Lo, February is here once again, and with it comes the annual dilemma that is Valentine’s Day. To gift or not to gift, what level of gifting, to do cards or not, whether to go out ON Valentine’s or not – its a tricky one.
And though Valentine’s is acknowledged, at least by all the women I know, as something of a cliched exercise in money making, its also nice to be spoilt (and to spoil!) every now and again.
So without further adieu, here is some Valentine’s gift inspiration for you, both for him, and for you (in case you either need to self-gift or to point your beaux in the direction of this post).
Books have always been my go-to Valentine’s gift for my other half, since he’s book crazy. I also LOVE buying these great prints (such as the You are My Sunshine one, above) from Etsy and then framing them with a cheap frame from Amazon. I can get a great, almost personalised piece of artwork in that way for under £20 (TK Maxx is also a treasure trove for cute artwork and frames).
I also LOVE giving photo’s as gifts, in a pretty photo frame, and the one above from Next, has heart spaces in it for a romantic gift. I can imagine it looking great with pictures of you and your other half as kids/adults in the left and right frames, and then together in the centre frames (I want to do something like this with pictures of Marty and Milo too!).
Flowers are an obvious choice for Valentine’s – but if any men are reading this – please do not go down the red rose route (unless its been established that your lady is a red rose fan). Instead, try to go for the flowers that you know she loves best – personally I think sunflowers, freesias, peonies, and tuilips in an unfussy bouqet are the best – and its often easier to find modern arrangements in supermarkets and local markets than at online florists (but you must check out Arena Flowers hilarious twitter feed) – Plus, you save a lot of money by picking them up yourself rather than getting them delivered.
Now onto Valentine’s cards – how cute are these! I especially love the moon and back and the heart thief racoon ones – you can find really great stuff at both Etsy and notonthehighstreet - and Paperchase usually have really great ones too.
Although it can be a little silly to get another cute (and expensive) card every year – I say, if you want to do it, do it right, and then create a massive collage/scrapbook using the cards every few years. We’re starting a new tradition this year, using the same MASSIVE card that Lee got me a few years back to write messages in every year.
I’ll be back next week with ideas for homemade Valentine’s gifts of the edible variety – cause you know homemade is always best!
Love the coffee cup and the name necklace! These are some great ideas Kerry
It’s always nice to get tips for Valentines Day.
Thanks Di!
Love this Kerry. I was raised on Valentines Day. It’s such a lovely excuse to fuss over those you love. My last boyfriend hated it and refused to participate. I would beg him to then cry because I wouldn’t even get a card. He said it was a Hallmark Holiday and he wasn’t buying into it. No big mystery of why we’re not together anymore. Those little snapshots of ideas you posted are precious. Have you ever read Real Simple magazine? Many of your posts remind of it.
Thanks Susannah! Maybe Valentine’s is pretty commercialised, but if its important to YOU then that should be enough for anyone to take part.
I haven’t read real simple, but I have seen it online and visited their website/pinterest, I really like it too! Wish they sold it here, we don’t really have anything like that. The closest thing is probably Easy Living magazine.
You’d love it. It’s such a beautiful magazine…right up your alley as they say.
I resent the fact that valentines day means overpriced flowers and heart-shaped steaks in all my favourite restaurants, so we either celebrate with a home cooked meal, or go out for dinner a week later and eat something that’s not rose flavoured or comes with streamers.
This year, Neil has decided to bake me a cake for the first time. Our oven is about twice as hot at the back as it is at the front, and I’ve never successfully baked anything since we’ve lived here, so I don’t have particularly high hopes, but if you have any beginner-proof recipes you’d like to send his way, I’m sure he’d be ulta-appreciative (and so would my tummy!).
Bless him, this is the sweetest thing ever! Will send some ideas his way!
Completely agree re the commercialisation of it – I would never visit a restaurant on Valentine’s Day, I’d feel too much like a walking cliche!
So much amazing stuff! Love those cards.
Thanks my dear! Really enjoyed writing this post!