My fiance, Scott, and I have been dating for 8 years and during that time we’ve formed some traditions that I think everyone could benefit from. Check out a few of them below:
1. Dine IN on Valentine’s Day
Almost everyone dines out for Valentine’s Day making restaurants very crowded and therefore, not very romantic. After few Valentine’s celebrations dining out, Scott and I quickly decided that it would be more special to dine in. We buy nicer ingredients and make a meal that we have never made before. Usually accompanying the main dish are appetizers, dessert, or drinks that we do not usually make every day. This year we wanted to expand our seafood cooking knowledge, so we tried our hands at making crab-stuffed monkfish. It’s always a lot of fun figuring out a new recipe together!
2. Go on an Adventure for Your Birthdays
For each of our birthdays we usually get something for each other in the form of gifts, but we also like surprising each other with an adventure. One of us will plan to explore a new area of our city, whether it’s a neighborhood that we haven’t seen to or a places within a neighborhood that we haven’t yet been. It doesn’t have to be super expensive, but it is fun to surprise your significant other. One year I took Scott out for brunch at a brewery that we had been wanting to go to and then we walked to a topiary garden that he didn’t know was in our city. Another year I made him a “Choose Your Own Adventure” type book with lots of options for new places to try that included a conservatory, restaurants, and bars with live music. Whatever you decide to do, make sure it includes something new!
3. Celebrate Your Halfaversary
I’m not sure how this one started, but we came up with this idea in order to take turns planning celebrations so it didn’t fall on one person’s shoulders. Scott always plans what we do to celebrate our anniversary and I always plan our halfaversary 6 months later. It also allows us to take advantage of celebrating during two separate seasons as well!
4. Try a New Activity on your Anniversary
When we do celebrate either our anniversary or halfaversary, we include some sort of new activity. This could include hiking, ziplining, kayaking, geocaching, taking a cooking class, etc. Sometimes this also includes a weekend trip to get away and relax. It’s always nice to try something new and grow together.
5. Exchange Stockings for Christmas
It can be hard to buy each other gifts when many times we buy things as we need them. We do buy each other gifts for our birthdays, but to do something different on Christmas (if you celebrate) you could just exchange stockings. It’s really fun to get small gifts for each other and to find things that are useful or delicious. It’s also fun to see our stockings grow in size as they are filled leading up to Christmas. It really builds the anticipation!
If you start doing any of these traditions or already do, please let me know! If you have others that you’d like to share, comment below. I’d love to hear them.
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