Surrounded by the pressure to purchase expensive gifts, Valentine’s Day can be tough for most students on a budget. Yet while these gifts may look nice, they often lack meaning in comparison to affordable DIY gifts. For some inspiration, I’ve collated several DIY Valentines gifts so you can treat your loved ones without breaking the bank.

Jar of Songs

On large wooden lollipop sticks, use permanent markers to write down different songs and their artists. For example, you could choose meaningful songs to your relationship and simply place them in a jar of your choice to make this fun, affordable gift for any loved one.

Memory Map

To make this incredibly heartfelt present, simply identify significant places to your relationship on a map (this might be the place you first met, had your first kiss etc.), mark them out with a pin and cut around the important area in a heart shape. To finish it off, mount the heart maps onto a nice card background and place in a frame.

Open Me Letters

For this super easy idea, you could use any letters and envelopes you like, however you could also invest in a writing set to be a little fancier. On the front of each envelope write “open me…” and complete the sentence with whatever you choose, for example “open me when you are having a bad day”, or “open me when you are missing me”, and fill the letters inside with whatever beautiful words you wish.

Pin Board

By creating a pin board of photos and memories, you can create a thoughtful gift that gives your loved one an outlet to appreciate past memories and add on exciting adventures in the future.

Scrapbook

Similarly, you could compose a scrapbook of your relationship so far, and add on places you want to go or things you’d like to do. To create an authentic look for both the pin board or the scrapbook, websites such as Photobox allow you to transform your photos into Polaroid style without the need for an expensive camera.

By Alana Lockhart