Valentine's Day for my Husband!

I know, I know.. It is SO early to be thinking about this, but I thought of it, and I am just SO ecstatic to get started that I just had to share it with you all.

I am going to build my husband a man cave.

Nothing really fancy. Nothing overly special. It's going to be in the unfinished side of our basement, so I mean, it's going to be nice as I can make it.

My husband just wants a place where he can play his manly video games in peace without having to worry about pausing it every time my daughter walks into the room. My husband works extremely hard to provide for our family, and when he comes home, he deserves a place to hang out that is solely his. My goal is to make as nice, comfortable and manly a place as possible. My other goal is to do this for as inexpensively as possible.

The things that I will definitely need, my first priorities are:

A big screen tv, a stand to put it on, a couch or chair for him to sit on, an extension cord, and a power strip.

Things that are going to be my second priorities, are:

An area rug, a coffee table, a second chair, an additional cable box (I need to call the cable company and see if they can do this and how much it will cost before actually deciding on this), a door knob with a lock and some posters

The things that I would like to acquire if I can, or, my third priorities are:

A small dorm fridge, a game table (like air hockey or pool.. this is really out there at this point as finding one of these cheap will probably be quite difficult.), a case for movies and games, and some other things to decorate the area.


So, acquiring everything and hiding it will be my first project (I have talked to my neighbor, and she's agreed to help me hide things in her house. I am so lucky to have great neighbors! I also messaged a friend of my husband's to see if he'd help me to pick up some of the bigger things. (I really couldn't think of another way to do it without tipping my husband off at all.). My ultimate goal is for him to have absolutely no idea that I'm doing this, so pulling it off is going to be tough.

I want to present it to him by doing a scavenger hunt. I have that all planned out in my head also. (This is all I've been thinking about for two days!)

How do I plan on saving money on all of this? Well, I'm going to try to acquire the television now, because there are a lot of after Christmas and year end sales going on. I am hoping to get at least a 40" TV for around $300.

I am also going to be spending a lot of time in Goodwill, on Craigslist, ebay, and yard sales if I see any to see if I can get the other things I'm looking for, as inexpensively as possible.

If you have any thoughts on my idea, or any additional thoughts for how I can make this the best gift ever, please feel free to comment!