My dh's birthday is in 10 days, and I am financially broke. I know I won't be able to afford to buy him a fancy gift like I used to every year. I am thinking to make a health-friendly cake for the occasion, but I still feel like I need some ideas for a nice surprise that can make him happy, but doesn't cost me much at the same dtime, as I really don't have that much money. I know that flowers are a more suitable surprise or gift for a lady not a guy. But I just can't figure out what can has as nice effect as that of flowers on girls.

• Any helpful ideas would be very much appreciated.
  
• Any menu suggestions for a birthday dinner would be very kindly accepted as well

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Thanks in advance guys.

One time when I was in a similar spot, I went home on my lunch hour and spent the whole time making the house look really good. I cooked a special dinner and rented a movie that I knew he'd like.

Another idea I have used successfully was to plan a trip together (you could just go to a nearby B&B overnight) and then started saving for it afterward. It gave us something to look forward to. An overnight trip could cost less than $100 -- if you make up a special "trip jar" and put spare change and a couple dollars here and there, it wouldn't take you long to have that money. Plan the trip for a couple of months after your baby is born and it will be a nice getaway for you both.

Leslie, Girlscout,
Thank you very much for you ideas, they are very nice and could be done. It looks like I got around my financial rut thanks to your creativity. Thanks again guys.

Unfortunately I kind of waisted 2 days already without starting to plan the menu or the surprises..I've been in bed with a very bad toothache that prevented me from sleeping, eating and even speaking. it was the worst weekend of my life. Couldn't wait for today to get to the dentist who finally gave me preg.-safe antibiotics. I took one pill a while ago and I am going to sleep for the afternoon as the pain is excruciating, and the medication effect won't kick in until tomorrow. (hopefully not later than that). It was horrible, I felt like I was going to lose my mind these past few days.

Again, thanks guys for listening. I do appreciate your wonderful ideas and help.

Myriam - it sounds like you already have some great ideas here. So I'm just going to add one teeny add-on to the "special dinner" plan.

Maybe when you plate that new experimental dish, spice up the presentation some -- like they do at restaurants.

Perhaps add a sprig of herbs to the top, like a garnish. And put some of the sauce in a ziploc with a teeny corner cut off, and pipe some around the edges of the plate in lil swirls n stuff.

Just a little touch ... but it might make it even a little more special. Everyone likes to feel like they are the center of their special someone's world once in a while. I bet he'll love it!

I go through this too Myriam on special occasions. Not only has money been tight for us
in the past, but my husband is very difficult to buy for.

Of course making a dinner with either one of his favorite main courses or a favorite side (or
both) as others have suggested is great. If someone can watch your daughter so it can be a
candlelight one so much the better. And a beautiful card.

Giving him the day to himself (or the option to spend it with you and your daughter doing something HE wants to do is a good one). Also something that I did one year for Valentine's Day was to make little "Gift Certificates" that
I put in his card. These were for "presents" that were more of my time than anything else. Like "This is redeemable for a homemade pancake breakfast" or "A homemade candlelight dinner."

Good luck. I'm sure that anything you do from your heart to make the day special will be most
appreciated by your DH.

Dawn, Sandy, Denise, and Laurie,

Thank you somuch for your wonderful ideas. Things are kind of getting clearer in my head now, I needed the starting points like the ones you all provided, A romantic dinner sounds wonderful and I will try to start planning the different courses for it.
The single rose idea is great as well. I will have to check my grocery store for that, I've seen bouquets over there but not single roses. I might have to ask, maybe they have them in the back. I also like the pampering and spending alone-time-for-us ideas, I will have to try and combine many of your suggestions together as I really do like all of them.
I am not going to be very very picky about the healthy dinner, my cooking is generally not too fatty and my dh loves it, so the menu will have to be something special and delicious. I know my dh's favorite dishes but I also know he loves experimenting with new stuff and he is so ecstatic when I cook a new recipe and make a special plate decoration for it . So I'll have to dig some of my cook books, plus your ideas. Hopefully delivery won't be too soon, and I won't have a chance to do this .

I've been facing the same problem, our 2 year anniversary is Tuesday. One thing I am doing for dh is actually the homework from the other day, can't remeber which one. It was about writing a letter to someone who has supported you throughout your journey. I have been working on this letter all week. Not only from a healthy eating stand point, but for all the little things he does, like fixing me tea when I've had "one of those days". I'm still working on the wording, but i'll either pick up a nice piece of stationary (from the craft store where it's sold loose) or a beautiful blank card.

I will also get a single red rose(the grocery store isn't really expensive). Instead of lighting unity candles or anything like that at our wedding we had a beautiful ceremony where our first gift to each other were single red roses, he also had given me one on our very first date, so it really means more than anything else i could buy.

Dinner will be candlelit at home in the kitchen. I am on vacation so I'm going to really try to "jazz it up". Our meal is going to be swordfish ( something I wouldn't recomend for you right now) he loves rice and I splurged on a lemon tart at Trader Joe's yesterday. All together, dinner card rose, i think $20 will go into the day, though most of that was spent long ago, as almost all my dinner ingredients are in the freezer.

The most inportant part is to spend the day as close to each other as you can. DH and I keep reminding ourselves that everything is fine as long as we have the time together, the stuff is just clutter eventually anyway.

Relax and enjoy the day.

Laurie

I would say a special dinner. I've given flowers to dh and he appreciates it. He is alway in for a 30 min back scratch or back rub.

My husband's idea of the ideal birthday dinner would not be healthy. It would include on veg side with butter sauce and a veg side with cheese sauce. Probably some "real" mac/cheese. And ribs for the main course.

I'd say pick YOUR dh favorite foods. Birthdays come around once a year (unless you have a really large family... then you are eating birthday cake every week...)

Denise

I think that the gift of time for busy parents is always special. I like Dawn's ideas- time with you or time alone to do what he wants.

I think that carrott cake with low fat cream cheese frosting always makes a great celebration cake.

Can you pamper him for the evening? Make him his favorite meal and the cake, your whole family can share in this part. Then after you put your daughter to bed, you could light candles, draw a bubble bath for him, then give him a relaxing massage. You could also rent HIS favorite movie, even if it is one that you HATE(I know I can't stand some of my DH's favorite movies), make some popcorn and watch the movie together. Anything that he would like to do, that you might not normally do.

I think much of the time spending time on our spouse is more appreciated than any gift you could buy.

The other thing I can think of would be along the same lines, but slightly different. (This is something I would like, but don't know if your DH would). You could tell him that he has all day Saturday or all day Sunday to spend the WHOLE day by himself doing whatever he wants without you and your daughter making any demands on his time. If he wants to go out and play golf, or go bowling or to the batting cages or whatever it is he likes to do, you will let him without saying anything other than "enjoy yourself", if he wants to stay at home, you and your daughter go out for the day (I know that might not be feasible for you right now.)

He may even say his ideal day would be to spend the day together as a family, but at least you made the offer and it is his choice.

Good luck,
Dawn