Ditch the pricey bags and gift-cards - it's sentiment for the win! Give gifts that are more about sentiment than the price tag … more about love than money … more about creating lasting feelings than playing the social media "look at me and what I got" game. These gifts are all about the feels and are perfect as valentines gifts, birthday gifts, or just because gifts! And you don’t have to be Martha Stewart to create them.

Write a Love Letter

A sweet love letter from the heart is much more personal than a generic card. With communication mainly being text, direct messaging, and emails these days, a handwritten letter has more personality and feels like something special. It's a gift your love will treasure for years to come.

Choose Your Love Letter Stationery

Start with the stationery. If you’re on a budget, even the fanciest stationery won’t make much of a dent in your wallet. It can be as simple as lined paper or printer paper you have on hand or as beautiful as the variety of fancy paper you can buy at the local card or stationery store. If you’re artsy, decorate the paper with hand-drawn doodles.

Alternatively, for a special handmade touch, create your own paper. It’s a lot easier than you might think and uses mostly items you already have around the house, including paper scraps. You can even embed beautiful elements that are meaningful to your partner (such as their favorite small flowers) in your paper for an extra special touch.

What to Write Your Love Letter With

Choose your pen, whether it’s your favorite pen or something fancier. Consider using a brush pen or calligraphy pen for fancy lettering. A fine or ultra-fine point marker may also work well, and for an added touch, why not use your parent's favorite color ink?

Do a small test on your chosen paper to make sure it doesn’t bleed through, so you don’t have to waste the sheet of paper. This love letter may end up as a treasured keepsake, something your love may come back across 20 years later in its memory box after marriage and kids, so you may want to choose a writing implement with archival quality ink that won’t fade over time.

Your Love Letter Envelope

For an extra flourish, add an old-fashioned wax seal to close the envelope. You can purchase sealing wax and a seal (perhaps with your initials or a heart on it) at your local stationery store.

How to Write a Love Letter

Now for the hard part, what do you write? If you’re somewhat of a writer, compose a poem. You don’t have to use a strict rhyming style of poetry, you can write a simple poem in free verse. Read some examples of free verse poetry for ideas.

But prose will be just as well-received by your love. There’s just one rule: pour your heart out. Your partner will love this gift from the heart.

A Memory Scrapbook

Scrapbooks can make memorable gifts. The wonderful thing about scrapbooks is that not only can you include photos but also items that spark memories. It can be a beautiful way to bring all your treasured memories together as a keepsake.

Gather Memories for Your Scrapbook

It’s time to dig everything out of that old shoebox of memories. Grab everything you’ve saved, including movie ticket stubs from your first date, a pressed flower from your wedding, airline tickets from your honeymoon, and photos, of course. If virtually everything has been digital since the time you got together with your partner, consider searching your emails and printing off items such as airline tickets and getting digital photos printed professionally.

You don’t have to fit your entire relationship into one scrapbook. If you have a lot of items from a memorable trip, vacation, or period of your relationship. The scrapbook can represent a snapshot of time.

Choose a Scrapbook

You can purchase a scrapbook at your local dollar store, department store, or stationery store. It doesn’t have to be fancy; the best part is what’s inside.

Scrapbooking Materials

You can source many of your scrapbooking materials at the dollar store. Be sure any writing implements you buy (markers, pens) are archival so they don’t fade over time. You’ll also need colorful paper and stickers to decorate each scrapbook page.

Go Completely Digital With Your Scrapbook

If you don’t have many physical items or photos or are running out of time, consider a digital scrapbook instead. Make one automagically with Mixbook.

Write A Love Song

Similar to writing a love letter or poem, writing a love song is another gift from the heart that will make your partner’s heart skip a beat. You’re pouring your heart out and really putting in the effort and using your creative muscles. Imagine handing down the song from generation to generation. If you can sing and/or play an instrument, this is an excellent option for you.

Writing Your Love Song

Start by writing the music or the lyrics – your choice. You can even use existing music; the song doesn’t have to be entirely original. Pour your heart into it. Sing about what you love about your partner, how you met – everything in your heart.

Presenting Your Love Song

To reveal your love song, besides giving your partner a keepsake printed version of the song, consider performing it. You can set the mood with scattered rose petals and mood lighting, such as lit candles, and then launch into your song live in person. Or if you’re nervous about live performances, record your song until you get it perfect and send the video, then present your love with the keepsake paper copy.

Order a Love Song

Love this idea but you don’t have a musical bone in your body? There are businesses that create custom love songs for you. Simply give them the details of who each of you are, how you met, (the details of your relationship), and what type of music you want (rap, pop, country), and they’ll do the rest. Then surprise your partner by playing their very own professionally created single.

If you’re looking for an alternative to these sentimental gifts, Mixbook can help you create photobooks, cards, calendars, canvas prints, or photo prints for the one you love.