13 Inexpensive Ways To Show Your Love

Let romance work for you on Valentine’s Day and year-round. It’s not always the expensive gifts that will show you care. Quite often, it’s the little ways. What’s a big diamond if you don’t even pay attention to each other? Here are 13 tested and approved ways to show your loved ones you truly care about them. They will work for you too.

1. Write a love letter (see this wonderful sample at Pensieve — it got him the girl and 20+ years later, it’s still her favorite valentine of all time);
2. Write a poem;
3. Take your loved one to a picnic on the beach, park or some pleasant, but secluded spot;
4. Rent romantic movies, make a fire in the fireplace, dim the lights, make or buy a tiny cake for two or dip some strawberries in chocolate, serve some sparkling apple cider in crystal flutes; (Here’s a lovely Valentine dessert recipe!)
5. Read or recite poetry while you massage your loved one’s feet. Shelley and Tennyson are very romantic! Get a tiny book edition to make it easy to hold in one hand.
6. Make a special dinner for two. Think small portions and ingredients you don’t use everyday. Don’t go out to a crowded, noisy, expensive restaurant. Where’s the romance in that?
7. Tuck a heart-shaped cookie and an “I love you” in your loved one’s lunch bag;
8. Also for the lunch bag or briefcase or even the front seat of the car, place a few Hugs and Kisses chocolates in a decorative cellophane bag or other pretty container with a promise for more at home. More chocolates for a child or more … for a spouse — that’s up to you;
9. Do a chore your loved one would normally have to do (Do it well!! Don’t make your loved one have to redo it or clean up your mess. The thought only counts so far in this case.);
10. Remember the phrase “As you wish” from “The Princess Bride”? It meant “I love you.” Use it or come up with your own phrase and see how quickly your bride or prince charming figures out what you truly mean.
11. Pick out a novel with a romantic love story or subplot and read it to your loved one or to each other before bedtime;
12. Give a vase or box full of 365 heart-shaped slips of paper. On each heart write a reason why you are in love, a compliment, an “I love you,” a promise for a kiss, etc. and fold in half. Each day, for an entire year, your loved one gets to open a heart. You can make it as platonic or as explicit as your relationship allows.
13. Make the decision to make your loved one happy year-round. Base all your actions on whether it would make your loved one happy. It will do wonders for your relationship and soon, without even realizing it, your loved one will reciprocate.

What are some of your ideas for showing your love on Valentine’s Day?
For more tips, visit Rocks In My Dryer and for more lists of lucky thirteens, visit Thursday Thirteen.

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