The only year I did a "real" Valentine's day thing... I took my then-boyfriend to a really nice restaurant as a surprise (not just "expensive to me at the time," but I would still think it was very expensive today - entrees are $35-50). I did not make a lot of money at the time (~$26k) but I figured treating for one fancy dinner would be fine. We normally split the check on everything so I figured it would be a nice gift-y thing to do, and it would be nice to turn the tables on the usual V-day "men feeling obligated to spend a ton of money on women" tradition. He ordered the most expensive thing on the menu (lobster and filet mignon) and then when I suggested we share a dessert, he said he wanted to have his own :-/ Of course I was gracious about it and said nothing, but dang, if you know your partner doesn't make much money, maybe try to be the tiniest bit thoughtful about what you order... :-( And no, this isn't one of those "and now he's my husband" stories, if you couldn't tell ;-)