Hellobee

Valentine’s Day is sneaking up quickly, and I always struggle for gifts for Mr. Cereal for Valentine’s Day. It isn’t really a holiday that we celebrate with gusto, but I do like to surprise him on occasion. I prefer to do small gifts that are nice and even practical and don’t cost too much.

via iheartnaptime

Favorite candy box: Mr. Cereal is a Reeses Peanut Butter person. For this gift, I gather up a bunch of different kinds of Reeses and put them all together in a cute basket (double points if I can use the basket for something later). This one is really easy, all you need are the candy bars, the basket and some tissue paper. For the card with this one, I wrote a silly note about how I love him as much as he loves Reeses.

Heady Topper via Men’s Journal

Beer Selection: For me, this one is a little harder because Mr. Cereal is a brewer, so he’s a bit more picky than your average beer drinker. But this is a pretty easy gift if you have an idea of the style of beer your partner likes. To make it even more fun, you can add in a nice glass, or a yeti glass. You can package these in a nice bag, or just line them all up on the dining room table for your partner to discover in the morning.

Framed Photos: I don’t know about you, but I am terrible about putting our photos into frames. I have a ton of great pictures saved on a flash drive, but I rarely print them out and display them. On our first Valentine’s Day after LeLe was born, I had a sweet photo of Mr. Cereal and LeLe framed and wrapped it up and gave it to him. He still has that photo displayed on his night stand. I love seeing it and I know it meant a lot to him too.

Car Wash gift certificate: We live in Oregon. It rains all the time. You would think that our cars stay clean, but nope. Mr. Cereal likes to keep his car clean, so one of the easiest Valentine’s gifts I can do for him is a car wash gift card. We have a nice little car wash that is pretty near to our house and they have an awesome little punch card. He can go 6 times with this card, which translates to about a year of car washes. It’s super easy and quick.

Haircut: Before Mr. Cereal started growing his hair out, he used to go to a barber every other month or so. I liked to gift him with a paid haircut on occasion. Haircuts are one of those things in our family that we put off because of the cost, so it’s kind of nice to have one paid for that you can look forward to.

Personalized Key Chain: When Mr. Cereal and I were first dating, I worked at a bank. I would do the change machine daily (people brought in change to be counted) and I always found interesting items in the change machine when I was done. One day I found a half dollar that had a small hole drilled in it. I bought it from the bank, and made it into a keychain for Mr. Cereal. He still has it today, and it’s one of those things that makes me smile when I see it. This etsy shop has a bunch of super cute couples’ key chains. They are affordable and can be personalized to say whatever you want.

Cook a Favorite Meal: Mr. Cereal has a meal that he loves. His mom used to make it for him and it reminds him of childhood. It’s super easy to make, but a few years ago I decided to fancy it up by making the whole thing from scratch. When he realized that I had recreated his favorite childhood meal and made it grown up style, he was thrilled.

A Free Pass: One of the things that both Mr. Cereal and I covet is free time. We try to get time for ourselves but between work, and kids, and other priorities, sometimes that just isn’t possible. This pass can be used for free time, pre-scheduled, that Mr. Cereal can work on his car, go to a game, play softball, etc. He can use that time for whatever he wants, and I will stay with the kids and run the house alone for a day. He does the same for me on occasion, and it really helps. Sometimes we even get lucky and get to actually go on a date together!

.  .  .  .  .

What are your easy Valentine’s Day gifts? Do you celebrate big, or go small like Mr. Cereal and me?