I know sugar is popular on Valentine’s Day for a reason – probably because sugar = sweet and Valentine’s Day = sweet. But sometimes the recipient of your gifts wants anything but sweets, and that’s okay!
Diverging from the popularity of giving boxes of chocolates full of added sugars can be hard, but not impossible!
By the way, I am in no way saying that you can’t have sugar (I have it every now and then, especially on holidays), but I’m just giving some suggestions that might help you for people that don’t want added sugar.
*Note: Natural Sugar Will Be Included On This List*
The Platter Route
A Heart Shaped Vegetable Platter
Will need: a heart-shaped platter (if wanted), mini heart cookie cutter, vegetables (turned into heart shapes (if possible) with the help of a small heart cookie cutter), toothpicks (if using mini tomatoes)
Vegetable Options (by easy to shape into hearts to not so easy): cucumber, carrots, cherry tomatoes (cut into two, one turned upside down, and a toothpick stuck through it), bell pepper, celery, radishes, broccoli, cauliflower, sugar snap peas
Dip Options: ranch (either pre-made or made with sour cream and ranch seasoning), hummus
A Heart Shaped Fruit Platter
If vegetables aren’t your thing (or your body doesn’t react well to them), there’s always the fruit platter with the same concept, just naturally sweeter options.
Will need: a heart-shaped platter (if wanted), mini heart cookie cutter, fruit (turned into heart shapes (if possible) with the help of a small heart cookie cutter), toothpicks (if wanted for fruit)
Fruit Options (from easy to heart shape, to not so easy): cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, strawberries, grapes (cut into two, one turned upside down, and then toothpicked) pineapple, peach, kiwi, mango, grapefruit, oranges, cherries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries
Dip Options: cream cheese dip, caramel, marshmallow fluff, cool whip
More Platter Options: cheese platter, meat platter, combination platter (multiple options such as meat and cheese, or get interesting with it and throw vegetables and fruit together)
Now, you can just wrap that up with some plastic wrap (or any other kind of wrap that suits you), or put it in a container that is heart-shaped (or any shape).
The Bouquet Route
A Specific Fruit Bouquet
Will Need: food skewers, fruit, container (bin, etc.), dry floral foam (to stick the skewers in)
Types Of Fruit Bouquets: strawberry roses
Fruit Fillers: blueberries (multiple on a skewer), raspberries, blackberries
More Bouquet Ideas: A comic book bouquet (thin comics (in a cover) on dowels with a durable wrapping around them like with real flowers), a thin book bouquet (same construction as comic bouquet), a magazine bouquet (same construction as comic bouquet, but could use wrapping paper since magazines are lighter)
These are just some ideas for the love holiday, and there are so many more that can be listed, but I wouldn’t be able to fit them all in this blog post.
If you want more Valentine’s Day gift ideas that aren’t added sugar based (or any other type of gift ideas), you can put in a suggestion in the Suggest An Idea form!
Wishing you a lovely day today!
