Husband Appreciation Day

It’s no secret that men like to feel appreciated. Relationship experts have been claiming for years that men need to feel needed and valued. And, I’m sure that’s true. But just in case, I went ahead and did some research.

In my hours five minutes of research, I managed to run across this gem that eloquently tells women it’s our fault(?!?!?) men cheat. Why??? Because we just don’t do enough to show our appreciation. Duh.

While I don’t agree with the finger pointing trash available on the internet, I do believe that appreciation is key to maintaining a healthy, happy relationship. Enter, Husband Appreciation Day!

A few weeks ago The Hubs was feeling seriously down. Down like “I don’t even feel up to eating chocolate chip cookies” down. We’ve been in the process of throwing all our money into a fire (also known as buying a house), and had been seeing A LOT of wood paneling and missing appliances that our piddly pot of fire money could buy. In an effort to cheer the man up, I deemed it Hubs Appreciation Day and got to work. To his surprise, he came home to find this:

Husband (or Partner) Appreciation Day can be as elaborate or as simple as you want. Simply telling your partner it’s his day and doing something out of the ordinary for him may be enough. Some ideas to get your juices flowing are below.

1. Give him a sign. Make it on your computer, with crayons, or anything else you’ve got laying around. I made the hanging door sign above using WordArt, printed the sucker out, put it in an empty Dollar Store frame (is there any other kind?), and used ribbon to hang it on the door to our apartment. Bam! The Hubs was shocked when he arrived home and cautiously opened the door.
2. Put out some special decor. Candles, flowers, pictures of the two of you, streamers, etc. Make your man’s bouquet more palatable to him by adding signs like the ones above. They’re easy to make by affixing straws or skewers to them. (And yes, I really do love Home Run Inn Pizza that much.)
3. Set the mood with music.
4. Prior to dinner offer a special cocktail hour. It’d be great to have his favorite cocktail waiting. I served a bottle of André left over from NYE 2010 because that’s what we had. Nothing but the best for my man.
5. Prepare a special meal or dessert. I contemplated calling the Hubs’ mother for some details on what he loved as a kid, but in the end I just bought the cheapest box of brownie mix I could find. (Note: I don’t recommend this as the brownies didn’t even rise. I told the Hubs it was a new recipe called “Road Kill Brownies.” He bought it.)
6. Do something special with YOU! I’m not saying you have to be naked when your partner walks through the door, but if you’re feeling up to it, put in a little extra effort. For example, I actually bothered to put on make-up that day. He noticed.
7. And finally, offer to clean it all up. Of course, if you’ve got a good one, he’ll probably insist that he does it instead.

If you’ve got kids in the house, your special dinner may not look (or end) exactly like mine did, but don’t fret. Get the kids involved in the fun too! If you’re not into hosting at home, send your partner a special invitation email and treat him to a surprise night out.