If the boring old “I love you” feels stale, try one of these fun ways to express those sweet words.
With so much on our plates — from work to self care to friends and family — life gets pretty. All too often we forget to show the ones we love how important they are to us. But that’s no excuse to be lazy in your love life. So in that spirit, here are 31 creative ways to say “I love you”. Start today and have fun being spontaneous and romantic with your sweetie … what’s your favorite way to say those three sweet words?
1. Sungaze. Watch a sunset or sunrise together and bring a picnic or background music to set the mood. Check for sunrise or sunset times in advance to make sure you don’t miss that special moment.
2. Make a love note scavenger hunt hiding sweet reminders and rewards in your home, office or neighborhood.
3. Read bedtime stories. Pick a favorite book and read aloud together: You’ll get quality time together and the expansion of your individual and collective knowledge bases.
4. Send an e-greeting. Someecards is my personal favorite for snarkiness, and you can personalize them!
5. Write it in the sand. Or the fall leaves, or seashells, or shoes boxes, or rose petals…
6. Unplug. Set up a media free night and focus 100 percent of your attention on your honey.
7. Write it in lipstick on the mirror. Even if you aren’t the one who wears lipstick (or neither of you do). There’s something very sultry about seeing those words in red!
8. Take a deeper look. Share five minutes of uninterrupted eye contact. Try it and see what happens — or where it takes you.
9. Appreciate big. Throw a surprise appreciation party with close friends. Ask everyone to give a short speech about why your sweetie is loved.
10. Plan your sweetheart’s dream date. Do exactly what they love to do, with no strings attached.
11. Write it in the snow (no, not like that!). If you live somewhere cold, use food coloring and a spray bottle to write sweet words in your love’s yard. These folks did it with spray paint.
12. Make a calendar. Use your google or iCal or Outlook or whatever, and make a note every day of one thing you appreciate about your special someone. Make sure you share it so they can see!
13. Re-live your first date, or meeting. Remember the details and try to line things up with meaning. If it was awkward, stage a re-do.
14. Movie marathon. Rent a bunch of your partner’s favorite films from childhood. Don’t forget the popcorn!
15. Love all over. Trace your sweetie’s body on paper or with chalk on the pavement, and fill in the outline with all the awesome things you appreciate about their body.
16. Make a homemade thank you card. Get out your markers, glitter, and crayons! What a sweet (and sparkly) way to say something kind to someone you love!
17. Write out an alphabet of appreciation. Make a list of something you appreciate about your sweetheart for every letter of the alphabet.
18. Be the Grocery Fairy. For those of you who prefer “acts of service” as your love language — surprise a lover with a week’s worth of fresh groceries. Don’t forget a flirty note from Grocery Fairy!
19. Bake it. Say it in cookies, frosting, cakes, or pie tops. Make your sweeties favorite sugary treat and top it with your love.
20. Make a modern mixtape. Curate hand-picked tracks for your honey, to let them know you’re thinking of them.
21. Write it out. Hand write a letter explaining why you love your partner — and be specific.
22. Serenade. Dedicate and perform a karaoke song to your beloved. Dance moves always help.
23. Goodnight love note. Hide a love note under his or her pillow. Better yet, make a love note pillow.
24. Go international. Surprise them with an “I love you” in another language. Use google translate to get your pronunciation right!
25. Home movies. Use iMovie to piece together a collection of reasons why you appreciate your sweetheart and upload to vimeo.
26. Breakfast in bed. You can even make pancakes or toast that say it for you.
27. Written on the body. Write a love note on your body and have a scavenger hunt for your lover to find it!
28. Make a love map. Not the Gottman Love Map you hear me talking about all the time, instead this time get a map and stick a pin in it for each of your travels. If you have yet to go far, stick another color in for your future travels!
29. Play it out. Make a crossword or word search puzzle of your favorite inside jokes.
30. Send a panty-gram. Yep; you heard right.
Start loving more creatively today! Pick something above, or submit your own creative way to say “I love you” in the comments.
