Open When
My shelf
OCCASIONS · LOVE LETTERS

Love letters for him, for her, and how to write your own

Love letters for him do not need to be long or fancy. They need to be yours. Here is how to start a love letter, how to sign it, short notes to borrow, and full examples for a boyfriend, a girlfriend, a husband or someone far away.

Write one now, or seal it for later

Open when you miss meWrite →Open when you need to hear that I love youWrite →Open when we are far apartWrite →Open when you have had a bad dayWrite →Open when you want to know why I picked youWrite →A love letter for his birthdayWrite →A love letter for a weddingWrite →

Each one opens a blank letter with the moment already on the envelope. No account needed.

An example to start from

To Andre, just because

Andre,

Nothing happened today. I did not get good news or bad news. I just caught myself smiling at the sink, thinking about how you check the stove twice and then make a joke about checking the stove.

I like that you remember my coworker's name and ask about her cat. I like that when I am sad you do not try to fix it. You sit next to me and let me be sad.

I do not think love is one big thing. It is a thousand small things stacked up like firewood.

That is what I wanted to tell you. Come to bed when you are ready.

Kiara
AN EXAMPLE TO BORROW FROM
MAKE IT YOURS
Before the day
Printed cards show only a QR code. The words stay sealed until someone scans it.
Change the date or delete it any time before it opens.
Nothing is public unless you ask.
How privacy works
A red rose lying on a handwritten love letter beside a pen
Photo: beasternchen on Pixabay

How to start a love letter

The hardest line is the first one, so give it a small job. Say where you are, say what you are looking at, or say what made you pick up a pen. The first line only has to be true. You can fix the rest later.

Openings that work:

  • "I am writing this at the kitchen table, and I can hear you in the next room."
  • "I wanted to say something I keep forgetting to say out loud."
  • "Dear Theo, this is not an emergency. It is just a letter."
  • "You asked me last week why I like you, and I said something clumsy. Here is the real answer."
  • "It is Sunday night, and I am thinking about you."
  • "I have started this letter four times."

Cut any opening that sounds like a greeting card. If you would not say it, do not start with it.

EXAMPLE LETTERS

Full letters to borrow from

We wrote these to show what a letter like this can sound like. Borrow a line, then make it yours: the small, true details are what make it land.

To Josh, three months in

Josh,

I am writing this on the train because I do not trust myself to say it properly out loud.

Three months ago I was not looking for anything. Then you showed up with a ridiculous umbrella and a better laugh than anyone I had met. I do not know what we are going to be, and for once I am not worried about it.

I just wanted you to know that I am happy. It is a quiet kind of happy, the kind I want to protect.

See you Friday. Bring the umbrella.

Mel
AN EXAMPLE TO BORROW FROM
MAKE IT YOURS

To Sofia, from your boyfriend

Sofia,

I saw you today from across the street and you did not see me. You were laughing at your phone, and you tripped on the curb, and you looked around to check nobody had noticed. I noticed. I always do.

I wanted to write because I am bad at saying it, and because you deserve to hear it more than once a year.

You are brave in ways you do not count. You call your mother every Sunday. You forgave your brother. You looked at my messy apartment and sat down anyway.

I love you. I am going to keep showing up to prove it.

Ravi
AN EXAMPLE TO BORROW FROM
MAKE IT YOURS

To Tomas, on a Tuesday

Tomas,

There is no occasion. It is Tuesday. The dishwasher is broken again and you are lying on the kitchen floor with a flashlight, swearing softly.

I loved you so much in that moment that I had to leave the room and find a pen.

You are not a perfect husband and I am not a perfect wife. But you fix the broken thing, and I bring you tea, and neither of us keeps score.

Thank you for building this life with me. I would marry you again whenever you ask, even if the dishwasher is still broken.

Dee
AN EXAMPLE TO BORROW FROM
MAKE IT YOURS

Open when you miss me

Cal,

If you are reading this, you miss me. Good. I miss you too.

Sit down for a minute. Make tea. Remember the stupid thing we did at the lake, when the boat drifted and you refused to admit we were lost.

Here is the truth about the next few months: they will pass. And at the end of them there is a door, and I am on the other side of it.

For now, put on the gray sweater I left behind. It is mine, but I want you to know it smells like me, and that is on purpose.

Always yours, Zoe
AN EXAMPLE TO BORROW FROM
MAKE IT YOURS

To Edith, after thirty years

Edith,

I have never been good with words, and you know it. You have saved every card I ever bought you, and I think the reason is that the card said what I could not.

So this year there is no card. Just this.

Thirty years ago you laughed at my terrible dancing at the church hall. I should have been embarrassed. Instead I thought: that is the sound I want in my house. I got it.

Thank you for the years. I love you more now than I did at that hall, and I did not think that was possible.

I will still dance badly. You will still laugh. That is the plan.

Harold
AN EXAMPLE TO BORROW FROM
MAKE IT YOURS

Open when you want to know why I picked you

Eli,

You asked me once why I picked you, and I answered with a bad joke. I wrote this so you would have a real one.

I picked you because you are kind when nobody is watching. Because you tell the truth gently. Because you laugh at yourself first.

I picked you because the first night we talked, I forgot to look at my phone. That has not happened before or since.

If you are reading this on a hard day, put this next to the hard day. I picked you then, and I pick you now.

Come find me.

Noah
AN EXAMPLE TO BORROW FROM
MAKE IT YOURS
SHORT MESSAGES

Short messages you can use

  1. I love you. That is the whole message.
  2. You are my favorite person to be quiet with.
  3. I thought of you before my coffee today. That has been true for a long time.
  4. Thank you for choosing me on the days I am hard to choose.
  5. You make ordinary things feel like plans.
  6. I do not say it enough: I am so glad it is you.
  7. Wherever you are today, I am on your side.
  8. I love how you laugh at your own jokes before you finish them.
  9. You are the first person I want to tell everything to.
  10. Come home soon. The couch is wrong without you on it.
  11. To my boyfriend: you are steady in a way I did not know I needed. Thank you.
  12. You are quiet about being kind, and I see every bit of it.
  13. I love the way you tell a story, with too many details and then a perfect ending.
  14. You make me want to be the person you think I am.
  15. To my girlfriend: you walk into a room and it gets warmer. I am still surprised it is my room.
  16. I love how you read me before I say a word. Thank you for not letting me get away with it.
  17. You are every good idea I never had on my own.
  18. Every plan I make now has you in it. I like that.
  19. To my husband, who still makes me coffee on the days I forget to ask. Thank you.
  20. To my wife: I would marry you again tomorrow, and I would still be nervous.
  21. After all these years, you are still the best part of coming home.
  22. I love you more than the last slice of pizza, and you know how I feel about the last slice.
  23. I tried to write you a poem. It did not rhyme. I love you anyway.
  24. You are the reason I smile at my phone like a fool in public.
  25. I am counting the days until I see your face in a doorway.
  26. The miles are only a number. The missing you is the hard part. See you soon.
  27. I am not good at this yet, but I like being with you more than I like being anywhere else.
  28. I hope you know how much I look forward to your texts. I do not say it, but I do.
  29. I am sorry about last night. I love you, and I would like to try again with a better tone.
  30. You are the best thing that happened to me, and it happened when I was not looking.
  31. I would pick you in every version of my life.
  32. Thank you for loving me when I did not know how to love myself.
  33. I love that after all this time we still have things to say to each other.
  34. Come as you are. Stay as long as you like. I am yours.

How to sign a love letter

The sign-off is the last thing they read, so make it sound like you. Pick the one you would actually say to this person.

  • Yours: plain and warm, and good for almost anyone.
  • Always yours: for a settled relationship, or a long one.
  • Love: everyday warmth, right for a boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse.
  • Missing you: for a letter across a distance.
  • Forever: only on a day you mean it.
  • Just your name: if that is how you sign everything.
  • A nickname: if it is one only they use.

Sign with the name they use for you, not your full name. A P.S. is a good place for the joke, or the thing you almost forgot.

A love letter for a boyfriend or any man you love

A love letter for a boyfriend lands when it is specific. Do not tell him he is amazing. Tell him about the Sunday he fixed your bike chain and never mentioned it. Some people are embarrassed by big words, and short, concrete lines suit them better. If he keeps every note you give him, write more and go slowly.

The same goes for any love letter for him: a husband, a partner, a man you have only just started seeing. Say what you notice, say it once, and leave out what you are not sure of.

A love letter for a girlfriend

Write about what she does, not what she looks like. How she reads a room. How she texts you a picture of the dog's face. How she remembers the date of your mother's surgery. A love letter for a girlfriend is stronger when it tells her what you see that she thinks nobody sees. Leave out comparisons, old relationships and anything about what you wish she would change.

Seal a love letter for later

A love letter does not have to be read the moment it is written. On Open When you can seal one for a moment, like "Open when you miss me" or "Open when you have had a bad day." You pick the date it unlocks, and from then your partner opens it when the moment comes. There are ideas for a boyfriend, a girlfriend and a long-distance partner.

For a wedding or birthday, an Occasions letter stays sealed for the day itself. The reader's email arrives that morning, or you print a QR code to tuck into a card or gift. You can add one song, pick a wax seal color and edit the letter until it is opened. If it is your wedding words you need, start with vows.

IF YOU ARE STUCK

Questions that help you start

  • What do you notice about them that they would not notice about themselves?
  • What small thing do they do that you would miss?
  • Which memory could you describe in detail without trying?
  • What did you think of them the first time you met, and what do you think now?
  • What is something you are afraid to say out loud, and could you write it down?
  • What do you want to promise them, and can you keep it?
  • What is a private joke between you?
  • Where are you right now, and what can you see from there?
  • If they read only one sentence, which one would you want it to be?

Open When never writes your letter for you. These are only here to get the first line down.

QUESTIONS

Questions people ask

How do you start a love letter?
Start with something true and small: where you are, what you are looking at, or what made you pick up a pen. "I am writing this at the kitchen table and I can hear you in the next room" works better than a grand opening. Use their name in the first line. You can polish the rest once the first line is down.
How do you sign a love letter?
Sign it the way you would say goodbye to them in person. "Yours" and "Love" suit almost anyone, "Always yours" suits a long relationship, and "Missing you" suits distance. Use the name or nickname they know you by. Add a P.S. if there is a joke or a last thought, and skip "Forever" unless you mean it that day.
What do I write in a love letter for my boyfriend?
Tell him one specific thing you noticed about him, one memory that still makes you smile, and one thing you are looking forward to doing together. Keep it short if he is shy about big words, and long if he keeps every note. Say it plainly, then sign it with the name he uses for you.
What do I write in a love letter for my girlfriend?
Write about what she does rather than how she looks. Name the small things she does that she thinks nobody sees, like remembering a date or saying the kind thing at the right moment. Tell her one way she has changed your days. Leave out comparisons and old relationships. Then say plainly that you love her.
Can I write a love letter now and have them read it later?
Yes. On Open When you can seal a love letter for a moment like "Open when you miss me." It stays locked until the date you choose, then they open it when they need it. It is free to write and read, no account is needed, and you can edit it until it is opened.
KEEP READING

More letters like this

A letter instead of a cardRead →Open when letters for your boyfriend: moments, ideas and examplesRead →Open when letters for your girlfriend: moments, ideas and examplesRead →Open when long distance letters: what to write and when to seal themRead →Wedding vows: how to write yours, and words to borrowRead →
Say it now, or seal it for the day they need it.
Write a love letter