Well, in the words of the great Bender of Futurama, "I'm back Baby". What would bring me back from my two month long hiatus, you say? Well, love, of course! Paul McCartney's performance at the Grammy's stirred up all those Beatles' love juices inside me, and I just had to come back, groveling at your feet, begging you to take me back and listen to my advice once again.
So here I am, and I hope you can forgive me for leaving. I thought about you everyday, and brought you a gift to make up for it. Well…..gift ideas at least. Five Valentine's gifts to give your sweetheart that won't break your tiny little student sized bank.
So here it goes, and P.S. - ILU.
5. Love Scavenger Hunt
Leave clues all around on little pieces of heart-shaped paper -- one leading to the other, pointing to a final destination found by your Valentine. Use clues that are about something personal, that only a few people would know, if not just you and your lover. The final destination can be a small gift, or just you.
4. Coupon Booklet
One Valentine's Day Eve long, long ago -- I was strapped for cash and wanted to get my girlfriend something. What I ended up doing was using Microsoft Word and little bit of creativity to print a custom coupon booklet of "love" for my sweetheart. Settle down, settle down -- it wasn't what you're thinking (dirty minded college kid).
The coupons were innocent and could be redeemed for anything from a back rub to cooking dinner one night. You can go the other way if you like, just remember to make it something you don't usually do that he/she enjoys, and it should work just fine.
Extra Advice: Make sure to punch holes in the coupon when it's used or you'll be stuck doing the laundry for a month until you realize you only made three of those freaking coupons in the first place.
3. Handwritten Love Note
This may sound simple and insignificant, but it's not. No one hand writes anything anymore. A carefully written love letter in your best penmanship will really go a long way.This isn't just for guys, either. Beneath our macho bravado, there is a heart beating down there somewhere. He might not know how to respond, but I guarantee it will mean something special (even if he won't say it out loud). So go get you one of those fancy quills and get your Shakespeare on!
2. Write a Song
I know how corny and cliche this sounds, but you can just get the hell over it. No matter how bad of a singer you may be or how bad you may suck at writing songs, you can do this. If anything, the fact that you even tried to will count. However, if your not that great at it, be sure to throw some fun bits in with your lyrics. This will help cut through that odd, "not sure if you're playing around or honestly think this song is good", feeling that can happen in the beginning.
1. A Love Calendar
My girlfriend did this for me one Valentine's Day a few years back and I thought it was great!
The first thing she made was a blank year-long calendar from scratch using red construction paper. She glued white paper with a table printed out for the dates to the red construction paper and held it all together with three lacy ribbons acting as a spine.
Next she wrote on little pieces of paper something that she loved about me. These pieces of paper fit inside each date and there was one for each day of the year until next Valentine's Day. Yeah, 365 reason's she loves me!
Lastly, she took a little red shoe box, cut out a heart shaped hole from the top and used the box to hold all the little 365 reason's.
The idea was, that everyday I would reach into the box and take out a piece of paper with something she loved about me written on it, and then stick it to the calendar she made. One for each day of the year. It was awesome!
Well, I hope these ideas help you out. And remember, if it comes from the heart, it will always be enough (that sounded way less corny in my head).