The 14 Days of Valentines

It's that time of year again. Start planning now for the 14 Days of Valentines!

When DH and I were engaged, I made up the 14 Days of Valentines as a cute way to show him how much I loved him. I didn't have a lot of money but I did have creativity so I came up with cheap fun ideas that corresponded with the day. I don't remember everything I did except that Day #13 was "13 Ways To Say I Love You". I put up I Love You in thirteen different languages around his room.

Fast forward to five years later. I was cleaning out drawers in our bedroom and came upon something interesting: every thing I had made him for those 14 days were saved in that drawer. I was thrilled that it meant so much to him and aghast that I had not done it since. After that time, it has become a yearly thing for me. He has no idea what I'm planning.

I do have a few tricks to make this easier every year:

• Day #3 is always 2 movie tickets and a box of Red Vines which is our favorite movie treat. Day #3 also happens to be DS#1's bday so I keep DH's Valentines gift low-key. He knows it is for a date that weekend.
• Day #4 is a picture of our 4 Beautiful Children for his office. Last year I went a less traditional route than a formal portrait. I took a headshot of each of the kids (and one of me) and blew them up to 8x10 size. I then taped them onto his vanity mirror and wrote in red lipstick "4 beautiful children and 1 cute wife". When he woke up that morning and saw it he laughed out loud. Every time he saw it that day he laughed out loud. He left it up for weeks.
• Day #5 used to be 5 Kinds of Fudge. When we lived in Utah, a fab fudge shop (Sweet Aftons at Gardner Village) offered a deal of buying 4 kinds of 1/4 lb. fudge and getting a 5th 1/4 lb free. My kids loved this day because DH always shared the fudge. Not sure what I am doing this year.
• Day #10 is always 10 Things I Love About You. I try to be creative about it every year but it is never a problem coming up with 10 things.
• Day #13 is still 13 Ways To Say I Love You. I have done this is Swahili, Navajo, French, Korean, and even Vulcan and Klingon. (yes, I am a closet Trekkie. I do not dress the part but I never miss a movie.) I write these on red and pink Post-It Notes and plaster the inside windshield of his truck.
• Day #14 is always a gourmet Valentine's Dinner cooked by me (I REFUSE to go somewhere out as all V-Day menus are overpriced and usually a let-down). The kids either go to bed early or go somewhere else in the house to watch a movie. I present DH with a nicely printed menu and two candles. Every year the menu is different, but the most important part is to make food that you can feed each other. If you don't cook, go pick up fun things at Costco and just have a menu of appetizers, desserts and something sparkly (I really like the Peach-Grape sparkling juice Costco carries.) I also rent or buy a romantic movie to watch together. (I'll post my 2008 menu in the next few weeks as well as what I have served in the past.)

Now you have the idea. Get read, get set, GO! Spoil your man. Smother him in sweet love! Send him a pizza with the pepperonis arranged in the shape of a heart. Iron a couple of his shirts (I recommend this for Day #2 as I hate ironing and two shirts is more than enough). Do not tell him what you are doing. When he asks, just smile and change the subject.

I've been asked what DH thinks about all this. He loves it. He is so appreciative of everything. He deserves every single bit of effort.