Write a Love Letter

Have tissues on hand, there is no better way to let your valentine know how cherished, loved and appreciated they are. Not sure what to say, where to start or even how to write a love letter? We have advice to get past writer’s block here: How to Write a Love Letter in 6 Easy Steps and here: Spice Up Your Love Letters. Still staring at a blank piece of paper? Writing a list of things you love about your partner is also incredibly sweet, but a little easier. :)

Cook for Your Valentine

This gift of time and thought is priceless. Don’t worry, we won’t leave you clueless, everything you need to plan and prepare a romantic dinner is right here.

Pamper Her

She’ll love this, especially if she’s stressed, overworked or a mom. A few days in advance send her an invitation to an evening of pampering. If you have kids, make sure they’re out of the house and let her know in the invite that ‘the kids will be at their grandparents’. Start with takeout from her favorite restaurant shared over candlelight, draw a bubble bath and indulge together with candles and soft music, massage her back and shoulders then cuddle up on the couch to a movie you know she wants to see. Betcha wouldn’t guess that in a GetRomantic.com poll, cuddling was rated as the most romantic gesture.

Lavish Him with Appreciation

John Gray, in his bestselling book “Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus”, tells women that appreciation is one of the primary love needs of men. Gray explains that “[w]hen a man is appreciated he knows his effort is not wasted and is thus encouraged to give more”. So let’s lavish some heavy duty appreciation on our boyfriends and husbands this Valentine’s Day. Try this: cut smallish heart shapes out of colored construction paper and on each heart write something you appreciate about him, something he does that makes your life easier, something about the essence of who he is that you couldn’t live without, then fold the heart in half. Place all the hearts in a decorated jar or nice box and give it to him on Valentine’s Day.

Say “I Love You” Extravagantly

You’re probably thinking, “That’s it?”. Well, not quite…notice I used the word extravagantly? I’m talking about finding a creative way to say those three little words on Valentine’s Day. For example, you could write ‘I love you’ on an entire pad of Post-It notes then cover his/her desk, car, front door, bathroom mirror or bedroom wall with the notes. If the weather permits it, you could also buy a box of sidewalk chalk at the dollar store and decorate your walkway or driveway with a BIG red heart and “I love you”. How about dedicating a song to your wife or girlfriend on the radio and asking the DJ to say a special message (ex. “This next song goes out to Tanya P. from Tom W”). If you live somewhere warm you could carve it in the sand, on a tree or mow it in the lawn. If you live where there’s snow, fill a bottle with cold water and red food coloring and write a giant “I Love You” message on the front lawn (it won’t last more than a couple hours though). Have kids? Use their toy blocks to write your message on the floor near your bedroom so your husband sees it when he gets up. Lipstick on a mirror also works well.

Breakfast in Bed

Enjoy Valentine’s Day being on a Saturday this year and romance your love with breakfast in bed. We have a step-by-step guide and delicious, but easy, recipes here.

Fireside Romance

If you have a fireplace it’s easy to create romance right in your home. Start a fire and camp out in front of it. Serve a picnic of wine or imitation wine, strawberries with melted chocolate or Nutella, crackers, bread and an assortment of cheese, or roast marshmellows and make smores. Once you’ve finished with your picnic you can curl up right there with pillows and soft blankets.

The Story of Us…In Pictures

If you like being creative and have a good collection of pictures taken throughout your relationship this idea will work. Use a photo album or scrapbook to create a history of your relationship in pictures. Start with pictures taken when you first started dating, advance through your relationship: vacations, the engagement, the wedding day, your honeymoon, your first child and so on. Use captions to tell the story in as much or little detail as you like. Optionally, decorate the pages with hand written notes and stickers (you can buy these in any craft store’s scrapbooking section).

Love Coupon Booklet

Create a booklet of love coupons that your sweetheart can redeem with you for things like: a no strings attached massage, you as her handyman for an afternoon, a heart-to-heart talk, 15 minutes of whatever you want or a back scratch. Write the coupons out on receipt book size pieces of paper and staple them together into a booklet. Get the picture? – this is a gift that keeps on giving! If you want to save time or are not feeling very creative you can buy prewritten printable love coupons from our sister site RomanticPrintables.com.

Your Practical Valentine

If your wife or girlfriend is the practical type and you know she would find many of the ideas above quite corny, she may feel totally romanced by something more practical. Try this, give her a cute card with a homemade coupon inside redeemable for “me as your handyman for the day”. Valentine’s Day is a Sunday this year, so that’ll give you more time to do some favors around the house…cleaning, fixing, whatever she wants. Just be sure she is the practical type or you could end up in the dog house! Hint, if you have to really think about it, she’s probably not. :)

Listen When they “Oooh and Ahhhh”

Anytime you are shopping or window shopping with this person pay attention to the things they take notice of…”wow, I’ve love to have one of those”, “mmmmm, these candles smell delicious”, or “That is a beautiful picture”. When your sweetheart comments on something he/she likes, take notice of what it is, where it is, and if it comes in a variety of shapes, sizes or scents, casually ask which they prefer. Stock these little hints in your memory or write them down so you will have them when needed. This is the most thoughtful way to give a gift, it shows that you were listening, that you pay attention and that you care.

Get to Really Know the Person

I think it’s safe to say that almost everyone has a passion of some sort. Find out what your partner’s passions are. Is he a Star Trek junky, does she love romance novels, does he collect beer mugs, is he a coffee lover? Knowing about the person you are buying for gives you somewhere to start. You can’t go wrong in buying a book lover a new book (just try to get something new so they haven’t already read it), or putting together an assortment of coffee for the coffee lover. It is also wise to find out what their favorite things are: color, chocolates, movies, CDs, scents, authors, etc. Knowing this comes in handy when gift shopping because you can get them something related to one of their favorites. A copy of their favorite movie, candles in their favorite scent, a book by their favorite author.

I leave you with this final thought: There is a big difference between giving someone a box of chocolates because “everyone likes chocolates”, and giving someone a box of specialty chocolates because you know they go nuts over that kind.

When I was young (elementary school) I had a male next door neighbor who I spent a lot of time with. Well, one of his chores was mowing the lawn, he had a big back yard that was flat and full of lush, green, grass. I remember going over there one day and he had just finished mowing the lawn, he had a very proud look on his face and brought me up to his bedroom (on the second floor of the house) to look out his window. When I looked out that window, in big letters I saw the word: “BRENT”. He was very proud of his accomplishment of mowing his name in the lawn…maybe when he gets married he will think of better messages to mow. :)

Carve it in the Sand

Someone I know did this for his girlfriend. They live together in a house overlooking a long, sandy beach. One morning while she was sleeping, and the tide was out, he used a big stick to carve the words “I Love you Anna” in huge letters in the sand. The letters were so deep that they ended up staying there for several days even after the tide had washed over them many times. Needless to say, she did a lot of gushing over her boyfriend’s loving gesture. *Note: This could work in snow as well.

Leave your Mark on Rocks

Do you know the route your partner takes to work or school everyday? If you don’t, you will want to find out in a very unsuspicious way.

When you get some time alone, walk or drive that route and look for large rock faces along the side of the road, or cement embankments/pillars.

The next step is to go out early in the morning or late at night with a piece of sidewalk chalk and write a message on the rocks or cement in large letters (it will wash off the next time it rains).

Post it the Classifieds

This is an EXCELLENT idea if your partner reads the classified, think of how surprised they would be to see their name and look closer to realize that you had posted an ad in the personal section declaring your love.

Say it with Stars

Surprise your mate by sticking glow in the dark stars on his or her ceiling, just over their bed. The stars can be arranged to spell “I Love You”. Your partner should not notice them until they turn off the lights to go to bed…what a surprise that will be!

Say it on the Radio

Most radio stations will let you dedicate a song to someone, so why not take advantage of this. Plan it so that the radio station will play the dedication at a time when your love will be listening to the radio (ex. on their way to work). Pick a song that is meaningful to your rleationship and ask the DJ to say a special message, ie: “This next song goes out to Tracy P from Tom W”

Let Your Light Shine

This requires that you have a mid to large size window in your house/apartment that your sweetheart will see when they come home from a night out. Have large black garbage bags on hand and cut slits down either side so they can fold open. When folded open these bags will form a banner covering your window, so prepare enough to be roughly the same size as the window. Tape the bags together securely and make sure the final, very large black piece of plastic, will cover your window.

This will be your banner and on it you will need to cut out the letters:

Next, pin the banner to the inside of the window, as close to the glass as possible. Make sure your window has no obstructions in front or behind the banner (such as chimes, ladice or curtains). The banner should be facing so that the words can be read from the outside.

The final touch is to switch on the lights in the room containing the window and as soon as it gets dark outside the light from inside will shine through the letters and light up your message!

Grab Their Attention

If your sweetie reads the newspaper, or some magazine, get ahold of it before they have a chance to read it. Find a page they are likely to read (such as the sport’s section or funnies). On that page write in big letters: “I Love You (insert their name here)!”.

Write it On the Sidewalk

Buy a box of multi-colored, sidewalk chalk. Draw a BIG heart in red and write “I love you” in the middle. Make sure it’s in a prominent place on the driveway so when your partner comes home he or she will see it. (submitted by Larry James)

Post-It

Write “I Love You” on an entire pad of Post-It notes. Cover his/her desk, bedroom walls, bathroom mirror, front door or car with the notes.

• Give him a big hug and tell him how great he is!
• I do little things for her…send a card, leave a voicemail, tell her I love her.
• I take her on a getaway. Just us for one or two days. No kids, no cell phones, just us.
• My husband is not a “hide-his-feelings” kind of a guy, so it’s easy for me to sense when something is bothering him. I usually start him a hot shower as soon as he gets home from work. I wait about five minutes after he gets in, (they need some alone time too!) and then I climb into the tub with him. I scrub him down with my “girlie” scrubbies and massage the heck out his scalp while shampooing.
• I put on some music like Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley or even David Bowie, and I will start dancing. Sometimes I will take the big inflatable green alien and start dancing with it to make him laugh until he cuts in and dances with me. If that doesn’t cheer him up, I just put on Jerry Maguire and make popcorn and he’ll perk right up.
• I send him love notes in the mail to let him know that I’m thinking about him.
• When something is bothering my boyfriend I snuggle up to him, tell him how much I love him, run my fingers through his hair, caress his arms, back and shoulders and wrap my arms around him.

• P.S. ‘I Love You’
• Penelope
• Something New
• The Notebook
• Fever Pitch
• Jersey Girl
• The Truth about Cats and Dogs
• Return to Me
• Ever After: A Cinderella Story
• Here on Earth
• Dirty Dancing
• Pretty Woman
• You’ve Got Mail
• Titanic
• Ghost
• Sleepless in Seattle
• 10 Things I Hate About You (the title doesn’t imply romance but there is actually a very sweet lovestory as one of the main plots in this movie.)

Men, this is good news…you don’t have to do something big or extravagant to romance your partner. You don’t have to exert a lot of effort to make her happy. Even better news…your partner will be most fulfilled by the things you do that don’t require a lot of effort, planning, or money!

These things are called “little things”, and they can be a man’s best friend. “Little things” are just that…little and rather simple things that YOU do for HER. Despite the fact that they are “little” they mean so much to women and are crucial in ensuring that she be fulfilled in your relationship or marriage. And…when she’s happy you’re happy, so it’s a win win situation.

Author John Gray, addressed this in his book, “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus“: “…imagine that women have a love tank similar to the gas tank of a car. It needs to be filled over and over again. Doing many little things…is the secret for filling a woman’s lovetank. A women feels loved when her love tank is full”.

Considering the importance of little things I’ve composed a list of my own ideas for men to express love and affection to their partners…and create romance. Go ahead, pick one right now and go try it on your partner. The results will be positive.

• When she gets home from work, or wherever, ask her about her day and listen while she talks. Extra points if she complains about a bad day and you reply sympathetically and ask her to tell you more!
• Tell her how beautiful she is
• Give her a hug for no reason
• Pick her a bouquet of wild flowers
• Massage her back and/or feet after she’s had a hard day at work
• Leave an “I love you” note for her to find
• Call her from work (or where ever) to tell her you were thinking about her
• When you are going to be late getting home or meeting her, call to tell her. It is very inconsiderate to make her wait without calling.
• Say “I love you”… a lot
• When someone calls for her (on the phone), and she isn’t home, neatly write her a message
• Compliment her: the way she looks, her hair, her smile, her voice, her eyes, her sense of humor, her intelligence, something she has achieved, something she is proud of doing, etc.
• Hold her hand in public

There are a lot of things that others find romantic but I consider corny and overdone…and then there are the things that give me that warm fuzzy feeling. How unfortunate it would be if my partner didn’t know what I liked best.

Do you know what you like best? The type of romantic gestures that you love to receive may seem silly to your partner, and the type that seem trivial and overstated to you could be exactly what your partner is craving.

This is something I highly recommend discussing with your partner. It could save you from welcoming him or her home with a room full of balloons when they’d much rather a smile and kiss.

For those who like little things here’s a list of ideas to try.