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by Brandie
Valenzuela
At one time, I would have never
wanted to share my frugal ideas for showing love to
those around you. My reason for keeping it to
myself? At one time I thought that no one would be
interested. After all, we were the only couple not
buying each other expensive gifts, jewelry, roses,
and more, right? Reality check! I have grown up a
lot over these last 10 years and I have learned that
I am not the only one clipping coupons and cutting
my children's hair myself. There are lots of other
families out there just like my husband and I, who
have to watch our spending.
Without the necessary money to buy
costly gifts for anniversaries, birthdays, holidays,
or other special occasions, we have been very
committed to doing things that were wonderful, yet
inexpensive. Over the years, I have learned that
these creative ideas are what truly matters and they
have made our years together, lots of fun.
Here I have compiled my ideas here
to share them with you:
PILL BOTTLE:
This is a cute idea for your spouse or other adult.
Take an empty pain reliever or prescription bottle
and soak it in hot water to remove the label. After
you remove the label, design your own label on
paper, with something like the following: "Love
Pills" - take one as needed. Then take strips of
paper and write down the things you are willing to
do for your loved one. Some ideas are: foot massage,
back massage, your favorite pie, your favorite
cookies, you choose the movie we see, etc... Take
each strip and wad it into a little ball and place
them in the bottle.
LOVE SONGS:
This next idea I did before we had internet access,
so today it would be even easier to do this. Frame
the lyrics to your wedding song or other love song.
The internet has several sites that list song
lyrics, so just type "song lyrics" into a search
engine. Print up the lyrics in a nice font, and
frame.
CANDLELIGHT DINNER:
When you are not able to go out to an expensive
restaurant for dinner, have it at home. Wait to eat
until after the children are in bed, set your dining
room table nicely with a tablecloth, candles and
play soft music. Enjoy a nice dinner...preferably
one that you don't usually have, and one that you
and your spouse consider to be special.
SWAP CHILD CARE:
If you do want prefer to go out for your special
day, but find yourself having a hard time paying for
dinner *and* childcare, ask a friend to swap child
care with you.
CREATE A LOVE TREE:
Find a branch outside that has several smaller
branches coming off of it and place the branch
standing up in a pot of soil, or even a coffee can
filled with dirt would work. Cut out an assortment
of hearts from different colored cardstock or
construction paper and string each one with ribbon.
Then have each member of your family write the
things that they love on the hearts (one "love" per
heart) and hang them on the tree. You can name just
about anything you love: a beloved pet, grandma,
sunsets, or even ice cream! If you want to create
this tree as a gift for someone, write things on the
hearts that you love about that person or couple.
RUN THROUGH A MAZE:
If you have a gift for someone in your home, make
them go through a maze of clues to get to their
surprise. At the first "stop" (which should be a
place in your home that this person is likely to go
to), you should have a little poem of sorts which
will tell them to go to the next spot in your home,
and so on. At each point in your home have something
telling your loved one where to go next until the
end which of course will end up being their gift. I
had a friend who did this for her husbands birthday.
She placed his first note on the toilet since that
was the first place he went to when he got home from
work, and each note she cleverly told him where to
go next in his home. After going from room to room,
he came to the end which was a CD that he had
wanted.
HEART SHAPED CAKE:
If you don't have a heart shaped cake pans, don't
despair. Create your own heart-shaped cake by baking
one layer in an 8-in round pan, and one layer in an
8-in square pan. Cut the circle in half and place
the cut side of the halves against two adjoining
side of the square to form a heart. Frost and
decorate at desired.
HEART SHAPED COOKIE POPS:
Bake up some heart shaped sugar cookies, but insert
a popsicle stick near the point of the stick and
bake as usual. Decorate.
FLOWERPOTS:
Take flat bottomed ice cream cups and place them on
a cookie sheet or in a muffin tin (you can wrap
bottoms of cones with crumbled up foil to make them
more sturdy). Fill cones with 1/3 cup brownie batter
and bake 35-40 minutes or until tops are puffed up
and cracked. After brownie cones are cooled insert a
fake rose in the center. You can also create a
flower out of construction paper and secured it on a
popsicle stick, and then insert this into the center
of the puffed up brownie.
HEART SHAPED CUPCAKES:
Prepare you favorite cake mix according to the
directions on the box. Line your muffin pans with
paper baking cups and fill each cup 1/2 full of
batter. Place a marble in each muffin cup....between
the paper liner and the pan, which will create the
heart shape. Add additional batter as needed so that
cups are about 2/3 full. Bake as directed.
GIFT COUPONS:
We have all heard of the idea of creating coupons
which give of ourselves, but have you ever given
your kids some? Why not create a coupon book for
your child that has coupons such as: your choice of
dessert, kids video rental, lunch out with mom (or
dad), etc.
PLANT A TREE:
Give a gift that will grow! Without your loved one
knowing, plant a tree in your yard. You may also
want to make a small yard sign that will sit near
the tree and that says who the tree was planted for,
and the date.
PROGRESSIVE DINNER:
Call up two other couples and arrange a progressive
dinner. Everyone will go to the first couple's home
and enjoy some appetizers, at the next home you will
go for the dinner, and at the last home, you will
enjoy dessert. After your progressive dinner, you
may want to go out together to a movie or some
dancing.
©2000 - Brandie Valenzuela
Brandie is the owner and editor of the Family First
site. Visit Family First at http://members.aol.com/BMValen/index.html
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