Curated from: Learn - shy

Words of Affirmation | Quality Time | Acts of Service | Physical Touch | Receiving Gifts

You’re definitely no stranger to the concept of the 5 love languages. But apart from it being a little quiz that people normally do for fun, one’s love language is a great insight into the way that someone likes to show and receive love from their partners and those around them. Identifying these in your partner and the differences with your own love language can actually help to improve communication and your relationship.

This Valentine’s, why not do something apart from the roses and chocolates and get your partner a gift that is personalised to their expression of love? Here are some ideas for gifts you could buy or DIY!

1. Words of Affirmation

The most common love language — words of affirmation are words that allow you to express and communicate your love, appreciation, and respect for your partner.

By using words of affirmation in your relationship, you are strengthening communication between you and your partner. You are showing your partner that you notice and appreciate them. When your partner feels appreciated, they are likely to experience a deeper satisfaction with themselves and with the relationship.

Gift Ideas:

1. A Year of Us — Relationship Card Game by Shy

(image above)

Get ready to dive deep into the game of love with your partner, and emerge a stronger couple. This game was designed to help individuals gain a better understanding of themselves and their partners through a deeper communication of wants and needs in values, emotions, intimacy, and the shared future. Intended for a year-long game play with one set of questions and activities per week, this will be the gift that keeps on giving!

2. Read Me When Letters to the Love of My Life by Knock Knock

Write a letter to your partner today for them to open in the future when the specific situation arises! In this set of Read Me When letters, prepare a letter for your partner when they’re mad, feeling naughty, or for a future anniversary!

Alternatively, DIY this by having a letter writing session with your partner where you write letters in the present day that will be opened at a future date. This lets you both write down your dreams and targets for your lives individually and as a couple. Read it on the future date you set and look back on how far you’ve come since then!

2. Quality Time

It’s all about expressing your love for each other with affection and your undivided attention! What better way to say “I love you” to these folks than by showing them that you’ve put in the effort to make your dates and time together as meaningful, memorable, and productive as ever? If you’re looking for a Valentine’s gift and wall decoration all in one, check out this scratch off poster that includes 100 bucket-list worthy date ideas (image above)! Some other ideas include:

• (Virtual) Cooking Lessons or DIY Cooking Kits

• Fitness class subscription packages (Try Classpass so that you and your partner can go to classes of all different types of activities!)

• Having allocated tech-free date nights where you disconnect from the Wifi and connect fully with each other instead!

3. Acts of Service

When it comes to Acts of Service, for some people, it means that they express their love for others by helping others out and for others, this means they feel the most loved when people help them with their to-dos and errands (🙋‍♀️, guilty!). A gift that would be able to fulfil both of these forms for this love language? A Love Voucher styled book, as seen above by lifestyle and craft brand Knock Knock. By gifting one of these, if your partner has any requests for services to be done for them, it would be easy for them to just write it in here, and on the flip side, you could also write in one of these and watch your partner happily offer up their time and service to you. Similar to the other gifts mentioned in this listicle, it is another one of those “gifts that will keep on giving”. A great deal, if you ask us!

Side note: These love voucher booklets can be easily DIY’d as well, making it a quick, fuss-free, but ultra meaningful gift to your lover.

4. Physical Touch

Although Physical Touch in a love setting has long been associated with sexual intimacy, we are here today to let you know that it is so much more. For these individuals, the love is felt due to the oxytocin that is released during physical intimacy — and all the beautiful feelings of safety, comfort, and security that comes with it. Here are even some ways to show your affection for your partner through non-intimate forms of touch:

• Giving your partner a massage

• Sitting close enough to each other that your arms or legs are touching

• Read more examples here!

But that said, if you ARE trying to spice things up in the bedroom, give your partner a real surprise with The Sex Bomb by Good Vibes SG and Hedonist (image above). Make your partner think that you gifted them a bath bomb, you get to be sexual and intimate while in the tub together, and surprise(!), it eventually disintegrates to reveal a bullet vibrator. As we mentioned, this year is the year of giving gifts that keep on giving.

And if using vibrators or toys is something that has not been done by you or your partner whether solo or together, now would be a great time to try! Talk about variety ~~

5. Receiving Gifts

And if this is your partner’s love language, then you’re in luck! You just read a whole article’s worth of potential Valentine’s gifts. And to best figure out what your partner truly wants for this big occasion, communicate(!) so that you can really give them a pleasant surprise on the 14th. Lastly, throughout the year, it would be nice if you focused more on the little things of preference to your partner, and surprise them with small gifts at random along the way!