Valentine treats from the heart, not the wallet
By Tracy Z. Turner • Bankrate.com

Red roses, chocolates and fancy dinners are the traditional currency of Valentine's Day. But on a tight budget, a little creativity can make the lover's holiday even more romantic.

While the greeting card, restaurant, candy and flower industries flourish every year at this time, older notions about romance still ring true; the most memorable gifts you can give are those that show your sweetie how well you know -- or want to know -- him or her.

Here are some gift ideas that involve more thoughtfulness than money for couples that have been together for a while, along with a few for brand-new lovebirds.

If you just met a new love interest, fishing for ideas is an easy task -- getting to know someone gives you the perfect excuse to ask all kinds of questions about favorite foods or interests, and, above all, what gifts or gestures he or she considers the most romantic. For couples that have been together longer -- this is your chance to spark a little romance.

Take notice of what interests your partner has that you haven't paid much attention to in the past. Surprise him or her by doing a little research and finding an inexpensive gift that shows you care about those interests and desires.

Romance is a personal thing, and ultimately, you are the best person for the job when it comes to figuring out what will dazzle your significant other.

Dine in -- in style
Every Feb. 14, upscale restaurants rake in the dough by offering special Valentine menus that give patrons fewer food choices and charge them more money than almost any other day of the year. Reservations have to be made well in advance, and dining rooms are often so packed that an evening that is supposed to be romantic is instead cluttered with long waits, crowded dining rooms and slow service.

Why not roll up your sleeves and make dinner for your valentine that includes his or her favorite foods? If you're short on ideas, the Web is brimming with free recipe sites such as Allrecipes.com, Epicurious and Recipe Source.

Even though the Food and Drug Administration says there is little or no scientific evidence to support the notion that foods such as oysters, chocolate and truffles have aphrodisiac properties, there is a long history of folklore that suggests that they do. If you are a fan of the power of suggestion, Mangiare Bene has a list of recipes and the BBC Web site has a list of "aphrodisiacs."

Gifts from the heart
Evidence that you've given a gift a lot of consideration and care can go a long way. For people with steady hands or silver tongues, making your own Valentine's Day cards or writing a few lines of poetry are great ideas. But you don't have to be an amateur craftsman or literary maven to come up with something special that has meaning.

If you can't write a lick of poetry or paint a whit, consider sitting down and writing a letter describing every characteristic that you love about a person, from the way they smile to the things that they do that endear them to you. Handwritten love letters are a lost art in this era of e-mail and cell phones, and taking the time to write one guarantees that your gift will be saved in a nightstand or jewelry box long after the neighbor's roses have withered.