Valentine's Day is less than a week away, leaving us little time to save for an extravagant dinner or expensive jewelry; being college students costs enough! Here's the thing I have found: the most thoughtful gifts are almost always the least expensive and offer more memories than any store-bought gift. This day is special for reasons far more than messages on a greeting card—it's a day to show someone how much you care. There are original, memorable ideas everywhere, and here are a few:

For my boyfriend of one and a half years, I know the more personal I make a gift, the more memorable it will be. Because our favorite film is Disney Pixar's Up, for our anniversary last summer I created an "adventure book" filled with every notable thing he and I did together that year. I referenced the film throughout the scrapbook and ended it with a handwritten letter. We look through it nearly every time we're together (if you have not seen Up, shame on you. It created a better love story in ten minutes than Twilight did in four books). For this Valentine's Day, I hand-painted a mini cardboard house to match the one in the film and attached a personal letter and real balloons on the house's chimney, like in the movie, but it cost me less than $5 and took less than a day to make.  In any case, I try to represent special moments we've had together in my gift. If you can inject personality and thoughtfulness into your gift, it will always create the best gift. 

If you want to avoid the crowded scene of a restaurant, try dinner differently; eat together at home. If you two love Italian cuisine, transport your love to another place. Fill the table with tall candles, linen napkins, and food, like spaghetti and meatballs with breadsticks. Serve wine or champagne, dim the lights, and play Frank Sinatra or Nat King Cole, two men who sung everything we need to know about love, in my opinion. And if that's too expensive, try packing dinner in a wooden picnic basket and take it outdoors. Serve your favorite sandwiches on baguette bread, watermelon wedges, soda in glass bottles, and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. Keep a camera nearby and take candid pictures of your night because a captured photograph of a laugh or kiss will last forever. I have always found that a Valentine's Day dinner is the most memorable when it's just you two. As long as you make it personal, you're set. 

In the end, we won't remember expensive chocolates or roses or price tags, not for long, at least. What we'll take with us are the moments that move us, the people who change us. In the end, memories are all we have. So, remember for this Valentine's day that inexpensive gifts are a perfect way to make something unlike any other. And don't forget to watch Up.