It’s two days away from Valentine’s Day! Are you prepared? If you’ve got someone special I have a suggestion - forget the usual rose bouquet and expensive chocolates.

Honestly, I pity the nervous and sweaty guys and girls who panic at the last minute and go out and buy the most expensive flowers, stuffed toys, or chocolates they see at the store. Valentine’s Day should be a happy, relaxing day for lovers - not a cause for stress.
Here are more wallet-friendly ways to spend Valentine’s day:

Write something. Whether it’s a card, poem, or letter, creating something with simple pen and paper is so rare these days that this kind of effort would be appreciated.

Cook a meal together. Not only is it cheaper than a romantic restaurant, it’s fun too. Besides, with a few candles and a small table set up perfectly, you wouldn’t be lacking in ambiance. What if you don’t have the funds to buy extra ingredients? Check out SuperCook. It’s a great site that gives you recipes based on the ingredients you already have at home. If you make mistakes, that’s fine You’ll have something funny to talk about for the rest of the year.

Handpick and arrange flowers yourself. If you have a garden (or have access to one), it’s much more creative to handpick flowers yourself. Roses are so commonplace during Valentine’s day that it’ll probably be refreshing for your significant other to receive something else. Besides, the prices of roses tend to skyrocket during Valentine’s Day.

Speaking of flowers, if you find scattered petals laying around (or if the flowershop would be willing to give you some for free), you can use these. Whether it’s to decorate a bathroom, bedroom, or dinner table for V-day, they’re beautiful and cost-effective.

Take a walk together. Never mind going to Baguio or Tagaytay and spending thousands of pesos for lodging (I have a friend who spent P10,000 on just an overnight stay!) A nice walk or hike around UP, Antipolo, and some grassy areas in Marikina can lead to great conversations. If you prefer an indoor walk, there are several museums you can visit. The Vargas Museum in UP Diliman currently has a Florante at Laura exhibit you shouldn’t miss.

Watch DVDs. True, you can watch a movie in a mall theater, but so will every couple in Metro Manila. It’s bound to get crowded - which is hardly romantic or private. Odds are, you and your significant other have some unwatched DVDs. Now’s the perfect time to finally watch them. Or, you can rent DVDs from a video store.

What are your plans for Valentine’s Day? How much has it cost you in the past?

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