For Valentine's Day I try to always do thoughtful gifts over normal gifts you can buy. I've been with my boyfriend Tyler for almost 5 years and have been pretty creative throughout the years to find something different and unique to give on these types of holidays. There's so many ways you can mix up your Valentine's Day with just a little extra thought and effort. So today, I'm talking about my top 2 thoughtful "gifts" that I've done in the past and also giving some normal gift ideas at the end of the post.
What I've done in past Valentines Day
On Tyler & I's first Valentine's Day I went all out. He unfortunately had to work late that night and so I got a little plan together to surprise him. I went out and got a bunch of colorful sticky notes and wrote probably 200 notes on each sticky note. I went to his work, quickly tried to put all the sticky notes on his car and leave, but someone had walked out the door and saw. They went to tell Tyler so I hid and watched him and his co-workers walk out and look at my work. I was trying not to laugh and not give myself away LOL. But his face was priceless, he was so surprised and happy. When he got off work, he rushed home and I had a bag full of all these cheesy goodies with notes on them. Like, "you're my sweet-tart" "I love you to pieces" attached on Reese's pieces... you get the point. To this day, it's my favorite Valentines Day. Being able to completely surprise someone you love, is such a good and fun feeling.
The most fun thing I've EVER thought of though wasn't for Valentines Day, but for our anniversary, but this idea could work for any holiday.
I had this HUGE scavenger hunt in my city and I didn't even know if I could pull it off. Tyler arrived at my house, not knowing ANYTHING. He got there and there was an envelope on my door that said "Clue 1" I had a clue in there about where our first date was and to go there. Hopefully he remembered it right? LOL. He went to Jasons Deli where I had the manager hold his second clue. It led him to IHOP and from there it led him to the movie theater. All of these places were SO nice to accommodate me and hold onto his clues. They all thought it was adorable. While he was doing this, I was staying one step ahead of him, getting the end result in place. The movie theater clue told him to go to where we had summer picnics at this little pond. I picked up some sandwiches and laid out the cutest picnic for us to have lunch and it was just the funnest day. I swear, I've never seen anyone so happy before. I'll never forget this day for as long as I live.
So as you can see, these types of holidays don't have to cost you a fortune. There are always little ways you can show someone you love them and care. I personally LOVE thoughtful and homemade gifts because it just means so much when someone actually puts thought into something for you.
Other thoughtful gifts ideas:
-A picture book ( I do this every single year for Tyler on our anniversary. I just compile all of our pictures throughout the year and use www.shutterfly.com to make the book. It's become my favorite tradition gift)
- A picture frame/canvas/collage wall art. Who doesn't love putting up pictures of someone you love up in your house? This is a super cheap way to gift someone if you're ballin on a budget. Hobby Lobby has the cutest frames for 1/2 off and I always print off pictures at Target for super cheap. I think a 4x7 is like .60?
-A date to actually DO something not just buy something. Take someone to do a really fun activity that they might not have done before. Example: Weekend getaway to a city a few hours away? Zoo? Museum? Cool hotel? Concert? Murder Mystery dinner? Escape room? Glow in the dark mini golf?
-Cook them a really nice meal. Instead of going out, you can put your energy to making a really good meal for the two of you. If you're not a good cook, go to Eatzi's and buy everything and then bring it home and put it on the table. (Shhhh I did this one time LOL)
-Customize ANYTHING. You can pretty much customize anything nowadays. You can put your initials, your anniversary date, a picture, a quote, or anything you want on pretty much any item you want. You could make a customizable mouse pad, phone case, pillow case, blanket, key chain, jewelry, watch, mugs, etc.
I hope this gave you a few fun ideas to do but, if you're still looking for some gifts as well, I have some listed down below. Just click on the picture to shop.
What was your favorite valentines gift???