Valentine's Day Food, From Dawn To Dusk

In this economy, a lot of couples are gifting more thoughtful, handmade gifts and gestures in lieu of expensive gifts.  One such path is to cook up your gift for Valentine's Day.  Whether you are celebrating the love day this coming weekend or on the actual day (next Tuesday), these recipes are sure to impress your sweetheart and stay light on your budget. 

Breakfast

Put a lovey twist on a breakfast favorite by trying out these cranberry buttermilk heart pancakes.  Breakfast in bed never looked so good! 

Lunch & Dinner

With the variety of lunch and dinner options available, there are two ways you can go: make your lovebug's favorite meal and/or make everything in the meal shaped like hearts.  I can't predict the favorite recipe part but I can give a few ideas for heart shaped food.  Sounds silly but that little extra effort can make a huge impact like the heart shaped cheese and pepperoni pizza... super cute!

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The Quick List: Gift Ideas

Now that all the football craziness is over, let's skip ahead to the next big holiday: Valentine's Day!  Since we are about a week out, I wanted to do a post on gift giving since that seems to be the hardest part about this holiday.  It's not as big as Christmas or a birthday but some thought is required.  I've pulled a few links and ideas together, hope these inspire you!

#1. Valentine's gifts for the ladies.  Thanks to the Well-Groomed Blog, well actually thanks to his smart wife, for coming up with great list of fun, sweet and creative alternatives to flowers and chocolate.  If you are a guy reading this and not sure of your lady's ring size, find a ring that she wears regularly and bring it to a jeweler for sizing... and make sure to put it back in the exact.same.place.you.found.it.

#2. DIY Valentine's gift ideas.  There are some of you who are superiorly awesome in the way that you want to DIY most gifts and I deeply commend you.  Here is a lovely list of ONE HUNDRED handmade V-Day ideas.  Yes, 100.  Some are gifts for each other, some are home or party decor and there are even cute ideas for kids.

 

 

#3. Groomsmen gifts can double as V-Day or birthday gifts! The Plunge Project is one of my favorite 'new' blogs that I recently discovered.  I always have grooms asking me what to get their groomsmen and aside from the flasks (no one needs more than one), I love this guy gift guide.

 

#4. So can bridesmaids gifts! And the girls from The Plunge Project did it again- sweet and sassy gifts (on a budget!) for the gals in your life!