100 Ways to be Romantic | A dummies guide to being romantic

Let’s give a helping hand to the couples that want to show their partner that they love them. We’ve just started our list of 100 Ways to Be Romantic. Check out what we’ve come up with so far - and if you have great ideas to share then just let us know and help out romantics around the world.

1. The obvious one - buy some flowers. But do it properly – make them your partner’s favourite colour, hide a note inside, buy them just to tell them how much you like them, and present them what your partner is least expecting it.
2. Buy some chocolates – but again, the ones your partner likes. Leave them in their office desk drawer as a surprise, or the glove compartment of their car.
3. Take them on a romantic retreat. A little break just for two. We’ve got hundreds of luxury cottages for couples – from cute thatched retreats in the romantic Cotswolds, to wild and sublime getaways in the north coasts of Scotland.
4. Go on a long walk. This one is so easy, but just getting out of the house can be a great way to blow away the cobwebs and spend some time together.
5. Make a meal for them. Something you’ve never made for them before – from scratch. We like Nigel Slater’s recipes. Or Hugh. To be fair, we just like good food.
6. Declare tonight a film night. Watch one of the old classics. Brief Encounter, why not?
7. Write them a heartfelt letter. This has got to be one of the most romantic things you can do. Tell them why they are valuable, what they’ve done for you, how you feel about them.
8. Take them dancing. Deep down I think everyone loves to dance. Make it a classy affair, no dodgy nightclub RnB. It doesn’t matter if you are both hopeless. Go salsa, try one dance, shuffle, and you can spend the rest of the night laughing about it together.
9. Invite your friends round. There’s something very heart-warming about a get together. Generosity brings out the best in everyone, and being generous together like this will remind you what it is to be a team.
10. Ask how you can help. Their problems are your problems now, and even just reminding them of this can be a huge support. This is quietly romantic – and they won’t forget it.
11. Pull them outdoors in the rain and kiss them in the downpour. It’s massively cliché, but Breakfast at Tiffany’s is worth a repeat. And your partner will think it’s amazing, even if they tell all their friends that you have clearly lost your mind.
12. Zip off to another city. Set off early, wander around lost, sit in cafes together, ask a local for the best little bistro spot for lunch, potter, and come back home the scenic route.
13. Put on their favourite music. It’s a small gesture but it’s cute.
14. Get in all the bits you need for a long lazy weekend breakfast. Croissant, anyone?
15. Do all the housework for a week. Don’t make a big thing out of it, don’t even tell them, just get it done and give them a break.
16. Tickle them. Just be careful they aren’t holding a hot cup of coffee first.
17. Take them swimming. Okay it doesn’t sound all that romantic to be in a chlorinated pool – so you get high marks for this one if it’s in the sea – but it’s a good way to remember how to play about together.
18. Go on a picnic.
19. Show them your favourite view.
20. Tell them your favourite physical feature. Do they have big brown eyes, have they got the tiniest feet, strong arms, milky skin? If you don’t tell them, they will never know.
21. Find out who their favourite band is and snap up some gig tickets. We very much approve of this one.
22. Go for a drive. Somewhere scenic, maybe somewhere you’ve never been before. Head off and don’t look back.
23. Make them the world’s best sandwich. I’m talking absolute perfection - rainbow salad, pastrami, avocado, nut bread, roast onion chutney - go on. It’s the small things.
24. Fill the front room with candles. Obviously you’re going to have to keep an eye on the place - we don’t want the blame for aromantic suburban inferno. But candlelight is beautiful.
25. Hold their hand! One of the oldest and cutest expressions of love.
26. Go to the coast. The sea is romantic. Fact. We love the sea.
27. Take them back to the place you first met. Okay maybe this one doesn’t work if you met them at a sewage works - but for everyone else, we think this is quite romantic.
28. Buy them a new jumper. Conventionally, we know, you’re supposed to buy them underwear - this, however, can go wrong in so many ways. Wrong size trauma. Wrong style issues. Get them a huge great big jumper - you can’t go wrong. Extra points if you get it in their favourite colour.
29. Ask them what they want to do with Saturday. Help them plan their favourite day and then go for it.
30. Rose petals. Another potential cliche - but it should be done at least once. Find your roses, and scatter the petals from the front door all the way up to bed. If your partner doesn’t like the smell of roses, maybe there’s something else. I mean, for me personally, Oreo cookies scattered up the stairs is romantic - although I think I might be a special case.
31. Go fly a kite together. It’s fun, and it’s free, all you need is a strong breeze and a big field.
32. Draw them a picture and stick it in their lunchbox. It’ll make them laugh at work.
33. Go to the cinema. An oldie, but a goodie.
34. Make them a playlist. 20 songs you think they will love or that remind you of them.
35. Print some photos. Most people just have their pictures on digital files now - but it’s lovely to see some really nice ones printed out and on the walls.
36. Bring back cherries and wine. Like a romantic hunter-gatherer lion. Rawl!
37. Tell them your view of the future. In 30 years, will you be by a fireside somewhere? Will you be on holiday by the sea? Will you be arm in arm? It’s a powerful thing to imagine the future. Just leave out the dentures bit.
38. Be nice to their parents. Okay, so it’s not traditionally romantic. But all real romance has to have good people behind it, and good people are nice to others – even to the in-laws.
39. Carry them. Obviously this is not for you if you are eight months pregnant or have a spinal injury. But it’s a pretty sweet and very funny to carry your partner up a hill.
40. Bombard them. Send them a text, email, leave a note in the fridge, on the bathroom mirror, in their cornflakes box. Rig it so that just for one day they will see that you love them in every format. Aww. A warning though, this is just for one day, else their friends will be getting a restraining order sorted.
41. Head to the north. There’s less people and a real chance to unwind together with just the two of you. Our favourite spots are in the tiny toy town of Oban, the stunning Highlands, and the Lakes, near where we live!
42. Oysters and Champagne. Chocolate, avocado, watermelon, almonds, asparagus and figs are all classic foods of love. We highly recommend them, although, you know, not all together.
43. Write them an I O U note. Because if they are amazing then you probably owe them a lot. (By this we don’t just mean the tenner they lent you last month)
44. Meet up for lunch. Even if you are both working there’s usually a chance, one day a week or a month, to shuffle things about and whisk away for lunch and a coffee together.
45. Run them a bath. Extra points for posh bubbles, and good music. Triple word score for little candles.
46. Make your dining room into a restaurant for two. Bring out your finest. Then either make up a romantic meal or order one in. Not Domino’s Pizza eh. Unless the two of you have a thing about it.
47. Toast by the fireside. If you haven’t got one at home then we recommend you find a quiet pub and have a cosy evening there. That warm glow is very simply romantic.
48. Give a good foot massage…really though? Personally I can’t think of anything worse but apparently some individuals go for this kind of thing, so fair enough. Just stay away from me, you crazy feet people.

We want to get this list all the way to 100! So what have we missed? Send your suggestions here and if they are truly romantic we will add them in.

Filed under Romantic Ideas & Things to do with tags: romantic tips, romantic lists, romantic ideas

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