20 ways to pamper your lover without spending a fortune

• Give them a foot rub. Use a lotion (Body Shop's peppermint foot lotion is perfect but any body lotion works nicely) Take your time.
• Bake them a cake, for no reason.(Or biscotti if they are worried about their weight)
• Run them a deep bubble bath. Talk to them while they bathe, and be waiting with a warm fluffy towel when they get out.
• Write them a poem, if you can write well. (Be ruthlessly critical -- if your poetry sucks, give them a love poem by a good poet such as the lover wishes for the cloths of heaven). Format it nicely, print it on good paper, and tie it with a ribbon.
• Wash their back in the shower.
• Cut a flower from the garden and leave it on the pillow. (Especially nice if you change the sheets and stuff first).
• Dress up, just for them, occasionally.
• Serve an ordinary dinner with candlelight and soft music. Even beans on toast is special by candlelight.
• Slip an 'I love you' note in with their lunch, or into their pocket before they go to work.
• For their birthday, or valentines, cut out some paper hearts and, while they sleep, leave a trail of hearts from the bed to their present or card.
• When you go away, let them know you are thinking of them. Schedule an e-card to be delivered every day till you get home, or if they don't have e-mail, write some of those free postcards you get in cafes and have a neighbour pop one in the mailbox every day.
• Come up behind them, and kiss the back of their neck.
• Call when you know they'll be out and leave a loving voicemail message, or send them an SMS.
• Save them your last Rolo.
• Write "I love you" in their mashed potato as you serve it.
• Wash and/or brush their hair.
• Choose a day when they are really tired and wait on them hand and foot.
• Stroke their face, in passing.
• Make them a birthday/anniversary/valentine card, rather than buying one.
• Forget about noding for a whole day, and give them your undivided attention.

From what I've seen, women tend to pamper their men in small but countless ways. The guys tend to just bluster their way through the day and not notice the little things that she does. I think that the list presented by Demeter is a nice way for men to repay those little kindnesses. The guys will feel like they've "done something" for someone they love, where the gals already know that they do things daily and don't necessarily have to go through a big production.

In response to Azure Monk's writeup, I would suggest that you never use sex as a payment or as a way to pamper someone. Hopefully, your sex life is mutually fulfilling and prolific. Do something extraordinary. For example, I gave my wife three "cuddle cards" this year on January 1st. They entitle her to have me stop whatever I'm doing, have the kids sequestered away from her, have me make cappucchino, and have me spend time with her with no outside interference. These can be used to trump my "this is important, and I need to do this" mindset, like when I'm reformatting a hard drive or playing a video game with my oldest daughter.

This is a generic note, and it may not apply to you. I know a few guys who try to "do something" daily, and if this applies to you, you should have a happy relationship.