As Valentines Day appraoaches, Voice’s Rhonda Reekie shows us all how easy it is to show your undying love to your partner at the same time as your love for the planet.
Better still make your own card – nothing says ‘I love you’ like a card made out of toilet roll, Pritt stick and stick man drawings (Hey ‘Purple Ronnie’ made a fortune from it!).
Make sure any chocolate you buy for your loved ones is organic and Fair Trade – okay, they are more expensive, but they taste better, and how much are you actually going to eat once you have scraped the melted chocolate off the bedsheets!
Going out for a meal? If you are, then go to a restaurant that serves organic and local produce. Even better and cheaper: stay at home and cook them their favourite meal, then you choose your own music, candles and wine. You may not even make it to the pudding ….. and hey, you can’t do that in a restaurant without getting arrested!
Buying flowers? Tthen buy local flowers in season like daffodils or tulips, not ‘bird of paradise’ flowers from halfway round the globe. It is a good idea to buy a potted plant or even plant a tree or shrub for them – that way every time they see it, it will remind them of your love for them (take care not to let it die though – who wants to remember their love as shrivelled and dried up!).
For the misers out there, there are many free ways to express your devotion on Valentines: how about a hand-made voucher book – you paste in free voucher which can be reclaimed at any point – for instance, to do the dishes, get the shopping, put out the rubbish, feed the cats, etc.
This one is better for blokes, as most women do these things all the time anyway, and I would personally insist my husband’s book included a few free vouchers for cleaning the toilet!
Offer to give a massage or run a bath and fill it full of planet friendly smellies , get in and share it! Write a poem for your beloved – emphasising their goods points; their kindness and their beauty – poems about their cuddly beer bellies, muffin tops or the way they drool when asleep do not go down well, and are not romantic!
Don’t go too far on the cheapness though; if you are planning to propose that day, then make sure the ring has a conflict- free diamond, and don’t do as one of my associates did and offer a sustainable carved wooden ring – needless to say they did not get married – you can go too far!!