Frugal Ways to Show your Love

[Melissa Burnell]

Frugal Ways To Show Your Love

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.

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