Recently my husband found out that he would be laid off from his job.  We agreed immediately that we should not buy Valentine gifts for each other since we don't know what our financial situation will be in the coming months.  We're pretty confident that he will be able to land a new job but he may have to take a cut in pay.

We both (unbeknownst to the other) decided to get a gift for our Valentine...in the spirit of the holiday.  My sweetie gave me a card, an inexpensive (small) box of chocolates and a heart-shaped pewter token that said "Weekend" on it.  I can redeem the token for a romantic weekend later on when we are sure of our financial stability.

My gift to my husband was along the same lines.....I bought a card and some inexpensive candy.  And for $1.99 I bought a package of 10 plastic hearts that you can put little goodies in.  Each heart has a little saying on it such as "Sweetheart" or "Kiss Me".  In each plastic heart I put a note for future goodies such as:  rent a movie of his choice, a massage, a picnic in the park, etc.  In the next few weeks I'll leave the plastic hearts in locations where he'll be sure to find them.  We can continue to celebrate Valentine's day for a long time and we won't have spent a lot of money in the process. And the nice thing is.....both the plastic hearts and the pewter token can be re-used.  :)