Forget flowers, buy the moon

Flowers and candy are synonymous with Valentine's Day. But for many love-struck youngsters, the connection between them is too cliched to work. And they're making sure that this year they step it up, with gifts that are truly out of the box.

Real flowers eventually wilt, and there's nothing romantic about fake ones - at least that's what 22-year-old Raghav Sharma thinks. So for Valentine's Day, he bought his girlfriend a bracelet made of real flowers, preserved to last forever. "I didn't want to express my feelings through something that will eventually die. This way, the flowers will always be with her," he says.

Kshitij didn't want to do anything too dramatic, "It's just not me," he says. But he knew he didn't want his gift to be pedestrian either. "Last year I just bought her flowers, so I wanted this year to be more special," he adds. Sticking to his style, he got some chocolates made for his girlfriend - but each with little notes inside, which you need to arrange to decipher a message.

It's all about gifting something unique - never mind the price. "It's not about splurging or scrimping, but just giving something that will make them smile," says Anandita, a yoga teacher, who has spent days organizing a home-cooked meal for her fiance, with all his favourite childhood dishes.

"Everyone reaches a state of extravagance at some point, and there is a general increase in what people are willing to spend. But ultimately they all want something unique, it doesn't have to be very expensive," says Ruchi Chopra, whose company Any Surprise Any Place has been organizing special gifts since 2007. "Youngsters are getting more innovative with each year. What was a hit last Valentine's Day is passe this year," she says.

Sia Khanna, a media professional, says her boyfriend's dream is to get into real estate and construction. "I wanted to give him something that is not only romantic, but also goes with his ambition," she says. And while it seems tough to link romance to realty, she found a way that also suited her pocket - one that is not only outside the box, but out of this world, too. "I just bought an acre of land on the moon under his name. There's an actual property deed, and a picture of the moon with the area clearly mapped out," she says. To top it all, her boyfriend's "plot" is in the same area as his music idol's, Michael Jackson's.