LET’S GET CREATIVE!
How do you celebrate the best three little words “ I LOVE YOU” on a Budget? The answer is actually easy; you get creative!
For the first several years of our marriage, we were “on a budget”. And here we are today, back on a budget. Granted, it’s a different kind of budgeting, but nonetheless, we are being extremely aware of all our extra spending.
In an effort to inspire your creativity, I’m sharing five ways Spencer and I have shown ” I love you” on a budget over the years! What’s great about all of these ideas is that they can work for anyone you love! Perhaps your parents, sister, brother, children, friends, as well as your partner. And they can be shared all throughout the year not just around Valentine’s Day!
SAY IT WITH A LOVE SONG
Music has a way of moving people. It creates emotion through sound, touches our hearts through another’s words, and reminds ourselves of those we love. Many even deem a song “their song”. A great gift idea is to send your loved one song lyrics. You can send them in a text, email, youtube link, or print and frame your special song lyrics.
Ever since Spencer and I started dating, we have emailed song lyrics back and forth to each other. One year Spencer even commemorated the gesture by creating a scrapbook of song lyrics he had sent me.
HIDDEN LOVE NOTES
This idea comes from my Momma! In our school lunches, she would handwrite little notes or reminders to my sister and me. Most of the time on heart-shaped paper with a message about how much she loves us. It doesn’t get much easier than this and it’s practically free! Just grab a piece of paper and write what comes to mind or a simple “I love you”. And then hide it somewhere they will find it. A few places Spencer and I have hidden notes are in book bags, laptops, sock drawers, workbenches, and glove boxes.
CANDYGRAM
I love this one! It’s a little more involved and costs about $20. You’ll need a poster board, glue/tape, markers, and candy bars. I created one as a Christmas gift for Spencer back in 2012. My suggestion is to list out candy bar names, pre-write your message and then purchase the items. The one I made Spencer is below, but here is a link to a bunch on Pinterest. They seem to be popular prom proposals too… who knew that was a thing?!
CREATIVE COUPONS
Coupon books have been around for some time now and you can now you can even find some downloads. But if your budget is zero, then stick with me and let’s get to crafting! Homemade coupons mean a lot because you took the time to hand-make the gift yourself. You can get creative with markers and paper or a computer program and printer. If you have a few dollars to spend and really want to get creative, pop into a craft store. Pick up some stickers, paper, and other cute items to create them. Be sure to truly think about your gift receiver and create coupons they would love to receive rather than yourself.
For example, Spencer’s coupons to me might look like: folding the laundry, cleaning the bathrooms, going for a run, and watching a movie in bed. And my coupons for Spencer could be a back massage, watching a Star Wars movie, “Us” time, and washing / vacuuming his car.
MESSAGE ON A PHOTO
Did you think I was going to get through this blog post without mentioning photos as a gift?!? Haha, Of course not, right?! I love photos, and you would have thought this was my idea, but the credit goes to Spencer! For one of my wedding day presents he framed a photo of us with typed messages of what he loves about me overlaid on the photo. He later created another one for an anniversary gift and we copied the idea when we let our families know we were expecting Kade. It’s an incredibly thoughtful way to share with someone all the things you love most about them.
READY TO GET CRAFTING?
Hopefully you are now inspired to put one or a few of these ideas into action in order to show someone special how much you love them! If you try one, let me know what you think and how it turned out! You can email me at shoptinistyle@gmail.com or send me a DM on @shoptini … I don’t Facebook well so if you message me there it probably won’t get answered.
Till next time, Xoxo!
