Recession romance is all the fashion! And luckily, many of the most thoughtful presents don’t come with a huge price tag…
It’s good to use Valentine’s Day as an excuse to have a bit of fun, to focus on each other again instead of letting the kids’ social life rule your whole week, and to renew the habit of making romance part of your daily life. Whether, in years gone by, you and your other half have spent a fortune on jewellery or just settled for a box of choccies, overspending is sooooo not in fashion, which is why the thought is going to count for a lot this year!
10 recession romance ideas
1. Revisit your first date
It’s unlikely that your first date was your most expensive – so why not take a trip down memory lane and do the same things you did on your first ever date together? Go the whole hog and meet each other at the same café, bar, or street corner rather than leaving the house together.
2. Leave the kids with granny and granddad
Even a cheap night in will feel more special if you haven’t got the kids asking why you’re eating dinner by candlelight. For once, enjoy a leisurely evening together without having bedtime stories for little ones, arguments over lights-out and having to prise the TV remote off your teenagers.
3. Cook your favourite meal
Make supper that bit more special by going for something you both really love to eat. Either jazz up a popular dish with a more expensive cut of meat – still a cheaper option that eating out – or unearth a recipe for a dish you both remember from a favourite holiday abroad.
4. Send a flurry of cards
Hand-make a card for every year you’ve been together. They don’t have to be complicated efforts so you won’t need an art degree – just folded coloured card each with something attached that recalls a highlight from a particular year. From the trivial, like a photo of him in a sexy pair of trousers he used to wear, to something special like a little piece of ribbon from your wedding day.
5. Dress up for the sofa
Even if you’re going to stay in with a good DVD, why not make an effort? Put on your best clothes and do your make-up and get your other-half to scrub up, too. There’s no reason to let the stars of the movie outdo you!
6. Massage
Get aromatic massage oil from your pharmacy or health shop and have a giggle with a little back rub or a foot massage.
7. A great start to the day
Even if you can’t spend a quiet evening together, just start the day with a thoughtful, fun breakfast in bed. Make the effort to upgrade to real coffee rather than instant, and croissants not toast. Even if the kids end up in bed with you, it’s a lovely way to kick off Valentine’s.
8. Put up fairy lights in the bedroom
Twinkling lights aren’t just for Christmas. Add a magical feel with this playful change from candles.
9. Make a ‘just the two of us’ photo album
Once the children come along, it’s easy to end up with endless photos with one of you surrounded by kids on beaches and the other stuck behind the camera. Have a dig through the dusty old boxes and seek out those photographs that only feature the two of you to make a special collection, or put a favourite, forgotten picture in a frame and hang it on the wall as a surprise.
10. Sweet treats
Add a little romantic fun to tea time with a few small delights. Debenhams have 225g bags of cute heart shaped marshmallows for £3.75. At Morrisons you can get a box of shortbread hearts with strawberry filling for £1.99. Serve up his tea in a new mug – John Lewis has a simple Big Heart Mug in white with a pink, blue or purple heart on it, for £7. Or if you do get dinner together without a crowd of kids, why not get festive with two Valentine’s Day crackers for £5 from Marks & Spencer? One contains cufflinks and the other has a bracelet stashed inside.