I swear the day after Christmas all the Valentine’s Day crap went up. Chocolate, flowers, teddy bears, and cards. The Hallmark way to say, “I love you” is all up in your face before you’ve even recovered from your holiday food coma. It’s enough to make anyone hate Valentine’s Day. While there’s nothing wrong with getting some of these as Valentine’s Day gifts for your hunny, they are generic and don’t require a lot of thought.
I’m a firm believer that when you’re coupled up it should feel like Valentine’s Day every day. No, I’m not referring to dropping a hundo or more on dinner. I’m talking about loving the hell out of each other, doing sweet things ‘just because,’ leaving love notes on each other’s cars, and those sweet kisses you share wherever, whenever.
Gifting your girlfriend custom chains with names or taking her on holiday could all be sweet romantic gestures. However, there are so many other ways to show your girl you love her besides the usual Valentine’s Day gifts and propaganda. So while I’m not telling you to skip a gift (see what I’m doing here?), what I am telling you is to do a little extra this year and give her something not only a little more meaningful-but completely free.
5 Free Valentine’s Day Gifts
1. Words
Every girl wants to open a card from her man and see actual handwritten words in there. What better time to express how you feel than Valentine’s Day? Tell her how you feel about her and be specific. Writing “I love you” isn’t enough, unless of course, you’ve never said it to her before (and if that’s the case you better follow up with a verbal one the millisecond her eyes run over the words). You need to express why you love her. Tell her how she makes you feel.
“Baby, I love you. I love waking up every day next to you and kissing you. I love how you wrinkle your nose and hide under the covers until I turn the light back off. You make me feel like I won the lottery, Every. Single. Day. Thank you for loving me, blah blah, more sweet stuff, more metaphors.”
Write shit like that as your Valentine’s Day gift and I can guarantee she will swoon.
2. Little Things
You know all those things she regularly asks you to do, that you put off and then forget to do because you put it off instead of doing it right away? Then when she asks you to do it again you get annoyed with her, rather than at yourself because you’re the one that said you’d do it and then you forgot? Then maybe you forget again and she asks again and suddenly her voice sounds like it’s going through a cheese grater? Then you either finally go do it just to shut her up or she’s so frustrated with you she just goes and does it herself?
Yeah. She hates it more than you do buddy. Contrary to popular belief, women really freaking hate to nag. We hate it so much the sound of our own voice actually starts to get on our nerves.
So as a beautiful, perfect Valentine’s Day gift that won’t cost you a dime, why not do all those things you think she might ask you, before she has the chance to? Maybe even for the entire month. Hell it might even become a habit that you end up doing all year and then it’s not just a Valentine’s Day gift, it’s the gift that keeps on giving!
3. A Good Massage
I swear every guy I’ve ever dated gives a crap massage. It always feels like they’re bored and half-assing it, hoping I’ll get over it quickly so we can just get to the sex part. Instead of turned on, I’m just annoyed.
Nothing says “I appreciate all you do” or “You deserve to relax” more than a kickass massage. If you’re not great at it, then check out this article from AskMen.com and you’ll be well on your way to giving her an amazing massage as your Valentine’s Day gift.
Be sure to make it all about her and not as foreplay before getting laid. Most likely though, you will get laid. Just let her do the initiating.
4. Free Time
We all need a little bit more time to ourselves whether we’ve been dying to take a bubble bath, read a book or just Internet shop. Some of the simplest things have become luxuries, whether it’s because of our kids, pets, job-whatever, and we just don’t have the time.
So give her the gift of free time! No, I don’t mean go out drinking with your buddies, I mean take the kids out of her hair for a night, take the dog to the park, take over all the household chores, that suck her time, make dinner-whatever it is you do, find a way to free up even just a few hours for her. Free time is a luxury Valentine’s Day gift every woman can appreciate.
5. Preserve a Memory
Remember that night you two had together where you both looked amazing, had a great time and actually got a picture of it? Or that vacation you took? Or the time you brought her to that place she loves? And on, and on, and on.
Every couple should have some great memories (even if the relationship is new). Print out the picture and pop it into a nice frame (if you don’t have one kicking around the house, you may have to spend a few bucks on one). Giving her a photo of the two of you shows her that this moment was special to you as well. You could also use your photos to create something unique like a Custom Photo Keychain, that your girlfriend could cherish and remember the special moment you spent together, every time she uses her keys. Pair this gift with #1 from this list and you’re golden.
There’s more to the day dedicated to love than buying expensive gifts, it’s a chance to remind yourself that you should be dedicating every day to love, so V-day is essentially just another day. The best part about all these gift ideas is that they’re good all year round.
What other ideas do you have for Valentine’s Day gifts that are both meaningful and free? Ladies, are these gifts you would love?
Image credit: Shutterstock
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