What is the most wanted anniversary, Valentines Day or romantic gift? Yes, a simple love letter. According to a recent U.S. survey by Passion Marketing Research Associates in Los Angeles, 62% of the female respondents say "their most cherished gift on Valentines Day would be a letter in the handwriting of their beloved."
I'm not saying don't buy a gift, but a love letter ranks very high on your partner's gift wishes. It's the shortest distance between two hearts! What better gift is there than your own words of love? But does the thought of writing a romantic love letter or poem reduce your vocabulary to a 5-year-old's level? Believe it or not, that's a great place to begin! Kids speak straight from the heart. They don't worry about using the right words, they simply say what they want. As adults, we let our thinking get in the way of our emotions and worry about details before we have the big picture.
Actions speak louder than words—well, writing a love letter is putting words into action. Imagine the joy your honey is feeling as she or he reads your sweet words of love. There's not a better way to make your lover happier or feel more cherished!
Forget about using free love letters—you can write your own romantic letter!
It's not your style to write romantic mush? Then don't. Be yourself! Write how you speak—and your love letter will be genuine and heartfelt. Trust me, your partner is going to know whether or not you wrote it yourself. So you don't sound like Lord Byron or Kahil Gibran? That doesn't matter—writing from deep inside your heart does.
Do you love to tell jokes? Write a humorous love letter. A sports fan? Pretend you're talking about your favorite team or sports figure but write your letter about what makes your partner the No. 1 player in your life.
Whatever you're enthusiastic and can talk about easily, use that as the basis for your letter and just make the recipient the focus of it. Easier already? Yes. Trying to pretzel yourself into a romantic poet is only going to make you anxious—and anxiety is not the mood to be in when you're writing a love letter.
Use a thesaurus to help you find variations on words. Have paper and pen ready to jot notes, but forget about writing for now.
Give yourself at least a half hour of no interruptions: turn off your cellphone, TV and answering machine. Play music that isn't distracting.
Relax in a comfortable chair or lie down on your sofa or bed, let your shoulders drop and take a few deep breaths, at least 5 or 6. Inhale deeply, feel the air going to the bottom of your belly, then slowly exhale as you pull in your abdomen.
Close your eyes and begin visualizing the one you love and create a movie of you slowly running your eyes over every inch of their body. What do you especially appreciate? Visualize their eyes looking back at you, run your fingers through their hair, caress their cheek and softly brush your lips against theirs, receive their joyous smile from across a room, the tilt of their head towards you, their arms around you. Feel their heart beat against yours and take in the warmth of their skin. Watch as they run towards you, eager to rush into your arms. How do you feel?
Let your movie continue running. Pull out your memories of fun and laughter, your most romantic, passionate times together or when you were sad and your love silently held you close. What do you see, hear, taste, touch and feel? What are they wearing...or not wearing? Notice all sorts of details about the room or place, the weather, the time of day.
Here's where you find the "furniture" for your love letter: in all the delicious little details. Is the sun setting? Describe the passionate colors. Is it early morning and you turn around in bed to see the morning sun wrapping tender ribbons of light across your lover's body? Let yourself sink into each moment and feel it.
Linger and let the feelings rush throughout you. Are you getting tingles up and down your spine?
First Love Letter Steps
The most emotional memories are the ones that will ignite your love letter. By now, you should be more relaxed and smiling. Take a few more deep breaths before you begin writing.
You don't have to get up; this could put you into "thinking" mode. Begin jotting notes as you replay each "movie." Describe your scenes in detail with short, simple phrases. It doesn't have to be in any logical order for now. Later, you'll link these shorter phrases together, but for now, you want to capture all the romantic sensations that being with the one you love means to you.
Emotions and sensations are abstract concepts, so you need your "furniture" to make it real. Begin writing down all the juicy details for your love letter: what did you see, hear, feel, taste or touch? Use a thesaurus to help you with variations of words.
Now put it all together.
Instead of "When you walk into a room and smile at me, I forget what I'm thinking," add the furniture:
"You quietly glide into the sunlight streaming through the window, your silky hair falls over your shoulder. And then you gently tilt your head towards me and flash me that quirky little half smile of yours that gets my heart beating faster, my lips tingling...and I forget everything I ever knew as our eyes meet and lock into an embrace."
Nothing fancy here, there's only two words that have three syllables!
Another idea for a love letter is to make up a romantic fairy tale: "Once upon a time..." Write about when you met, a turning point in your relationship or how you feel now. You could also use a book or TV show title, a Broadway play or a favorite film as the backdrop for your letter. For example, use "The Lion King" as a theme for your man (change it to "My Lion King"), "Lady Chatterly's Lover" (substitute your lady's name), or "American Idol." Are you an unusual couple? Use "The Odd Couple" and write a humorous love letter.
And if you're not satisfied with your letter but the time has come to give one, this research study from Cambridge University that says the human mind only needs the first and last letter in each word in the right place and the rest can be scrambled however you want it:
"I lvoe you mroe tahn atynhnig in the wlohe wdie wrlod and I crhesih our lvoe feovorr and fveroor. I'm so etixecd taht I cnat eevn slepl or wtire aoymrne."
See how easy it was to read this? This can make the simplest love note funny and special!
Love Letter Gifts
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These gifts below are another wonderful way to present your love letter or poem. Use one of our free, printable backgrounds to write your love letter, then include it with a romantic gift:
A love poem or song can be the most daunting to attempt, however, if you really want write one but don't think you can, cheat a little! Look up a romantic poem or song lyric and change a few lines or words to personalize it.
If you write a love poem or song, go all out and perform it: play mood music softly in the background, light plenty of candles...set the mood. Or if you've done a creative twist on a song lyric, perform it karaoke style. If you love to perform: put on a costume, a special shirt or hat, hold a heart pillow, tape a heart onto a fake microphone. Have fun and ham it up! Guys, what about doing a "Full Monty?" Women love a show also!
Here's a great archive of romantic lyrics and a free online rhyming dictionary to help you with your love poem or song. We also have love song lyrics on our site with videos of different performers. Go ahead and change a few words here or there to customize a love song for you and your sweetheart. Use a verse or a chorus in your love letter to make a lovely enhancement.
If you feel that a love letter, poem or song is something you can't do yet, try creating a love list instead.
Decorate Your Love Letter
Handwrite your love letter on decorative or handmade paper, even if you have to use block letters. Add romantic photos, either digitally or glue on afterwards. Mist your love letter with cologne (at a distance), fold it and seal with romantic stickers or sealing wax. You can find all these supplies at an office supply or crafts store.
Other decoration ideas:
Fold the letter into a heart shape, here are instructions for a simple origami heart fold.
Buy a romantic photo frame and frame your love letter.
Want to make a huge impression? Buy a piece of poster board and a poster frame. Write your letter on the poster board, decorate with photos and romantic images, then frame. If you have enough photos, make a border with them.
Create a scrapbook. Place a photo on one side and write a love note on the opposite page.
Use clip art to decorate your love letter. Insert before each item in your list or use a border. Here are free romantic art resources:
Buy a romantic gift that you can engrave with your love note or letter to make it extra special.
1. Always spell check! Then also read it through, slowly. Spell check doesn't catch grammar errors.
2. Shop at least 2 weeks before to purchase a personalized gift, which takes extra time to personalize (from a day or two to a week). Check with the vendor and plan accordingly.