Valentine's Day Gifts

With Valentine's Day on the horizon, I've been keeping my eyes and ears open for gift ideas for the three most important people in my life: my husband, daughter, and son. My goal is always to buy them each something that they'll appreciate; something that says that what's important to them is important to me.

But I'm practical to the core. And I hate clutter and things that sit unused. So I'm always challenged by what to give that will meet all those requirements.

Well, here's the plan for this year:

My husband has been singing the praises of a car wash near our house that he loves using. He loves clean cars, and actually enjoys doing the work himself, but he doesn't always have the time and the winter weather can make it even more of a challenge.

This car wash is the kind where they run it through an elaborate "rain tunnel" and the car is then met by the car wash workers who finish the job both inside and out. It's a little bit pricey and I know he feels like it's a luxury he probably shouldn't indulge. His gift from me will be a gift card so he can enjoy the luxury, guilt-free, whenever he's so inclined.

And speaking of cars, my daughter just received her license and has begun driving our family cars on her own. While the increased insurance premiums should be gift enough, I'm not that much of a Valentine's Day Scrooge. My plan is to give her her own copies of the keys to our cars and to put them on a Vera Bradley keychain in her favorite print.

My son is on a swim team and goes through several beach towels each week, year-round. Our supply is getting a little thread-bare. I can even date one of the towels back to when I started college, over 24 years ago! So this week I will look for some new towels, in the coolest "12 year-old boy" styles I can find. Anyone know where I can find a beach towel with a shark on it?

So there's the plan. Practical? Yes. Will they love the gifts? I hope so!