Last-Minute Valentine’s Day Gifts (That Won’t Crush Your Budget)

February 14, 2013, Libby Balke, 1 Comment

Get a free dessert when you book a table online

If you’ve waited until now to start shopping for Valentine’s Day gifts, you’re officially out of time. The day of romance has arrived. But if you still don’t have anything for the special guy or gal in your life, you’re not completely out of luck.

I’ve found some last-minute Valentine’s gifts that are still available right now (and in some cases, will remain available throughout the weekend), plus coupons and special offers to help you keep costs low. So put down your car keys and get off the phone with the florist; nobody is paying $49 for a dozen roses that are going to die before you get them in a vase.

If free is your price, check out Yazmin’s post reviewing the best free ecard sites.

1. Free Dessert

Ruby Tuesday is offering a special promotion to lovebirds who book Valentine’s Day reservations at their restaurant. If you make your reservation online between now and February 17th (you must dine between now and then as well), you’ll get a coupon for a free dessert. Since nothing says romance like double chocolate cake, this is a sweet treat you won’t want to miss.

2. Discounted Photo Gifts

For my first Valentine’s Day as a new mom, my husband got me a mouse pad for work adorned with a photo collage of my daughter. Great minds must think alike, because I gave him an “I Love My Daddy” mug festooned with pictures of the baby. If you order from an online photo processor like Shutterfly, it could take days to receive your photo gifts. But if you order online from your local drug store and choose the in-store pick-up option, you could have Valentine’s gifts ready to go by the end of the day.

Plus, many drug stores are offering discounts on their photo gifts through Saturday:

Walgreens has everything from photo books to wall calendars available for same-day pick-up; use the coupon code 33TODAY at checkout (thru February 16th) for 33% off your order.
CVS is offering 40% off photo collages and enlargements (coupon code ENLARGE40) and 30% off photo gifts including mugs, mouse pads, and smartphone cases (coupon code GIFT30) through Saturday; most are available for same-day pick-up from your local store.

3. eGift Cards

Does the love of your life have a serious Starbucks habit? What about an obsession with Target? Does he get a thrill out of cruising the aisles at Home Depot?

You don’t have to head to the store to buy gift cards to any of these stores. Instead, hit up discount online gift card sites like CardPool, GiftCardGranny, PlasticJungle, or GiftCardZilla – just to name a few – that offer gift cards for up to 35% off face value. Plus, many of these gift cards are available electronically, meaning you can print them out at your home or work computer and give them to your partner over dinner tonight.

4. Make Your Own Gift Certificates

Last year, my husband gave me homemade coupons. They included things like:

One massage, given by my husband
One day of no chores (he’d do them in my place)
One dinner of my choice, made by him

They cost him nothing to make, yet they were perhaps the best gift I’d ever received. As a working mom and wife, it’s hard to separate myself from the housework and childcare now and then to really enjoy some “me” time; my husband’s creative gift gave me the excuse to do just that. If you need a little help coming up with ideas or a layout for your gift certificates, you can download this DIY gift certificate app to help you out from iTunes – don’t worry, it’s free.

5. Free Movies

Forget sitting in a crowded movie theater and spending $10 a ticket to see a film. Instead, head to your nearest Redbox to catch the latest releases. There are always Redbox codes good for free movie rentals out there on the Internet. Here are just a few available this month: