3 Easy and frugal Valentine’s Day Ideas for 2021
Recycled Valentine’s Day Decoration - Under $20
Light up the night with luminary lights! Traditionally used on Christmas Eve, I absolutely love the look of these paper bag lights lining a driveway or sidewalk.
It is a tradition that I learned from my grandmother’s neighborhood in Salisbury, MD, where almost every house had the light lined driveways on Christmas Eve. But I say, why only Christmas Eve?! This tradition is so sweet, magical, and warm - I think it deserves more nights.
Used here are luminary bags and votive candles that I bought for Christmas eve 2020. Unfortunately, it was raining and I was unable to light them this year. So I thought Valentine’s evening would be perfect to give this old tradition a new twist. Use this as entry decor for a Galentines party, romantic date night, or just because you want to spread the love!
I cut out heart shapes in different sizes on these bags to re-use and re-purpose bags I already had. But you can totally use regular paper baggies for a soft glow. Set out the paper bags up along your driveway or sidewalk at dusk on Valentine’s night. You can fill them with rocks or sand so that they don’t blow away and then place a tea light or votive candle inside to glow throughout the night.
This is an easy and inexpensive decor element that leaves a big impact!
Sweet Treat - Under $10
Valentine’s Day and chocolate are like peanut butter and jelly. While you may not have time to make a whole chocolate cake from scratch (ain’t no body got time for that), you can still achieve that home-made taste by baking a cake from the box BUT making chocolate icing from scratch.
Home-made icing is so much easier than most people think. The ingredients are cheap and it only takes about 5 minutes to throw together.
Just remember to add these ingredients to your grocery list before Valentine’s Day and you will have a super fun and delicious activity to do with your kiddos or significant other. Bake the boxed cake on February 13th so that it has time to cool. Then on Valentine’s day, you can whip up the icing, spread it onto the cake, and top with sprinkles!
Ingredients:
1 box of chocolate cake mix
6 tablespoons unsalted room temp butter
2 cups of confectioners’ sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pink sprinkles, icing, and any other toppings you would like
A Simple Sweet Gift - Under $5
Love notes don’t have to be only for your spouse or significant other. Spread the love throughout your community this Valentine’s Day by writing anonymous notes as a secret admirer!
The subject - anything that makes you smile about your neighbor. You may barely know them, maybe not even ever met them, but you just adore their cat that sits in the window all day. Or maybe you spoke one time and something they said really resonated with you.
Whatever the case may be, you can make a really sweet Valentine’s Day note to hang on their door knob this year, safely and discreetly. For this quick craft I recycled an old Valentine’s Day gift bag and added white construction paper for my note. I use the leftover bag handles as my hanger and viola!
If you like this idea, I was a guest blogger on Craft Push this week and explain the whole craft in detail here.
