Where has January gone? 2024 already seems to be moving even faster than 2023, maybe because I was so keen on checking off my steps for my Live Hard program for much of the month but even as I type this blog, it seems like everything is running at this incredible speed. Perhaps it is simply the reality of our technological world that links everything and everyone together, but boy do I want things to slow down!
But this isn’t a blog about slowing down per se, but it is a blog meant to remind you that Valentines is right around the corner and if you plan to take your sweetie out or meet up with friends to celebrate friendship instead, this is your reminder now: MAKE RESERVATIONS NOW! Your favorite restaurant may already be booking up, so get on it now! For us, Valentines falls on Ash Wednesday and is the beginning of the Lenten season, so my family will be observing and attending church that evening, so we plan to go out on the 13th to honor my mom and one another. (I also highly recommend considering opting for a different day to avoid crowds and more expensive prix fix menus that many restaurants offer for the Hallmark Holiday…any day is great to show those you love just how much you love them!
If going out to eat isn’t your kind of celebration or if you are trying to watch your spending, I also wanted to offer some non-restaurant ideas that are budget friendly and a great way to show those you care about how much you appreciate them. So here are 24 ideas for under $24 to celebrate your Valentine in 2024!
1: S’mores with your Sweetheart at Blanchard Family Wine (Locations in downtown Denver at the Dairy Block, Ft. Collins, and Golden by appointment), $15 Join James Blanchard and his amazing team and delight your taste buds with s’mores (and maybe a glass of wine, too!) without the hassle of building a fire and burning your marshmallows.
I love hanging out in the Dairy Block and Blanchard Family Wines is a perfect staging area for enjoying all that this little gem in downtown Denver has to offer. If you can’t make it for s’mores, be on the lookout for James to release the 2024 Colorado Wine Walk tickets. While s’more (see what I did there) than $24, getting the wine lover in your life tickets to one of these events would make a great Valentines gift. You get to sample and explore Colorado’s fantastic wine scene, meet the wine makers and talk to them, and make new friends as you wine walk your way down the Dairy Block or Ft. Collins (YES! There is a third wine walk this year in Ft. Collins!). I for sure plan on attending the spring walk on April 14th and hope to make the Ft. Collins walk on June 23rd! (August 24th is currently a beach week for me but that is also around the time my kiddo heads off to the Colorado School of Mines, so I may actually be in town and needing my wine walk to nurse my mama’s heart!) So, sign up here to get notified when the tickets release and be sure to snag yours and come hang out with me!
If you are local to Colorado Springs, I will be teaching two classes on wine and food pairing at The Wine Gallery on 4 Feb (1:30 or 3pm). These classes are currently sold out, but you can add your name to the waiting list or come see me on the 3rd at WG’s complimentary wine and cheese tasting!
2: One of my favorite things to do…take a yoga class! Maybe not a hot yoga class (unless that is your jam) but consider booking you and your special someone or get your group of friends and head to your favorite studio to enjoy some movement, breath, and relaxation, all things good for your heart! If you are looking for a place to practice in Denver, check out Samadhi Yoga. At $20 for a drop-in class, this studio offers a number of different styles of classes, perfect for the yogi or yogini in your life! Yoga Studio Satya
3: Show your love in heart shaped pastry! The French Kitchen in Colorado Springs is offering their adorable and delicious French love pastries, and I always pick these up for my kiddo to show him that he will always be my Valentine. And if you want to splurge without making a mess in your kitchen or fighting for reservations, consider ordering the TFK Valentines Dinner for Two (Chef Hogan has really taken this meal to the next level!) I am picking this up for my birthday celebration and can’t wait to enjoy it.
4: Take a hike…to Kissing Camels that is. Head down to Colorado Springs on a beautiful day and take a stroll with your sweetheart amongst the Garden of the Gods. Make sure to get a selfie in front of the Kissing Camels (one of my favorite spots!)
5: Check out your local Nordstrom Rack for inexpensive gift ideas…no need to fight over the Starbucks Stanley Cup. Find an equally effective 40 oz mug that keeps hot beverages hot and cold drinks cold for under the $50 (and no crazy people fighting you for it!) Here are a few items I found that won’t break the bank for you to pick up for your favorite Galentines or special someone for this Valentine’s Day. I may snag that safety alarm for myself!
6: Splurge on the best cherries around…Luxardo Cherries! I absolutely love them, and they are fantastic in your favorite mocktails and cocktails, or right out of the jar! Top your sweetie’s bowl of favorite ice cream or heck, homemade whipped cream, with these little treats, top homemade crème brûlée (easy recipe here) If brûlée isn’t your dessert of choice, top your favorite cheesecake or tres leches cake (easy recipe here.)
7: Write them a love poem! Poetry writing skills not required. This AI poem generator takes input from you to write your loved one an ode. Here’s my quick poem for my husband and it isn’t too bad!
Get your own love poem here: https://poemanalysis.com/A Love Letter to My Husband
In the chamber of my heart, where love resides,
A symphony of emotions, like a gentle tide.
With every beat, my husband, you’re my guide,
Our marriage, an eternal bond we’ll never hide.
Together we laugh and find joy in our stride,
The happiness we share, a forever ride.
8: If your favorite someone is of the four-legged variety, consider picking them up a charcuterie board made especially for them (and a handheld shark-cootchie for you!) Denver based Cheese Meat Board offers a variety of charcuterie boards (with wine if you are interested) and in fact, ships nationwide! So, if your sweetheart isn’t local or if you want to surprise a beloved friend to make their day, check out Cheese Meat Board for all sorts of yummy treats.
9: It is a popular Valentines idea here in Colorado, but if you aren’t familiar with the city of Loveland, Colorado, they will actually forward your Valentines card to your sweetheart with a stamp from Colorado’s “Sweetheart Town.” For more information and deadlines (they are fast approaching!) please check out this detailed article from the Coloradan.
10: For the orchid lover in your life, check out the Denver Botanic Gardens Orchid Day on February 11th. If you want to surprise the gardening enthusiast in your life or meet your gal pals, the Denver Botanic Gardens makes a perfect gift and place to gather. On Valentines Day, the gardens will be hosting a lunch time vinyasa or an evening practice, programs for littles focused on birds, love potions from various plants, and a program focused on helping guests with early stages of dementia or Alzheimer’s. This is a fantastic and inexpensive way to treat those special someone’s in your life while surrounding yourself with nature…the perfect heart healing and soothing activity. There are two locations so just make sure you know which location you are purchasing tickets to attend.
11: Consider a Couple’s Map or where your love all began. There are so many options out there, but here is one option that might get the imagination rolling. Most of these are digital that would require you to take to a photographic print shop (Costco or your local FedEx stores often can print these up for you). Pick up a nice frame from your local hobby or art store, and voila! A unique to the two of you kind of gift. I will not be doing this as my husband and I met in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma.
12: A new spin on making a mix tape for your special someone…I loved giving and receiving those mixed tapes (and still so many songs on my current play list rotations can immediately transport me to that specific summer or make me even wonder where that teenage beau is now). This Etsy shop has updated the notion and has turned it in to an adorable photo and frame! If you are struggling with trying to figure out something unique and special to the two of you, this would make a wonderful and thoughtful gift without breaking the bank.
13: Head up to Evergreen, Colorado, on 10 Feb from 5 to 8pm for their Sips & Chocolate Tour. Local businesses will be opening up their doors and providing various treats as you stroll this quaint and beautiful little mountain town. My husband and I love Evergreen (we are going in a few weeks to celebrate my birthday! And are planning to head there in the fall for some leaf peeping and relaxation as well) and enjoy sitting by Bear Creek at Creekside Cellars, sipping on one of their fabulous wines while we enjoy their amazing charcuterie offerings. If you want to spend the night and splurge a little, please check out our favorite B&B there, Highland Haven.
14: Take the art lover in your life to a local art museum. The Denver Art Museum offers tickets for Colorado residents for only $23 per person.
15: Consider heading up to Blackhawk, CO and not just for the gambling (although that could be a fun option, too)! A historic mining town, Blackhawk now boasts several bronze statues that you can see on this self-guided tour. The drive itself up to Blackhawk is beautiful, so maybe grab yourself and your sweetie coffees to go and head on up. If you haven’t seen it, definitely consider this as a day trip to make (or even spend the night and check out the fantastic spas offered at several casino resorts.)
16: If you and your sweetie enjoy the thrills and screams of haunted houses around Halloween, spook up your Valentines with a visit to local Denver haunted house, 13th Floor. Their program the weekend after Valentines, Love Bites, will cost slightly more on Friday and Saturday than our $24 budget, but you can pick up tickets for $20 for the Sunday showings.
17: Go for a soak or mineral cave experience. Just up I-70 you will find the small mountain town of Indian Springs. With a variety of options to choose from, you and your sweetheart can relax in the healing waters and minerals that for thousands of years have served to heal those weary travelers and local indigenous peoples who brought their sick and wounded to these waters for treatment. Make night off it and stay at a local inn and minimize the headache of I-70 traffic!
18: For the aviation enthusiast in your life, consider treating them to a visit to Wings Over the Rockies. Tickets usually run under $20 and their exhibits run the range from historic aircraft and missions to science fiction!
19: If beer is the love of your life, maybe get some friends together (or your beer loving sweetheart) and do a walking tour of LoDo’s brewery scene (please make wise choices and designate your DD before starting your tour! Most bars and breweries will hook up Designated Drivers with some love as well because DDs are the best!)
20: A Dave the Intrepid inspired idea: for the classical music lover in your life, consider taking your special someone (or I am sure Dave the Intrepid would be happy to join you) to the Colorado Symphony’s Beethoven Concerto No. 2 Concert. Tickets range in price from $10 to over a $100 and there are several options for time and dates between the 9th and 11th of February. Surprise your Valentine early with this beautiful and thoughtful gift! Click here to preview what you can expect.
21: For the birds…or monkeys, lions, tigers, bears…oh my! Here on the front range in Colorado, we are fortunate to have two wonderful zoos. So, if your Valentines includes some little people as well, consider the Denver Zoo or Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs (if you want to sneak in under $24, plan to go later in the afternoon).
22: If your special someone loves the Caribbean or reggae music, the new movie about reggae legend and icon, Bob Marley: One Love, opens on the day dedicated to love. Tickets are on sale now at most theaters that will be showing the film, so if you can’t escape to Jamaica at the moment, maybe check this film out instead. If you know anything about the famous singer’s life, be prepared, however, with tissues.
23: For a more active gathering that doesn’t involve the great outdoors, and could be great for letting off steam if you hate Valentines Day (that was me back in the day), consider meeting up with friends for some axe throwing or 15 minutes of destruction. While clocking in at just over our budget, there are some great opportunities especially if there is a group of you wanting to gather and do some destruction in lieu of love and hearts and all things glitter. Brand new to Englewood, Axe Whooping offers a variety of fun and would be great if you plan to just get together with friends to let off some steam or vent.
24: Visit the Denver Museum of Nature and Science: if you choose to attend during an off-peak time, you save a dollar, bringing the price of admission just under $24! Now, if you are wanting to take in some of the special shows, there will be additional costs but grab a coffee and go walk among the dinosaurs!
I am sure there are tons of other things you can do that don’t cost too much and that show your special someone just how much you love them. Hopefully, something on this list will inspire you to get creative and move beyond the usual chocolate, flowers, a card, and dinner (although ALL of those things are wonderful, too!) But in case you are shopping for me, I like dark chocolate with sea salt, tiger lilies, humorous and inappropriate romantic cards, and a good steak house would be perfect for me.
Wishing you and yours a wonderful day filled with love and laughter. Even if you find yourself without a romantic interest on 14 Feb, find those people, pets, and things that you love and bring you joy.
Cheers and namaste,
twy
the wine yogi 