I scored a free coffee for Valentine's Day! truth24times / Flickr
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
Now that the dust has settled after Valentine’s Day, I want to know how much you spent and what you received? The National Retail Federation reported that those celebrating would spend an average of $126.03. That’s a lot of money!
I definitely spent less, even with a birthday celebration following the next day. I spent about $30 for ingredients to make Valentine’s Day treats for 15 friends. I used those same ingredients to make my father’s cake!
By Bobbi Burger Brunoehler of BobbisBargains.
Love book made from deck of cards
I am so glad that it is finally time to start making Valentine’s Day crafts. I just love them. Can’t get enough of those hearts and flowers and rainbows and paper doilies.
I found eight lovely and do-able Valentine’s crafts.
- Little felt heart pins. These are so simple and yet so sweet. Just a bit of felt cut into heart shapes, hand stitched and stuffed with a little pin backing.
- A garland of love. Print out pictures of your loved one(s) and cut into the shape of hearts. Glue picture on a heart shape red card. Tie heart onto a string. Make a garland of love. (more…)
By Bobbi Burger Brunoehler of BobbisBargains.
Karen Horton/flickr
A person’s ability to come up with a creative, romantic, and frugal Valentine’s date is a true indicator of that person’s ability to come up with creative, thoughtful, and debt-free lifestyle choices.
We’ve already covered many frugal and creative Valentine’s dates in nine unusual Valentine’s dates that are frugal too, cheap debt-free valentine’s dates, and you calling me a cheap date? You betcha. Browse all three of these articles and you will have enough great date ideas to take you through to your 25th wedding anniversary.
However, these ideas still require you follow some very important rules:
By Bobbi Burger Brunoehler of Bobbisbargains.
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Valentine’s Day is here and along with it comes my favorite craft season. You can buy a dozen over-priced roses, but I always create my own valentine gifts. Making homemade valentines is fun no matter what age you are. Some of the first craft projects I did with my kids were Valentine’s Day cards for Daddy. Ooooh!
Here are five of my favorite Valentine card craft tips: (more…)
Looks like their date went well! Credit: kissyface/Flickr
Stay tuned for Bobbi’s post tomorrow about five simple Valentine’s Day crafts. I’m going to use at least two of her ideas!
1. Go see improv comedy. It’s often very cheap, say $10 or less a ticket, and some clubs even have a BYOB policy. Ask about specials, check the troupe’s website for coupons, or plan a group outing and call ahead for bulk discounts. Improv.com has some improv comedy listings but a better bet might be to Google “improv comedy + your zip code.”
2. Take your date to the taping of a TV show. BargainBabe.com blogger Bobbi knows all the ins and outs to scoring free TV show tickets.
3. Participate in a (more…)
kejadlen/Flickr
A shopping website called ShopRunner emailed me its top five worst Valentine’s Day gifts, which naturally got me thinking about the best frugal V-day gifts. Here are my best and worst Valentine’s Day gifts. What’s on your list?
Worst Frugal Valentine’s Day Gifts
1. Nothing at all. Not even a card!! (more…)
Krispy Kreme
There are 12 freebies and coupons total today!
Free Krispy Kreme - Buy a dozen Valentine’s-theme donuts and get 12 cards that have coupons for free donuts, coffee, or hot chocolate. Ends Feb. 14, 2011. Look for heart-shaped donuts with sprinkles, a chocolate iced donut with sprinkles, or a chocolate iced heart with red drizzle. At participating U.S. and Canadian stores.
Free pizza? If the Superbowl goes into overtime, Papa John’s has promised a free pizza to every American. Catch is you gotta register on the site by Feb. 5, 2011. (more…)
Are you buying a Valentine’s Day gift online? Then make sure to shop through Ebates, a free site that gives you cash back rebates for almost every online purchase. For Valentine’s Day, a bunch of retailers are offering double cash back rebates. Here are a few to give you an idea:
Blue Nile – get 5% of your purchase back
FTD – get 20% back
Kodak Gallery – 15% back
Godiva - 8% back
Snapfish – 11.5%
Lancome -14% (more…)
I found 16 spankin’ deals and freebies related to chocolate, flowers, and other Valentine’s Day treats, including a free $30 bouquet of roses with chocolates when you sign up for eBates. Seriously, this is a one-of-a-kind deal!
Follow @CVS_Extra on Twitter and you’ll get a 25 percent off code for their entire website. What a way to attract new followers!
Get 33 percent off at Borders now through Feb. 11, 2010.
Restaurant.com is 80 percent off now through Feb. 14, 2010.
Do you surf? Get a free subscription to Surfer Magazine when you share a few questions about your job.
Here’s a Michaels coupon for 40 percent off, good through Feb. 20, 2010.
A friend posted a number of short how-to videos related to Valentine’s Day that I enjoyed watching. Topics include:
- how to pick out jewelry for a woman
- how to cook a sex-charged dinner
- how to pick our lingerie for your lady
- how to score on Valentine’s Day
- how to survive Valentine’s Day alone
Each video is 2-3 minutes. Watch them here.
More V-day resources: cheap Valentine’s dates and a source for Valentine’s Day coupons.
Here are six more cheap ideas for how to celebrate Valentine’s Day, courtesy of the Debt Diva, a blog associated with CareOne debt counseling services. Instead of exchanging gifts, plan one of these activities together.
Treasure Hunt: Create a map and clues leading to special places and favorite spots. Hide a token gift at the end to wrap it all up.
Movie Marathon: Pick one romantic movie each, make popcorn and cuddle on the couch. Not sure what to watch? Here is a list of 50 romantic movies.
Bring back memories: Pull out your wedding photos, pics from a trip you took together, or watch a video of your wedding.
Live Music: Check out a concert in your town that you both enjoy. There are also local cover bands that play music of a favorite artist at an inexpensive venue or even for free.
Romantic Dinner: Have a nice candlelit dinner at home. Cooking at home costs much less than going to fancy restaurant. Dress up in something nice and make something new.
Wine Tasting: Many vineyards offer a tasting for around $10. This is a romantic fun way to spend the day. If you make a purchase at the end, many vineyards will even apply the tasting fee to the product. If weather allows, bring a picnic lunch to eat between tastings.
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eBates is offering double or increased rebates at five retailers that sell Valentine’s Day gifts. Get 12% back at Crabtree & Evelyn (orig. 6%), 12% back at Teleflora (orig. 6%) and 12% back at RedEnvelope (orig. 6%). GourmetGiftBaskets.com bumped their rebate from 5% to 7% and ProFlowers increased their rebate from 10% to 13%.
Take advantage of these automatic cash rebates by joining eBates. It’s free! Use my email (juliamariescott at gmail dot com) as a referral and we both get a $5 bonus after your first purchase.
The way it works is when you shop online, first log into eBates. Then click through to the retailer you want to shop at. They track your purchases and give you a percentage back in cash. They have different deals with each retailer so the rebates vary. Read more about how eBates works.
Caveats: unclear when the V-day promotion ends.
The personal finance site Wise Bread has a fabulous guide to celebrating Feb. 14 while staying true to your cheapskate roots. A post by Will Chen has cheap date ideas, do-it-yourself greeting cards, directions to make an impressive dinner at home, tips for ordering cheaply if you go out, V-day factoids and a review of online dating sites.
The post is so useful I wish I’d thought of it myself!
Love is getting cheaper. Valentine’s Day spending will drop 5% this year with jewelry, intimate apparel and dining out taking the biggest hits, according to market researcher IBISWorld. You may opt for homemade gifts this year, or you could find some great discounts to lower the cost of gifts.
One source of V-day coupon codes is CouponChief.com. The site pays users who register and upload coupons. To use their coupons, you must click through to the retailer from their site.
The site has a special five-page section of Valentine’s Day coupons, including 15% off at Teleflora, 20% off plus free shipping at Diamond.com, and 10% off an order of $35 or more at Chocolate Source or Nirvana Chocolates. ProFlowers offers $20 off a dozen long-stemmed roses and Edible Arrangements offers $5 your next order.
Some of the discounts on this page are not directly related to V-day, like the Children’s Place and Kmart, but depending on what you are looking for they may be useful.
