Help! Creative Gift Ideas Needed!

Help! I need creative gift ideas!Eeek! Next month is Valentine’s Day and my seventh anniversary, but we are going to be so tight on cash from now until mid-summer or so due to all the conferences, training programs, and day-to-day bills…it will be nearly impossible for us to afford to “give” each other anything. However, I think it would be so special to spend the day showing my darling husband how much he is loved and appreciated with little creative gift ideas.

This is where you come in (I hope) I need creative (and affordable) gift ideas!

Dear Readers,

Please share your best, most creative, and affordable gift ideas to use for my honey!

Any help is much appreciated! I can’t wait to read all your ideas!

This post is happily share on We are THAT Family’s Works for Me Wednesday.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 at 7:00 pm and is filed under Mama Says. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

19 Responses to “Help! Creative Gift Ideas Needed!”

Michelle January 6th, 2010 at 7:35 am

I have been thinking about this myself. Have you ever heard or Wordle I think these make great gifts framed (http://www.wordle.net/) and then there is a website (http://www.loveactually-blog.blogspot.com/) that has inexpensive ideas also….I think I’m going to do “little things” all week….baked goodies, a handwritten love letter, etc. our money is tight also.

Sherry January 6th, 2010 at 7:39 am

Buy his favorites – cereal, candy, make his favorite dinner, dessert. :D Get his favorite movie and plan a night in with popcorn or his favorite treat. You could hide a secret note in the cereal or candy bag. :D I’ve also done scavenger hunts where I make up little hints on paper, and he has to figure them out and then find some gift.

Kati January 6th, 2010 at 8:08 am

I would recreate one of your favorite dates from earlier in your dating/married life. Even if that was dinner and a movie out, you could easily do that “in” with little/no extra cost. You could create a slideshow online of photos with music sharing many of your favorite times together. Congrats on your anniversary, our 7 year anniversary is coming up too!

Kelly Whalen January 6th, 2010 at 9:15 am

I found a coupon code for free photo gifts online and that’s what he got for Christmas.

My favorite gift was a collage photo poster from Snapfish. It was super easy to make. You could do pictures of the last 7 years, or wedding photos, etc.

Make his favorite meal and write a note and you’re done!

TK January 6th, 2010 at 9:17 am

I took a four spot picture frame and put a picture of when we were dating, one from our wedding, one of just our children, and one of all five of us. Underneath each picture on the mat, I wrote “puppy love”, “true love”, “our love”, “eternal love”.

Felicia January 6th, 2010 at 9:34 am

Our anniversary is Dec 18, so it always falls around Christmas. We didn’t want the Christmas gift to double as the anniversary gift and vice versa. Plus we have never been “rolling in it” so buying two gifts has always been out of the question. So for the last ten years we have made homemade gifts for the anniversary and a bought gift for Christmas. We have done things from homemade special dinners to welded horseshoe art to love notes. Some years we have had more money than others and allowed to be a bit more elaborate. This year is was a simple date to a free opera. Hope that helps get your creative juices flowing!

Samantha January 6th, 2010 at 9:44 am

Years ago, I made my husband a cake in a heart-shaped pan. He loved it! Also, after being married for over 16 years, I know that the most appreciated “gift” I can give my husband costs absolutely nothing at all. Hopefully, you can read between the lines there!
Samantha

Beth January 6th, 2010 at 10:36 am

I make my husband a mix CD of songs that remind me of him. There are some songs that always make the cut Faith Hill’s “You Give Me Love,” but a lot of times it’s a mix of genres, some love songs, some not (Brad Paisley’s “I’m Still a Guy” will definitely be on this year’s CD.

Milehimama January 6th, 2010 at 11:41 am

When you do the laundry, write a note and stick it in his pocket. Maybe 7 notes since it’s your 7th anniversary. They don’t have to be long letters- just quick notes he’ll find when he gets his wallet out or whatnot.

Money here is too tight to pay for a sitter to go see movies, so we watch series together on Hulu or Netflix. When the next disc come (they put seasons out on DVD) we watch together for our ‘date’ night.

Or, bake a pie. That’s always a hit, LOL!

Grateful for Grace January 6th, 2010 at 12:35 pm

Amanda,
My favorite gifts to give my husband (who isn’t that into me spending money on gifts) are the following (some I used as anniversary gifts, but I think you could adjust them just fine for VD):
1) Memory lane: for our 10th, I gave 10 items or we went to a place that held special sentimental value for us as a couple. Ex: place where we stood for our first kiss (if you can’t go there you could ‘recreate it’); a book we read aloud together; the restaurant we went to just after he proposed; a CD with “our song” on it (would be an MP3 download nowadays) and we danced together in our living room; etc
2) For our 15th anniversary I got a little photo book (it was given to me and was made by Creative Memories to hold school photo size photos) and every hour I sent him an item with a note (the note was sized to fit in the album): You are my addiction (sent a Diet Coke because he’s addicted to DC); You are funky sweet (sent licorice because he loves licorice); You are my true companion (had ‘our song’ played over the intercom where he works and we danced); You are my true north (gave him a compass); You are nutty (almonds); etc. You could do 7 for 7 VDs together.
3)A very special coupon book I made myself: one hour massage by me; foot rubbing with no complaints; dinner of your choice (even if it’s liver and onions); one extra sports game on t.v.; dessert of your choice; an hour to sleep in while I keep the kids quiet; movie and popcorn at home (your choice for the movie), etc. He loved it. You can get really creative an personal with this.
HTH,
GfG

The Saved Quarter January 6th, 2010 at 1:02 pm

I saw a cute altered deck of cards, with 52 reasons I love you decorated onto the cards. That was cute!

Or perhaps an Anniversary Album? You could put a picture and a note about the milestones of each of the first 7 years, and leave lots of room to add more years.

Mommy Bee January 6th, 2010 at 1:44 pm

I’ve always liked the “date night in” idea…pop some popcorn and rent a movie. Maybe indulge in a treat you don’t usually, like brownie fudge sundays. Making your own is still cheaper than going out!!

A few years ago we were broke as could be before Christmas, but i’d seen an idea so I made my own version: I got a blank spiral journal from the bookstore. It had lined pages but nothing else… On the top of each page I wrote a question. Some were lighthearted and some more serious (examples follow). Sometimes we look at the questions together–talking about our thoughts/answers to them. Sometimes one of us will take the book for a few days and write our answers to a bunch of them (or add new questions to the back of the book!), and also look at what answers the other has written. Sometimes the right question can bring up things you didn’t know about each other (we’ve been married 6 years and i’ve learned a few things via this book). Whether it’s new info or not, some of the more thought-provoking ones have led to interesting and stimulating conversations together. :)
A few sample questions:
On a scale of 1-100, how good a driver are you? How about your spouse?
If you had one year to live, what would you do?
If you had one day to live, what would you do?
What is the most scared you have ever been?
What are your greatest strengths as a spouse?
What are your greatest weaknesses? How does your spouse help you with them?
If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would you pick and why?
What’s your favorite part about being a parent?
How do you feel about a married person having close friends of the opposite sex?
What would you do with a million dollars?
If you could live in another time/place, where/when would you pick and why?

Young Wife January 6th, 2010 at 3:04 pm

Write him a letter listing 14 reasons why he’s such a great man. Check out Tip Junkie for craft ideas.

Elizabeth January 6th, 2010 at 4:48 pm

Why don’t you take “a tour of your relationship”, maybe go to the place you first met, first date, first kiss, ect, where he proposed, ect- anything that has been meaningful to the both of you. You can write him a short note for each stop that he can open along the way then end the night with dinner out (or if money is too tight, get a girlfriend to watch the kids for an evening) and have a nice dinner in.

or, what about a lovingly written letter in a nice frame? Maybe write down reasons why you love him, or go through each year you’ve been married and say something like, “in our first year of marriage i feel in love with you again because….”, “in our second year of marriage I learned that you….and it added to my lvoe for you.”

whatever you do, have a beautiful valentines day!

Michelle January 6th, 2010 at 11:17 pm

I did a post about a romantic Christmas gift, but you could totally use the ideas for Valentine’s Day too! I also once made a special scrapbook for my husband (before we were married) that had all kinds of romantic things we’ve done for each other through our relationship and dating. He really loved seeing how much I cared about him, but also that I recognized all of the things he did for me. http://www.sowonderfulsomarvelous.com/2009/12/10-and-hour-romantic-gift-for-your-love_20.html

Andrea H January 7th, 2010 at 2:52 pm

You could make a sexy coupon book for him. Little things like an extra long goodnight kiss, massage, etc. I made my hubby one and he loved it!

Jenny January 8th, 2010 at 11:19 pm

We have our anniversary soon too but all we do is go to “dinner” (at 2:00 pm) then come home and be parents again. It’s not really worth it. xD Beginning to hate anniversary’s.

Gift Ideas January 9th, 2010 at 6:23 pm

If you have friends or relatives who already have everything they need, then check out this site for creative Christmas gift ideas. Gift Ideas