According to an MSNBC report, Americans spent as much as $13.7 billion on Valentine’s Day in 2006, up 22 percent from just five years ago.  Valentine’s week sales account for more than five percent of annual chocolate sales, totaling $345 million. According to Hallmark, half of the U.S. population celebrates Valentine’s Day by purchasing at least one greeting card.  That figures out to be around 180 million Valentine’s Day cards exchanged annually, making it the second biggest holiday of the year next to Christmas.  Thinking about all the money spent on Valentine’s Day is overwhelming, so this year I am going to do things a bit more economically.  

Here are some big-hearted tips for those of you with small wallets:

Don’t buy roses.  Give your beloved seeds instead.

Memorize a love poem to recite

Call a DJ, dedicate a love song

Skip the expensive concert.  Find a street musician and sit down with your lover for a free listen.

Invent a new term of endearment

Invent kisses

Pass on the box of chocolates.  Roll up your sleeves, and bake a homemade sweet.

Serenade someone

Make your own Valentines

Nix the fancy dinner.  Make a quiet candlelit dinner at home instead.

write a love letter

Read famous love letters

Make your bed into a sacred space

Go on a blindfolded date

Don’t give diamonds, give less costly rocks: turquoise, lapis lazuli, amber.

Buy Love (luv) n.

Make a baby

Skip the dance club, find a street corner to tango.

Write a love poem on your underwear

Bake a pie in the nude