Valentine's Day on a Budget

Valentine's Day does not have to be an expensive day for anyone. If you have someone special in your life and you want to show them how much you like or love them on Valentine's Day, you can do so without spending a lot of money.

It will cost you something though, your time. By taking the time to make a special gift or day for your love on Valentine's Day they will see how much you care.

One Long-Stemmed Red Rose

Sometimes one single long-stemmed red rose is enough to say, "I love you." Men and women can both give a rose to their love. It's also easy to remove the thorns from a red rose before you give it to someone on Valentine's Day.

A Home-Cooked Meal

A home-cooked meal is a wonderful treat for the partner who is always the one doing the cooking. Treat your mate and cook them a meal for a change on Valentine's Day. It does not have to be gourmet or four-star. The meal you make could even be breakfast. Pick something that you both like and that you know how to cook yourself. Whatever it is, your mate will be appreciative of the time and effort it took to make the meal.

Lunch Instead of Dinner

One way to beat the Valentine's Day dinner crowd, reservation nightmare, and dinner prices is to have lunch at your love's favorite restaurant. Having a Valentine's Day date in the middle of the day is a unique way to spend some time together. It's also less expensive to eat lunch at a quality restaurant than to settle for eating dinner at a lesser venue.

Home Alone

Send away any kids, turn off the computers, the cell phones, and the television. Turn on some music and just enjoy each other for the evening or night. Take whatever time you can, alone together, without distraction, even if it's only for an hour.

Love Coupons

A fun gift that will only cost time and effort is to make a handful of coupons for your love. Think of it as a "honey do" list in advance. Pick some chores that your partnerwould prefer not to do, or choose something romantic like a half hour massage, something of a more sexual nature.

Be Romantic for a Day

Do all the little things for your mate that you did in those first couple of weeks of courtship. Leave romantic notes where they will find them, send a naughty text message to their cell phone, be affectionate, tell your love what you love about him or her.

Having a romantic Valentine's Day does not take a lot of money, or even any at all. Just use your imagination and creativity and spend some time appreciating and connecting or reconnecting with each other.