Happy Birthday on a Budget

So, how do you celebrate your husband's birthday without blowing the gazelle intense budget that you've both agreed to??? You get mighty creative --- that's how.

First, I started the morning by sneaking "Happy Birthday" into every snippet of our morning phone chat that I could --- I probably said "Happy Birthday" seventy-five times in a ten minute chat.  It was obnoxious, but cute.   It also made it really, really clear that I was onto his birthday and it wasn't going to pass by without notice!!

Dinnertime!!  Using my free shopping techniques, I scored some cheese, baking potatoes, and cake mix at super low prices (nearly free!!) and used some of the savings in my shopping budget to score an inexpensive steak and some asparagus.  The menu??

• broiled steak
• potatoes au gratin in little french au gratin dishes (pretty and a little bit fancy)
• roasted asparagus
• homemade birthday cupcakes in flower cake molds with buttercream frosting YUM
• Champagne (someone had given a small bottle to me around Christmas time -- this seemed the perfect time to use it)

I picked up a card using ECBs at CVS (don't you love a sentence with more acronyms than actual words??)  and a small present (I'm not giving away ALL of my secrets!!)  Voila -- a fun and celebratory birthday without blowing the gazelle budget!!  

I'm happy.  He's happy ---- Happy Birthday!!