Frugal Friday: Valentine's Edition

Warning: History Lesson Ahead

The Feast of Saint Valentine was established by Pope Gelasius I in AD 496 to be celebrated on February 14 in honor of the martyr, Saint Valentine of Rome, who died on that date in AD 269. The day first became associated with romantic love in the 14th century, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. In 18th-century England, it grew into an occasion in which couples expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards.

And that brings us to yesterday in the 21st century where Valentine's Day is a purely commercial, money making, causing those who are single to feel terrible about themselves kind of day! lol 

Dan and I decided a number of years ago that we weren't going to go crazy on the day and instead, make it a family celebration. We show our love to each other in many ways throughout the year so don't need the retail stores to tell us we need to celebrate. 

I always enjoy celebrating things and making things special for my family so it's been fun to celebrate it, but to do it affordably. This year I had the problem of not having the car the last two weeks and not being able to get out and get Dan anything.

So yesterday, while he was gone I set out to make him a gift. I started with some chocolates that someone gave me a few months ago. I put them in the freezer for such a time as this. I wanted to use them in something. 

I made truffles for him. He has a sweet tooth and loves candy so it was the perfect gift.

I had a box that I saved from a gift a while back and used that to put them in. I added a heart to the top and some ribbon and it was good to go.

Then I pulled out my scrapbooking papers and doodads and made him a card. Instead of spending $5-$8 on a card this cost me about $.50 to make, and because it was blank on the inside I put my own message.

Then it was time to decorate the table. I have a dresser where I keep all kinds of things I have made or been given for just such an occasion and I was able to pull together a few simple decorations to make the table festive.

Then came the dinner. I had all of the ingredients necessary to pull together a nice dinner. I made penne with chicken and vodka sauce. I bought the vodka a while ago to make vanilla extract and had just enough for the dish.  I added a salad and homemade garlic bread.

The only thing we had to buy that I didn't have on hand was the sparkling cider.



 For dessert I made chocolate and strawberry parfaits. I made homemade chocolate pudding and then cooked down some strawberries I had in the freezer with some sugar. Added a splash of spiced rum and folded in homemade whipped cream. Once it was all chilled I made the parfaits. I could have done a better job incorporating the whipped cream into the strawberries but they turned out pretty and tasted great.

We ate later so Stephen could join us when he got home from work. I turned on some classical music, lit the candles, great conversation and viola! A Valentine's dinner that didn't cost a fortune, was made with love and extremely tasty.

Frugal doesn't have to mean you can't make things nice. The meaningful part of the day was hearing my husband tell the boys, "Your mom always makes things special for us." That warmed my heart!