Part 1: Planning and Preparation

Part 2: A Romantic Atmosphere

Planning and Preparation

Impress Her With an Invitation
Send an invitation to your sweetheart instead of calling them up and inviting them over the phone. Create this by hand with a fancy piece of stationary or a blank card. Be sure to include the date, time, location and dress code. You may be tempted to surprise your honey by not telling him or her what you have planned, but that could spell disaster. If they don’t expect food to be served they may eat a full meal before meeting you. So make sure they know that this night will include dinner.

The Secret to Choosing What to Make
Instead of consulting “romantic meal” menus when deciding what to cook, ask your partner what his or her favorite meals are. It doesn’t matter how much of an aphrodisiac oysters are, if your sweetheart doesn’t like oysters, your plan won’t work. Once you find out what their favorite meals are you can search the Internet to find the recipe. Try cooking.com, they test all their recipes and usually include a picture. If her favorite meal is a childhood favorite, call her mother for the recipe. Keep in mind that preparing their favorite meal will score you more points than a recipe randomly chosen out of a book.

What To Wear
Dress to impress. If the room, the table and the meal is going to be fancy shouldn’t your attire also fit the bill? Tell your sweatheart to wear something extra nice (such as a skirt, a cocktail dress, a suit, khakis and a sweater).

More Food Tips
Plan ahead so that everything on your plate is ready to be served at once. Jumping up throughout the meal to stir your vegetables just isn’t romantic.

If you will be serving a dessert, we suggest preparing it earlier in the day so that it will be ready to eat whenever the meal is over.

Wine is a traditional compliment to a romantic dinner…but not everyone drinks wine. Optionally replace it with cider or an immitation wine that is alcohol free. These can be found in the grocery store and in some liquor stores, they are usually quite nice.

Finally, cooking together isn’t all that unromantic. Imagine kissing your partner’s neck while they chop veggies, hugging him from behind while he stirs the pasta and stealing kisses during idle time. Throw in some mood music and great conversation…now cooking together doesn’t sound too bad does it? For a really special occasion, such as Valentine’s Day or an Anniversary I would stick with you serving and pampering her and nix on this idea.

A Romantic Atmosphere

• String white christmas lights wherever you can: along the fireplace, around a door or window frame…but don’t string them around something you don’t want to draw attention to, such as the kitchen cupboards, a cluttered shelf, etc.
• If your romantic dinner has to take place while it is still light out, cover your windows with black bags and close the blinds so that no light will seep through.
• Use candles, but avoid the scented kind so as not to overwhelm the wonderful aromas of your meal.
• Have music playing softly in the background. Have a few CD’s preprogammed into your stereo, or set out so you don’t have to riffle through your collection when one finishes playing.
• Set up the table in the most romantic room of your house. Often this is not the kitchen, not to mention that looking at all those dirty pots and pans can be distracting. Your first choice should be in front of the fireplace if you have one.
• Use your nicest dishes.
• Use fabric napkins if possible, and make sure they are free of stains. For a nice added touch, roll each napkin losely, put a small rose on top of it then tie them together with a piece of ribbon.
• Turn off the phone, cellphone and pager.
• Use a clean table cloth and sprinkle it with rose petals or heart shaped confetti.
• Fill two wine glasses almost to the top with water and place a floating candle on top. This makes a nice table decoration
• If you think your after dinner plans may end up in the bedroom then have it prepped with rose petals on the bed, unlit candles by the bed with matches within reach, white Christmas lights strung along the bed posts. And make sure the bedroom is clean and there are fresh sheets on the bed.

Why are mini love letters effective? Well, if you think about it, mini love letters are a multi-billion dollar industry already ? your greeting cards are mini love letters! Notice how many words or phrases are there in the cards which you will easily pay $3 dollars to as much as $15 per card? Those cards are mini love letters written for you and you just have to pick one out. Although, it is a nice gesture, the problem with those is that your recipient knows that you bought it. So, the best mini love letters are those that come from your thoughts, your heart and those you created yourself. If you use a very unconventional medium, the mini love letter becomes even more pleasurable to the recipient. With an unconventional medium, your mini love letters ?reeks of effort? which will automatically radiate from it, and the recipient will recognize that instantly.

The best type of mini love letters must invoke positive emotion. Of course mini love letters can be used to express apology or regret but never to express disappointment or anger. So, two pointers in writing a mini love letter are:

• The best one is those thought up by yourself,
• It must be funny, romantic, a positive thought.

There is an easier way to write mini love letters i.e. to take some hints from other well written ones. But a word of caution, never copy it wholesale. The recipient will know and sometimes can become damaging. Even if the mini love letter turns out not very well written, you mini love letter will ?reek of effort?, which is more important than the actual words itself. If you chose to copy the words, state where you get it and it will better. Honesty is the best policy here.

Before you go and find some ideas, think about your feelings which you want to express. There may be several, pick one or two which you like to express now. By narrowing down your wants, it will make your search a little easier. Then look at places where you can get some ideas and here are some sample places where you can get some interesting ideas.

• Greeting cards.
• Poems
• Songs
• Famous sayings (be sure that you cite the author, if taken wholesale)
• Samples letters
• Love story books
• Love websites.
• Books especially those that deal with relationships.
• Book titles.

Pick out a few sentences from a variety of sources which express your feelings. You then have to rewrite them in your own words. Take out phrases from those sentences and combine them and play around with them until the final mini love letter expresses what you feel.

The final part is the most important ? where to write them. Traditionally and conventionally, you would write them on a card or a piece of paper. Even on a card or a piece of paper, you can make it your very own to ?reek of effort?. Another very interesting thought is why not write it on unconventional medium?

I have a small artificial Christmas tree that fits perfectly on the nightstand in my bedroom. I decorate it with tiny white lights (great mood lighting at night!) and hang 12 small pieces of paper that are rolled up and tied with a piece of gold ribbon. On each piece of paper I write a special message such as “one back rub” or “one long kiss” (you get the idea!).

My husband gets to take one message off the tree each night for the 12 nights before Christmas. I find that this is a great way to stay connected during the rush and stress of the season and reminds us to take a few moments to enjoy each other. You can get REAL creative with the messages and have a lot of fun redeeming them!!

This year I’ve included a couple small wrapped items for under the tree…a small bottle of oil and a scented candle are a couple of the things I’ve tucked under there. When my husband takes a message off the tree that says “pick a gift” he will have several to choose from.

Editor’s Note: we have 50 pre-written love vouchers and coupons that you can print right now if you’re not feeling very creative.

1984 – Submitted by: Tricia Shoup

My husband and I have been married for 17years. He is a retired Navy man. The first year we were married, he was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia. We desperately wanted to go home to Ohio for the holidays to be with family. Needless to say, money was very tight, but I really wanted to buy him something special for our first xmas together. I decided to buy him a Christmas ornament. It’s a typical round ball style ornament, that says “Our First Christmas Together 1984″. Each year since then, I have bought him a new Christmas ornament. Over the years, the ornaments have reflected what was going on in our lives or special interest to him. The birth of our daughters, his years in the military, to his love of golf.

After the tree is put up and the lights are on it, we begin the task of putting the ornaments on the tree. The first ornament is always that first one from 1984! Then we proceed to put the rest of the ornaments on the tree in the order in which he received them.

Someday the ornaments will be a testament for our children and grandchildren, of the love I have always had for my husband and our lives together.

RED, WHITE, BLUE & GREEN – Submitted by: Rhonda Tharpe

My boyfriend is a member of the Air Force Reserves who was deployed overseas for active military duty following the events of 9/11. Knowing we would not be able to share Christmas together, I purchased a small artificial tree and trimmed it with red lights, red, white and blue ornaments and garlands of blue and silver stars and placed another large silver star on top.
I covered the remaining areas of the tree with many small American Flags and covered the base with a stars and stripes fabric. I wrapped my boyfriend’s gifts with patriotic wrapping paper and placed them underneath the tree.

When the tree was completed, I took photographs and e-mailed them to him as well as including copies in his Christmas care package. Both the e-mail and a card in the care package told him the tree would stay up until he returned home. I also told him that every time I look at the tree I am reminded of how proud I am of him for being the kind of man to willingly serve his country so that we Americans can have the freedom to celebrate.

Image used with permission by FreeFoto.com

It is easy to come up with codes. You can use the standard 1=A, 2=B, 3=C, etc. or you can come up with a completely different code using letters, numbers or symbols of your own creation. If the code is simple enough, you may want to let your sweetheart try to solve it on their own or for a complicated code, you might want to send the key to the code at a different time.

You can mail the coded message, fax it to him or her at work (the co-workers will be so envious) or place it in a book she is reading. You may want to cut out letters from magazines or newspapers to address the letter or fax so she won’t recognize your handwriting. Watch out 007!

Visit our sister site, RomanticPrintables.com to download the print the Sex Coupons right now.

Printable Sex Coupons >

A Random Act of Affection is just that, being affectionate towards your partner for no reason and at completely spontaneous times. Why should cuddling and kissing be limited to certain situations, such as after sex or while watching a movie? Maybe some of you reading this are in a new relationship and still in the “Can’t keep your hands off each other” phase. Well, when all the newness dies down there is really no excuse for nolonger being affectionate with your love on a regular basis. How much time does it take to kiss your sweetheart on the back of the neck while they are cooking supper, for example?

I guarantee that your partner will love receiving your Random Acts of Affection, it may even inspire them to start sending some your way. When you are affectionate with your partner on a regular basis you are setting the overall tone of your relationship to be more positive and intimate. Instead of time making you more and more like two roomates, Random Acts of Affection help insure that you will always be two lovers.

Below are some excellent Random Acts of Affection you can try on your love.

• Hug your partner from behind while they are brushing their teeth, washing the dishes or making supper.
• Take your partner’s hand while walking together
• Play slow music and ask your spouse to dance
• While your partner is seated to talk on the phone or read a book walk by and stop to kiss him or her on the forehead
• Share a full mouth kiss with your love as soon as you walk in the door and whenever you leave
• Sneak up on your love and nuzzle your face in their hair or neck
• Run fingers through your love’s hair, or rest your hand on his/her back while waiting in a long line up.
• Hold hands across the table while eating dinner
• Rest your head on his chest while watching a movie (even if it is a movie theatre)
• Hold hands while driving together
• Soothingly rub your love’s leg while sitting beside him or her
• Place your hand on the small of her back while walking
• Enthusiastically hug her from the side and plant a kiss on her cheek for no reason
• Caress your partner’s face or arms while talking
• Invade your partner’s side of the bed for some cuddling tonight before falling asleep
• Offer to brush her hair
• Offer to shave his face
• Touch your partner in some way every time you walk by them. It could be a hand brushing across the shoulder or back, grasping their hand then letting it slide away, tosselling their hair or a quick kiss.
• Cuddle up to your love while they are watching TV
• Watch your love while they are reading the newspaper or otherwise engaged in concentration, when they look up and make eye contact smile and say “I love you”, or “You are so beautiful”.
• When she puts on a new outfit that you like be sure to admire her with your eyes, say “Wow”, then take her hand and twirl her around playfully. Finish it off with a kiss.
• Gather her up in your arms and hug for no reason other than you because love her so much

Editor’s note: RomanticPrintables.com has tons of love coupons and notes that you can print and give to the one you love…check it out!