Creative Ways to Say 'I Love You'

Valentine's Day is the ultimate romantic holiday.

It's time to show your special someone how you really feel. You can opt to go to a local drugstore and buy a pretty Happy Valentine's Day card, sign it with lots of X's and O's and present it on February 14th .

You might also want to buy a Valentine's Day gift of a box of candy, sexy lingerie, or a bunch of flowers for your soul mate to show your love. These are all fine ways to celebrate St. Valentine's Day, but they've been done before.

This year you can become creative and romantic by doing something more meaningful for your sweetheart. Even if your love has not yet been reciprocated, you can still let your feelings be known. Be anonymous and keep him or her guessing, or spill the beans and put yourself out there.

Either way, you'll be satisfied and glad that you proclaimed your love on this holiday of romance. "I love you." Those three little words can be conveyed in a multitude of ways. Here are five unique methods to say you care on Valentine's Day.

Write a love letter the old-fashioned way, with pen and ink

Forget about email or texting. Write one long, heartfelt love letter, using your best penmanship, so every word can be understood. State the reasons for your love, recall the day you first met, your first date, or whatever nostalgic secrets the two of you may share.

You can alternately write a few different shorter love notes and leave them scattered about the house if you live together. Let your lover find the notes in places you know he will look. Stuff a note in his underwear drawer, his lunch bag and by his toothbrush, to find at different times throughout the day.

You can mail a romantic letter through the U.S. post office and don't forget to place a few drops of perfume on the paper. Be sure to post the letter the required number of days you expect it will take to get to his mailbox by February 14th .

First thing in the morning surprise

Since we all need to use the bathroom in the morning, why not wake up your sweetheart with love notes on the toilet paper roll? Replace whatever roll of paper is already there with a new roll on which you've written a few choice notes to express your love.

Write with a soft felt tip pen so as not to tear the paper, placing one steamy message on each square. You can also write or draw something on the steamed-up bathroom mirror the evening before. The writing will show through after she has fogged it up again in the morning.

Go straight to his stomach

If your man loves bacon (and what man doesn't?), make him bacon roses for breakfast. Simply roll up each individual slice of uncooked bacon from the widest end to the narrowest as your oven heats to 375 degrees.

Place the bacon on a wire cake-cooling tray fitted on top of a baking tray with sides (so the grease can be caught). As it bakes for 40 minutes, pull artificial roses out of their stems. Skewer your bacon onto those tips and you have a couple of dozen bacon roses for your loved one to enjoy.

Silly love songs

Are you musically creative? If so, why not write an original love song or poem and sing or recite it to your darling after a lovely romantic candlelit dinner? Don't forget to also give her a copy of the song or poem beautifully written or typed out so she can preserve it forever.

The ultimate scrapbook

Since we're writing here, why not go all the way and pen a book about your relationship? This writing isn't going to be a 'tell all' sort of book. Rather, it will be a remembrance of all your important firsts in the relationship: the first date, the first kiss, and how he popped the question. Include photos and keepsakes. It will be a scrapbook that can be continually updated year after year.

Writing, cooking, composing, and scrapbooking are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to celebrating St. Valentine's Day imaginatively and in a way your darling will not soon forget.

Use these ideas to create a special gift or use them to get your own creative juices flowing and come up with a uniquely personal way to say, "I love you" this year.