It's Valentine's Day and many people are still scrambling to find the perfect gift for that special someone--with a perfect price tag. After all, a broke college student can't exactly afford pricey jewelry or concert tickets.
So how can you keep your sweetie and your wallet happy? Here are some creative gift ideas anybody can make on a tight budget.
If you've only been together for a short time or you are looking to woo someone over, it can be difficult to think of something that person may like. One simple and fun idea is to bake a treat, either together or as a gift.
Cookies are always a great option. They only take a few hours and they can last for days. Recipes for chocolate chip cookies are usually found right on the back of chocolate chip bag. However, if you're looking for something a little sweeter, chocolate crinkles, are a great alternative.
Here's a recipe from BettyCrocker.com that can satisfy any sweet tooth.
Need: 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate (melted), cooled 2 cups granulated sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla, 4 eggs, 2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt ,1/2 cup powdered sugar.
•In a large bowl, mix oil, chocolate, granulated sugar and vanilla. Stir in eggs, one at a time. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours.
•Heat an oven to 350°F. Grease cookie sheet with shortening or cooking spray.
•Drop dough by teaspoonfuls into powdered sugar; roll around to coat and shape into balls. Place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheets.
•Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until almost no imprint remains when touched lightly in center. Immediately remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks.
If you want to add some fruit to the mix, try chocolate covered strawberries instead of cookies.
•First melt the chocolate. Fill up a medium sized pan with water and put it on the stove. Next, take a small pan and put the chocolate in it. Then set the pan on top of the water-filled one. Boil the water until the chocolate melts. Be sure not to burn it.
•Wash the strawberries and then dip them in the melted chocolate.
•Place the strawberries on a sheet of wax paper and then put them in the refrigerator. Wait until the chocolate hardens, and then they are done.
Some people may want to give something a little more personal as a gift. If you and your significant other have a special song, you can use that as your muse. Frame the lyrics to your song with old movie ticket stubs and other memorabilia from past dates.
•First find the lyrics to your song online.
•Find a nice piece of cardstock from Hobby Lobby and write down or print the lyrics in the center of the paper.
If the cardstock doesn't fit in the printer, try just pasting the lyrics onto it after printing on plain computer paper.
•You can use the whole song, the chorus, or an especially meaningful part of the song.
•After you have the lyrics written down, frame them with old movie tickets, pictures or anything you want.
If you are more artistic and have a little more time to dedicate to a present, try making a collage. You can print out pictures at Walgreens by uploading them from your computer to Walgreens.com. You can even create photo books online. Sometimes applications like Picnic on Facebook allow you to edit pictures then save them to your computer.
•Once you have the pictures printed, paste or tape them onto a poster board, which you can cut down to any size you want.
•You can also include personal notes, quotes and other memorable items in your collage.
• Once you have everything gathered together, affordable frames from Hobby Lobby are available to add the perfect touch to the collage.
Other small and simple ideas include making your own Valentine's Day card with construction paper and colored pencils or burning a CD (there's a reason mixes are so cliché).
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