Valentine’s day is 3 weeks away which seems like plenty of time to prepare but, let’s be honest– most of us don’t know what we’re doing for Valentine’s day until the night before or the day of. I’ll be the first to admit that Valentine’s day is a hallmark holiday but I still love it since Valentine is my maiden name

That pic is from Valentine’s Day 2009 when Dave and I were in Indianapolis for a weekend conference. Dave and his buddy got creative and made shirts for their dates. The shirts came with a poster-sized card they also made for each of us. We obviously didn’t wear the shirts out to dinner, but it was still a cute effort on their part.

It takes the least amount of effort to enjoy dinner at a nice restaurant as long as you make reservations well in advance. If you want to be a little more creative, do a little planning ahead and hold your own dinner date night. Dave and I have bumped up our entertainment budget since paying off our student loans, but we still like to find cheap date ideas for Valentine’s Day. I’ve got plenty of recipe ideas at Budget for health that are easy to make for a romantic dinner if you care to browse around…

Last year I offered a few tips on ways to NOT overindulge on Valentine’s day. If I had to add one more tip to that list it would be to choose fruit for dessert. The best compromise I can come up with is if you cover fruit in chocolate. Chocolate-covered fruit is easy to make and I would add that it makes for a fun, interactive event to add to your night! If you are pressed for time and want to put your effort into other parts of the night, you can use this coupon code to get a discount on chocolate-covered strawberries from Shari’s Berries. The strawberries I’ve seen at our grocery store have been looking a little wimpy but these babies come fresh and plump. The option to roll the chocolate-covered strawberry in crushed nuts is another way to add a boost of nutrition to your dessert!

What are your plans for Valentine’s day this year?