couple packages where both of you can feel pampered and relaxed. Be sure to put fresh sheets, pillowcases, and blanket on your bed, because nothing feels better against a freshly-pampered body than fresh clean sheets!

In this day and age, settling for the candy-jewelry-flowers-card-dinner combo is often times considered a low-imagination cop out. Surprise your Valentine this Valentine's day by trying something unique and change a day of typical and predictable to a special moment you will both remember forever.