We can show love and appreciation to our loved ones through some simple and inexpensive ways – it’s not about the expensive gifts. It’s about giving it a thought, knowing the person well and making them happy by fulfilling their wishes. There are plenty of plausible ways you can surprise your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife on any of the numerous occasions such as their birthday, your anniversary, Valentine’s day, or, as a matter of fact, you don’t even have to have a special occasion to surprise them. Maybe not everybody likes surprises, but everyone likes to see that someone cares about them and that they put some serious thought and effort into organizing a special day or getting a special present. For instance, one of the classics is preparing your partner’s favourite meal in a romantic setting, planning a gift basket, or getting them a present they’ve wanted for some time. Also, you can collect all your photos and memories and put them in a scrapbook or a photo album; you can put together a video as well. Moreover, you can take them to their favourite place, plan a romantic getaway, visit their favourite sporting event, or plan a whole day of fun, among others.
1. Prepare their favourite meal in a romantic setting
One of the most thoughtful birthday gifts for your girlfriend or boyfriend is the old classic – homemade candle-lit romantic dinner. Everybody likes such surprises, both men and women! Think about what your partner really likes and prepare it – it’s probably something they don’t eat often. Make sure that you take care of the setting as well: put a nice tablecloth over the table, use table mats, fancy plates, light some scented candles and make a swan out of a napkin. Remember to get some good wine and chill it in the fridge. Dim the lights, play some soft music and wait for your partner nicely dressed. They’ll definitely be delighted!
2. Plan a gift basket/hamper/box
For this kind of gift, you’ll need a few days of preparation. There’s no one correct way of planning a gift basket. All you need is a basket, a hamper, or a box for storing all the things for your special someone. The size will highly depend on the items you’re planning to place there. Usually, it consists of the things your SO likes very much. Most often these are some chocolates, wine, beer, cosmetics, bath sets, but it can be any other thing. You should think about it carefully and plan, as you’ll probably have to visit a few stores to get all of the items. Also, if you need a gift hamper on short notice, you can browse through some gift hampers online and order one of many choices.
3. Get them a present they’ve wanted for some time
If you know your partner well, you are probably familiar with the things they want to buy or that they’ve wanted to get for themselves for some time. It can be anything from a purse, shoes, necklace to a video game or watch. If you wish to surprise that special someone, think about whether there’s something they want. Maybe you stopped by a shop window while you were taking a walk and your partner saw something they like? However, keep in mind that you shouldn’t blow your budget with too expensive gifts too often. After all, it’s all about the thought and not the money.
4. Make a scrapbook/photo album
This is an absolute favourite and it can be really something in the digital age we live in. It was different in the past when we took photos with cameras, which we then needed to take to a photo studio to get them printed to be able to see them. So, somehow it was a must to print photos. Nowadays, it’s a bit different as we all use our phones that have really good cameras, and we can look at the photos any time we want because they are stored in our phones. Hence, we don’t need to print them out. However, exactly because of this reason, we should make an effort, collect all the photos showing some special moments and print them out. You can put them in a personalised scrapbook, where you can also make some notes. Or you can place them in a photo album or a photo frame.
5. Put together a video
Putting together a video is a modernized version of preserving memories in a video format. It is definitely fun to do it. You can make it with some photos or videos of yourself. All you need is a simple editing program, which you can use to put all of the photos and videos together, write some text and add your favourite song to it in the background. It’s a very thoughtful and inexpensive gift that requires some time and effort. It’s a meaningful gesture that has the power to warm your partner’s heart when looking back to some special moments you shared together.
6. Take them to visit their favourite place
Your partner probably has a favourite place they like to visit from time to time. Perhaps think in the direction of surprising them in their favourite place or simply taking them to it, depending on where and how far it is. It can be something local, like a beach, a cliff, a park or a mountain, or it can be something like a different city or even a different country. If it’s something local and in nature, you can consider organizing a romantic picnic there and it’s not something too expensive. However, it’s also nice to surprise someone by taking them on a trip to a different city or country, but it’s bound to cost more money, especially the latter one.
7. Hide notes all over the place
For people who are very considerate and sentimental, writing cute little love notes and hiding them all over the place is one of the best things you can do for them and surprise them with. If your partner is such, think about doing this – it will surely get a smile on their face! You can write on the notes how much you love them, you can list all the reasons you appreciate them for, you can compliment them (who doesn’t like that?!) and many other things. It will make their day. As for the hiding places, you can hide these notes around your home, in their pockets, or somewhere else.
8. Make breakfast in bed
Making breakfast, especially breakfast in bed is an ultimate romantic move for a person who doesn’t like the trouble of making breakfast, but enjoys having one. Think about surprising your partner in this way. Get a breakfast tray and prepare a full breakfast your partner likes. It can be something typical such as eggs in any way, some fresh vegetables, cheese, ham and yogurt or coffee. Of course, you can prepare anything you special someone likes, it doesn’t have to be any standard. Remember to put a nice flower in a small vase to make it even more impactful. Your partner is going to love it!
9. Write an old-fashioned letter
This is a very simple and yet effective romantic gesture, that we’ve somehow forgotten about over the past years. If you want to do something different and unusual, then writing a love letter is right for you. Get a nice paper with an envelope and think about what you’ll write. It would be good to write on some other paper a draft version of the letter first, so you could organize your thoughts. Include all the typical parts of a letter, such as opening and closing and organize your writing into paragraphs. You can write your heart out in this letter – write about what you most love about them and how you fell in love with them.
10. Plan a day of fun
You can also go in this way too: think about all the things your partner likes doing and organize a whole day that includes all of these activities. Start with a nice relaxing breakfast in bed, a coffee in their favourite café, and then start filling the day with all kinds of activities such as going to the movies, taking a walk, doing some sport – the options are limitless! This kind of day is bound to recharge your energy and make you fall in love again.
11. Plan a romantic getaway
This is one of the top favourites when it comes to surprising your partner. Think about where you’d like to go and book a trip. Make sure that it’s the weekend, or that you can take some days off if necessary. It can be a relaxing weekend spa getaway, an active hiking getaway, something adventurous, or perhaps a quiet and romantic trip – it will depend on your preferences.
The mere process of organizing a surprise is fun and exciting and let alone the surprise itself and that precious moment when you see the look and a genuine smile on your partner’s face.
