Valentine’s Day Fun on Any Budget

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, we’ve got you covered whether you’re single, taken, cash-strapped or a big spender.

You & the Boyfriend
Free: With exams, club meetings, and jobs, college life can get hectic.  Take a night to just relax with your significant other.  Raid the fridge and whip something up tasty together.  Curl up on the couch and pop in a movie or bring out the board-games.  
$1-$15:  Check out the live music scene in the Maintenance Shop at Memorial Union.  February 12, The Blend with Lazlo Supreme.  February 13, House of Heroes.  And February 14, Ingram Hill with Jerad Finck and Chamberlin.  Cost ranges from $5-$10.  
$15-$25:  Grab a bite to eat at your favorite Ames restaurant and then head up to North Grand Mall for a dollar movie or two.  (You know that movie that came out a few months ago, but you missed it because of exams?  Well, it’s playing!)
$25+:  Sign up for Argentine Tango dance classes with Valerie Williams.  The five lessons take place at the MU and cost $30 for ISU students.  
Splurge: Go all out for a night out on the town.  Get him into a suit, slip into your LBD, dine at the swankiest restaurant you can find and end your night with a fancy bottle of bubbly.

You & Your Girlfriends
Free:  Invite your girls over and have them bring any jewelry, accessories and purses that they don’t want anymore. Then swap.  Who knows? Maybe you’ll end up with that gorgeous floral scarf that you’ve been eyeing on your bestie.
$1-$15:  For $13, go see “The Vagina Monologues” at the Maintenance Shop.  V-Day is a worldwide movement to violence against women and girls.
$15-$25:  Hit up Praire Moon Winery with your closest gal pals for a wine-tasting.  Then purchase a bottle of whatever you liked best.
$25+:  Make the weekend about your girls instead of about boys!  Get all dolled up and head downtown or to Welch to paint the town red.  
Splurge:  Indulge in a little beginning-of-the-semester retail therapy.  

Self-Indulgence
Free: Is there something you’ve been longing to do but haven’t gotten around to doing?  Re-arranging your furniture?  Scrapbooking those photos of last summer break?  Curling up on your couch to finally finish the novel you’ve been reading for three months?  Take a day and do whatever you want.
$1-$15:  Entertain yourself.  Pick up the latest issues of your favorite magazines or pay the local Redbox a visit.  But before heading home, stop by Temptations on Main and personally pick out some delish chocolates to enjoy with the newest Cosmo.
$15-$25:  For $23, learn to embroider at MU Workspace. Your cost covers supplies and a tote, which you’ll embroider with fabulous designs and take home at the end of the night!
$25+:  What better way to pamper yourself than to get a make-over?  Call your favorite salon and book yourself for the works—hair, nails, facial, massage, you-name-it!  
Splurge: Invest in a brand new camera and then take the Black and White Photography lesson at the MU workspace.  For $73, you can learn all about camera use, exposure control, and dark room techniques.