By: Natasha Bougourd on behalf of Cath Kidston
Valentine’s Day is almost upon us, and we’re excited to celebrate the day of love with our partners.For many of us, the best way to celebrate Valentine’s Day is with some quality time at home with our partner.
There are plenty of ways to spend an intimate night at home, from a romantic movie marathon to a candlelit dinner. But have you ever considered baking with your partner? Here, we cover why this might be the most romantic way to spend Valentine’s Day with your beau this year, and how you can make it a night you’ll never forget.
Why bake together?
If you’re the baker in the relationship, you’ll know how joyful the activity can be. And it’s backed by science. A psychology study found that people who took part in creative activities, including baking, are happier in their day-to-day lives. What’s more, many studies have found a link between sweet treats and feelings of love, so it really is the perfect activity for couples looking to reconnect.
The act of baking together has many individual elements that can intensify your bond with your partner. Helping each other with baking tasks, such as kneading dough, is great way to increase physical contact and boost the bonding hormone oxytocin. Plus, you can also improve your emotional bond through baking together too. These types of activities require teamwork, which can help bring you closer together and improve your communication as a couple. After all, the best couples are the ones that work as a team!
You might even learn something new about your partner – perhaps they’ve got a favourite treat that you never knew about, they have a secret hack for making cookies irresistibly soft, or they have sentimental reasons behind their love of baking.
How to have the perfect romantic day together
So, now that you know why baking is the perfect romantic activity for Valentine’s Day, how can you make this day a success? We have some top tips.
Plan ahead
We know, spontaneity can be romantic. But planning ahead for your intimate baking session together will make sure there’s no stress on the day. Decide what you’ll be making together ahead of time – this is a great opportunity to understand what your partner wants to make and why. Go shopping together to get the ingredients – you might even have a spark of inspiration while you’re out and you see a new ingredient.
Get stuck in
If you’ve seen No Reservations, you’ll understand how sensual cooking together can be. Kate and Nick’s romance blossoms in the kitchen of her restaurant, and there are a few steamy moments between them as Nick leans over and helps Kate with her cooking.
Get up close and personal with your partner when it comes to getting stuck in. If you need to knead some dough, replicate this scene and have your partner close to you as you knead it together. These simple moments of physical closeness can easily become steamy and help you to reconnect on a physical level.
Don’t take it too seriously
Baking can be a fine art sometimes, but this activity is designed to bring you and your partner closer together. While the end product is another thing you can share together, don’t forget to have fun while you’re at it. Maybe you could indulge in a glass of wine while baking. You might end upteasing each other, leading to a flour fight. Not taking these activities too seriously is the best way to enjoy them, and you can create memories that’ll last forever.
Picking something simple to make together means you can be a little slapdash in your methods, whereas a complicated recipe might lead one partner to focus on precision instead of the occasion. If you have different kitchen abilities, choosing something in the middle is just right – we don’t want any arguments here. You could even take some time to practise before the big event to hone your skills.
Enjoy the finished product together
Naturally, you want to enjoy the end product together! Having plans for what you do when you finish baking is as important as the baking itself. If you’ve enjoyed this as a new, intimate experience, you can take that a step further and feed each other. Or you could curl up with your freshly baked cookies, mugs of tea in hand, and relax with a romantic comedy.
When it comes to Valentine’s Day, many of us default to going out for an indulgent meal. We know how romantic this can be, and we’re all but guaranteed a wonderful night together. But given we know how powerful sharing food together can be, baking together is an activity that can fly under the radar a little. This Valentine’s Day, spend some quality time with your partner in the kitchen to bring you closer together both physically and emotionally.
Sources
https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/teamwork/importance-of-teamwork-in-relationships-and-business/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7030091/Eating-vital-sex-relationship-report-finds.html
https://www.elitedaily.com/dating/couples-cook-together-stay-together/782404
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01573/full