Any great/creative Valentine's day gift ideas???

[Kara Isabel]

I really want to think of something creative this year for my husband. What are you gals doing special for your men??? Well.....besides.......AHEM, the expected!! lol

Kara

[Dianne]

I ordered the Il Divo dvd. I heard their music recently and it's so beautiful. Very passionate music. We love music dvd's and I like to see the faces of the people who sing the songs I like so I can keep that image in my mind. I've sent balloons or a night at a B & B is nice or a nite at a hot springs if able. Also something he might like to see you wearing is nice too :)

[megancolleen]

I have no idea...my boyfriend is so hard to shop for...he's not really the romantic type, so I have a hard time trying to be thoughtful and practical....

I hope others have some good ideas!

[traceann]

What I did one year for my ex husband (too bad I wasted my energy, lol) was I made a dozen long stem chocolate chip cookies. I happened to have a tube of refrigerated choc chip cookie dough in the freezer. I bought the longest "lollipop" sticks I could find - I think I even found what they called the "cookie pop" sticks. Then before I baked them I inserted a stick in to dough blobs. Kinda flattened them just a touch, to make sure stick was in good. I went to the florist in my tiny little town and bought a big white flower bouquet box. When they were done baking and cooled, I added some silk rose leaves I bought at a craft store - attached by wrapping them onto the stem with green floral tape. And I taped the whole stick so it was green. Then I put red tissue paper in the box, arranged the cookies in the box, and then tied it up with a big red bow. It was really easy and very inexpensive!! ;)

For my now-husband on our 2nd Valentine's Day together (when we were dating) , I had zero money. None to spend on gifts or anything. So, I made a booklet listing 100 things I loved about him. I wrote it out on pretty paper, and found some nice heavy craft paper I had laying about to make a "cover". Then, I bound it up by punching holes in the left hand side of the paper and tied it up with ribbons. He loved it. He thought it was better than any store gift, lol. So, for Sweetest Day I added like 25 more things to his book. Then I did the same for the next Valentines Day. I keep a little notebook (we Icers are good at that, lol) around, and as I think of things, or if does something sweet, I jot it down. That way by the time it rolls around to write them out I either have all, or a good start!!! Think I have enough to add some more for him! He liked it because it showed him that I do appreciate all the little things he does, that he doesn't even realize I am paying attention to....

Hugs!
:)

[ICNDonna]

This year I'm planning to make my hubby a gift certificate, which will give him a 100% discount on a day at the beach, complete with picnic lunch. It's too cold right now so we can go when the weather is better.

Donna

[traceann]

Oh thanks for the reminder! I also gave my hubby a bunch of coupons that I made up on the computer, I printed out on business card cardstock (the perforated stuff to print your own business cards) that said "This entitles the bearer to:" then I wrote in by hand, things like, batch of cookies whenever he wanted, an all Jer day - whatever he wanted, for dinner, to watch on tv etc. Then once again with my little handy hole punch - after I separated them all, I punched the corners out and tied them all together with a ribbon.

This year with him being on his seasonal lay-off, he's home ALL day, I have no chance to craft anything sneaky!! I must start plotting though....gotta be creative again, no $$ for that sort of stuff....

Hugs!
:)

[quiltz]

Very good ideas, gals!

I love the cookies as roses idea and might steal that one! It's something I can actually do ..... bake cookies.

I just got the Il Divo album from i-tunes for my ipod, but music is a good idea too. I can get him an album or 2 of music he likes and burn CD's. One of the problems with having a younger man is we never agree on what is great music!!

Hmmm I can even get a gift card from i-tunes ...

great ideas all, thanks!! Liz :dance:

[traceann]

LOL, I got mine cd's for his birthday, and he was teasing me as it was the bands I liked as well, so he said it somehow ended up a present for me too!! LOL.. that's fine.... :)

[Kara Isabel]

Those are all such GREAT ideas!! THANKS! My husband is SOOO very hard to shop for, he doesn't want me to "spend alot of money" and he doesn't like those boxed chocolates. I may just have make some coupons/certificates and attempt those cookie roses! :) I love baking and he loves cookies. Traceanne that is such a cute idea! SO is the scrapbook.......but yikes, I should've started this thread sooner! lol. I may have to work on that for next year or his birthday.

Men sure have it easy, ehh?? Flowers and a "date" lol

Kara

[traceann]

The cookies were super easy to make, especially since I cheated and didn't make the dough from scratch, lol.

The first run of 100 things was done all in, like, one week, lol. Every night I sat with my little notebook and tried to at least jot down 20 things I could think of. Some were really silly too, some were a bit mushy etc. The silly ones were the most fun, like "I love you because you kill spiders for me", or "I love you because you think I am beautiful when I don't think I am" etc. And I am sure some were even sillier, but I can't seem to remember them now! ARGH! LOL It was fun, though. ;)

[tigger_gal]

one year I picked hubby up from work in a teddy with a trench coat over it.... needless to say it didn't go over well!! I got to the point that I get him the same thing he gets me every year.. not a damn thing!! I would settle for happy valentine's day!

hope you all have a romantic one :)

[hoping4acure]

For me...JEWLERY,JEWLERY,JEWLERY!! Did I say JEWLERY??? ;)

For him...I am still thinking about it.

[traceann]

LOL, don't feel bad Tig, I usually get nothing myself, :cussing: Why I keep doing for him is beyond me, :biglaugh: Guess I am the bigger person, HA! :biglaugh:

The sad thing is his mom's a rep for HALLMARK!!!! How hard would it be to get a card at least......sheesh! :headbang:

[creatingkarma]

I love the "What I Like About You" book! Thanks for the idea! That's what I'm going to do! I think I'll make it 50 instead of 100, though!

[traceann]

Hey Karma, it was really fun, I must say. Like I said earlier, he loved it cause it showed him that all the little things he does, I take notice whether he realizes it or not. One of them was "I love you because you take out the garbage" and another was "I love you because you eat my cooking experiments for good or ill" etc....the silly ones definitely were the most fun!!!! At the time I did it, I didn't have a computer to use at home, so I handwrote the whole dang thing out....

[IC SARAH-CPP]

Wow- I feel like a lazy-bones reading these. I am just not very creative but it is time to change that. I love both your ideas Donna and Tracey! I think I will go for the coupon book. One thing is that my husband always says i never notice the "little things" he does so that might be a good idea, the list of things! Thanks Ladies
Sarah

[traceann]

And the bonus is he keeps doing those "things" knowing that I am appreciative, lol. Ah, positive reinforcement at it's best....LOL!!!! ;)

Hugs,
:)

[Kara Isabel]

Traceanne, brilliant idea to keep him motivated to help!! lol I'm definately doing one. And I'm probably going to throw in some coupons (I love Donna's idea about the picnic at the beach) AND some cookies.

I saw on TV this morning Hallmark has singing sexy cards!! I'm gonna go check it out! LOL

Tigger...........Wowee Kabowee!!!!!!!!!! You GO girl. Knowing my luck, if I attempted something like that, I'd get pulled over by the police or experience some sort of public humiliation!! I totally attract drama.

Kara

[traceann]

LOL, I saw those cards! I think that they are soooo cute! It would be fun to send one of them to work like in the commercial...lmao!

Oh gosh yes, anytime I have tried even anything remotely "sexy and fun" in that sort of style (ala teddy under trench), it always backfires... ugh.

[Baba Yaga]

This one is cheap!

In college, I had a boyfriend whom I had turned onto Lucky Charms.
The day before Valentine's Day, I told him I was going grocery shopping and could pick up some stuff for him. When I got to the grocery store it turned out Lucky Charms had some marketing campaign going where all the colors in the marshmallows were swirled. This was bad for my plan, and I had to drive across town to a couple stores to find regular ones.
I went home and spent two hours in my dorm's pantry sifting through five boxes of Lucky Charms, and ultimately created a box with only hearts. I even replaced the toy prize, by discretely razor-blading the seam of the plastic wrapping, with a little cow in an egg, and a personal message.
I delivered the groceries to my boyfriend and did everything I could that evening to steer him toward eating Lucky Charms the next day. When we met in the middle of the next day, I asked him if he'd eaten them. He said he had. I asked him if he noticed anything. He said no. I asked again, and he said something vague. I started whining and crying that "I spent two hours making that bla bla bla." It turned out that my boyfriend had taken the Lucky Charms to his lab, where he had other cereals, and he had the disgusting habit of mixing them when he ate them, so he didn't notice. He told me later that he went back to his lab, poured a new bowl and looked at it and felt like a dog. :lmao: He was my best boyfriend, and my first.

[traceann]

That is such a great idea!! Sounds like a typical man though to not notice at first or to mix and match his cereal, lol. I love it though. I may have to try that one of these days.....

;)

[hoping4acure]

Baba Yaga: That is such an incredible story....ahhh, how romantic. You had to hit him over the head, but he finally got it :biglaugh:

I love that story!

[Kara Isabel]

Traceanne,

I have been working on the book this morning! WHAT FUN!!!

hubby is going to crack up at some of them! lol

Kara

[traceann]

I am glad to hear you are having fun, it really is a good time, I had a ball! The crazy ones were just too fun to come up with, I'd end up cracking myself up.... :)

[ihurttoo]

I really want to think of something creative this year for my husband. What are you gals doing special for your men??? Well.....besides.......AHEM, the expected!! lol

Kara
You mean we gotta buy 'em something AND do THAT?!!! :biglaugh: tee-heee :)

[creatingkarma]

:biglaugh: That's funny Amy! And to answer your question - not if you don't want to!

Well, ladies, I'm having a very hard time coming up with anything for my hubby's book. All I can think of are things that he doesn't do that I wish he would!!! "I love you because you put your trash in the trash can instead of on the floor next to it or just leaving it around the house for me to pick up." "I love you because you promptly fix anything that goes wrong with the house instead of putting it off for years!" "I love you because you leave your dirty clothes all over the house instead of putting them in the laundry basket!" "I love you because when you're home, The Golf Channel is on." :bonk:

It's even hard to pick out a card at the store! I was reading them & if it said something that wasn't completely true, like "you're always there for me, yada, yada, yada" then I just couldn't get it. It took me forever to find a card!

[quiltz]

Karma, you made me laugh so hard, because I can so relate to this!!! It would take me hours to find the right card ...because I wasn't going to say what wasn't true!! YET I didn't want to sound like a witch of course .... for some reason I needed to soft peddle my semi sincere wishes ... :biglaugh:
Liz (who's really lucky now because she can say she loves him and mean it!!!)



>It's even hard to pick out a card at the store! I was reading them & if it said >something that wasn't completely true, like "you're always there for me, yada, >yada, yada" then I just couldn't get it. It took me forever to find a card!
__________________
,
Karma>

[megancolleen]

Oh gosh yes, anytime I have tried even anything remotely "sexy and fun" in that sort of style (ala teddy under trench), it always backfires... ugh.

Haha, Traceann...me too! Every time I decide to try like one of those tips you read in Cosmo that's like "to really make your man crazy, wear nothing but a thong and drip candle wax on yourself while roaring like a tiger" my boyfriend's reaction is just scared and confused. I think if I just gave up trying to be sexy/romantic and just got naked and ordered him a pizza he'd be totally content....haha.

[traceann]

LMAO!! Oh megancolleen that is soooooooo true!! I have even had it from the horses mouth that lingerie isn't that big of deal, he'd rather just have "naked"!! Oh yeah, some of that crap in Cosmo makes me say, "come on!! He'd laugh me out of the bedroom!!!" LMAO!!!!!!!!

And Karma, I know what you mean - oh my gosh I got laughing at your post its so true, that's why I stuck with things he's done -even if it was " I love you because you flushed the toilet", lol. In no way did I reach and it was mostly every day things....LOL!!!! Or things like "I love you because you think my coffee is good", ha ha ha!

[med_head_09]

So I set up my apartment like a little Italian restaraunt. I went to the dollar store and got some deep plates with grapevines on the border, some matching margharita glasses and some new place mats. I got a cheesy Italian CD and made up a menu and a litle restaraunt sign that i hung from the entrance to the dining room. I made homemade lasagna (this was before i knew about IC or the diet) and french bread and swirled margharitas. Then I sent an invitation saying I had made dinner reservations at Little Italy (what i called my fake restaraunt) and it was great. We ate, and talked, and danced in the living room :kissing: . That was the best.

[ihurttoo]

Forget what my husband's getting me, after reading this, I think I need a wife!!! :biglaugh:

[traceann]

Hey Med head, I think that's a GREAT idea....gonna store that one for later!! Thanks for the tip!

And yeah, I agree, I want a wife too!! LMAO!!! We are so thoughtful..... :)

[creatingkarma]

Oh! Ok! I get it now "I love you because you don't wipe your boogers on the bed sheets." "I love you because you shut the door when you poop."

[ihurttoo]

Oh! Ok! I get it now "I love you because you don't wipe your boogers on the bed sheets." "I love you because you shut the door when you poop."
:biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh:

[megancolleen]

Did you guys ever see that episode of "Friends" where Phoebe says something to Ross and Rachel like "You guys are like lobsters....they mate for life and you can see them when they're old holding claws in the tank"...and then later when they get together she says "See? You're lobsters!"

Well my boyfriend of 2 years and I always say that to each other, instead of "soulmate"....we say "You're my lobster".

So for V Day I got him a stuffed animal lobster...we have a long-distance relationship so I'm going to tell him to remember that "his lobster misses him" every time he looks at it.

Cheesy, I know...but if ya can't be cheesy on V day, when can you?

I'm also making him an old-fashioned valentine out of construction paper and glitter. :)

[traceann]

LMAO Karma! Yup, you got it!!!! :biglaugh: Postive reinforcement at it's best I say!!! :bonk:

Oh I love Friends!!! I remember that episode! (I love Phoebe she cracked me up). Unfortunately I am combo of her and Monica (I have my funny quirks like Monica, lol - but am flakey like Phoebs, :bonk: ) My hubby and I had a long distance relationship for about 2 and half years, he worked 4 hours away, so was gone during the week and only "home" on weekends, and I had bought him this little purple long-spindly-legged mokey with little velcro bits on his hands, so you could position him. Well, there was this commercial for an auto-dealership, I think, that had the "Sales Monkey", so as you can guess that's why I bought it cause we laughed about the Sales Monkey every time it was on.... Yep, Valentine's Day is all about the cheese...... ;)

[creatingkarma]

Yep, Valentine's Day is all about the cheese...... ;)

You mean, I've got to get him some cheese too? :biglaugh:

[traceann]

Nah, cause if he's like mine, he'd just be "cutting it"....lol. Mine I swear is 8 yrs old sometimes, so proud of his noises.....LMAO!!!!!!

[Kara Isabel]

YAY!!!

I just finished my "book" and coupons!!!!! :)

I hope he likes it!!! I swear, I wrote some of the corniest things in it. I was cracking myself up. What fun!!

AND I can't wait til he redeems the coupon for the picnic at the beach! WOO HOO!

lol

Kara

[traceann]

Oh you must let us know how it goes over!! :)

[creatingkarma]

Dang! V-Day's tomorrow! I'd better get started on my book, huh? There's nothing like procrastination!

[dolphinfire]

its hard for me, my hubby works from home and is always around. I tried to be sneaky to come up with some good creative ideas, but my craft room is the living room and he'd catch me. So it's now the day of and I think I am just going to buy him a card and write something special inside.

[traceann]

LOL, I worked on mine at night when I went to bed, then I cheated and typed it up this time on the computer at work, I didn't have a chance either to hand write it out, as he's home all day now on this seasonal lay-off, so I had no chance to do it here! ARGH!

I was very happy though, I got a card (that's huge for him too, lol) and he made me lunch, it was ready when I got home to eat!!! I am thrilled!!!!! ;)

[dg2901]

I CAN'T STAND Valentines Day. The husband always buys me something, usualy some sort of chocolate, and knows good and well that I'm not wasting my time on something so asinine. Well last night I decided to print him out something Valentine'ish and left it for him to find on the front door this morning. He was thrilled..ugh!
Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd, I got a blueberry muffin this year instead of the chocolate..hahahahahhaha..

[amber sevy]

be glad you got anything. My husband did nothing at all. then when I decided that I would be "nice" and cuddle he rolled over and went to bed.
I would have love that blueberry muffin!!! LOL
I know he loves me but he is just VERY bad at dates like birthdays ann. valentines anything.
I hope you all had a great day today

[ihurttoo]

Dont feel bad, Amber. I got a card that says, "Happy Valentine's Day!" on the front, then you open it and on the inside it says, "I think you are the tops!" then he signed it " Love, then put his first name and LAST name and signed our 4 yr olds name! I mean, what was he thinking? Well apparently he was thinking, "Its v-day, I better come home with something," and then grabbed the first card he saw! I mean he could have given that card to his boss, a teacher, the mailman, his mom, ANYBODY!! Oh, and he also got me a $2 box of chocolates that I cant eat! (and yes, the price tag was on it!) So guess who was the one to roll over at our house tonite!! I didnt say anything to him b/c it would serve no purpose. I mean who wants a "thoughtful" gift that you had to think of yourself and tell him that was what he was suppossed to have done on his own? I hate holidays. They just remind me yet again of how sweet other peoples husbands are and what a thoughtless jacka*s mine is! Oh, well, at least I dont have to suffer from this particular disappoinment and humilation for another year. I mean it is one thing when you SUSPECT your husband has no feelings for you, but I certainly dont need a holiday to call attn to this.

[Kara Isabel]

Great news......

He LOVED the book!! He was cracking up reading it, and this morning he read a few more pages and came downstairs laughing hysterically.........

DH said "YOU love me because I carry your beach chair??" LMAO!!! tee hee.....

Traceanne, I do hope this also serves as positive reinforcement!! :)

Thanks again ladies!
Kara

[traceann]

LOL!! Oh I am so happy he liked it Kara! Mine stayed up after I went to bed to clean the kitchen and do the dishes (his new house-husband routine while he's layed off), and he read his then and came up giggling himself, lol. I love the funny ones, one of his this year was "I love you because you look cute in my glittery lipgloss", I was cleaning out my makeup drawer and he just had to see what it was, lol. Way too funny!!

Oh Amber and Amy, lol, this is the first year (since our very first Valentine's Day when we first started dating - but even that has the nickname "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre", it was horrible and ended up being celebrated on the 15th instead) I haven't gotten anything for Valentine's Day, and I know it's cause he really screwed up in my book last year and didn't even get me a damn Birthday card!!! ARGH! I didn't want a gift or anything, I knew the crazy hours he was working, at least 70 hours a week, so I understood no shopping time...but a card would have been wonderful. So, since I haven't let that go yet, for a whole year, lol, I know that's why I got a card this year, lmao! Can't wait to see what happens for my birthday next week...LMAO!!!

Hugs!
:)