Blog5 min read
Christmas messages for your girlfriend, card to morning text
A Christmas message for your girlfriend sounds like you when it holds one thing that only happened to the two of you this year, and one small plan for the next. Everything else is optional. Below are messages for a card, a text on Christmas morning, a Christmas apart, a funny one and a romantic one for when you've been together for years, each with the detail to swap for yours.
What makes a Christmas message sound like you
Most Christmas messages online could be sent by anyone to anyone, which is why they land so softly. The fix is small. Before you write, find two things:
- One detail from this year. Not "all our adventures". The night you both got locked out, the dog she talked you into, the song she played every morning in June.
- One small plan for next year. Something with a month or a place in it: the lake in July, her sister's wedding, learning to make her grandmother's soup.
Put your name for her at the start, the detail next and the plan last. The examples below use that shape, cut down or bent to fit the moment.
Short Christmas card messages for your girlfriend
Two or three lines fit in a card. Write them in pen, after one try on scrap paper:
Merry Christmas, Lu. This year you taught me to like olives and talked me into a dog. Next year: the lake in July, just us and the dog.
My first Christmas with you and I already know it's the best one. Thank you for the scarf you said you didn't knit. I know you knitted it.
A Christmas morning text for your girlfriend
Time it for when she wakes, so it's the first thing she reads, not something buried under the family group chat. You can write it on Christmas Eve and schedule it. On an iPhone with iMessage, use Send Later in Messages; on Android, hold the send button in Google Messages and pick a time. Our good morning messages for her have the steps. If you're together, leave the text for later and say it out loud.
Morning. It's Christmas and you're probably still asleep with the blanket over your head. When you wake up: this was the year you finally let me make the coffee. First coffee of the new year is at the café by the river, the one with the slow waiter.
Long distance Christmas messages for your girlfriend
When you can't be there, let her see where you are. Describe the room you're in, guess at hers, and finish on when you'll see her:
I'm at my parents' and my dad has already fallen asleep in front of the same film as last year. I keep picturing you at your grandmother's table, stealing the crispy potatoes. Ten more days and I'm on the train. Merry Christmas.
If you're sending a present across a border too, our long distance Christmas gift ideas cover when to send it and what time it will be for her on the 25th.
A funny Christmas message for her
Funny works if it's about something real. Tease the habit, not the person, and end on something warm so it doesn't read as a joke and nothing else:
Merry Christmas to the woman who wraps presents like a hostage situation and still made this the best year I've had. I've hidden the tape. I love you.
A romantic Christmas message when you've been together for years
After a few Christmases, the detail can be a habit of hers you've come to love as well as one night from the year, and the message can run a little longer:
Merry Christmas, my love. Five Christmases in and you still open one present on the 24th and call it a rule. In March our flight was called off and you turned it into a night at the airport hotel, ordered every dessert on the room-service menu and called it our first trip. That's you: you make the bad days count. Next year, Porto in May, like we said.
When a message should be a letter
If you've got more than four lines to say, a card or a quick text will squash it. A letter gives it room for a whole evening from the year, something you've seen in her that she doesn't know you saw, and what you want next year. Our paragraphs for your girlfriend show how to make it longer without losing her in it, and the Christmas letter guide has the shape of a full letter. It's written for a boyfriend, but nothing in it changes for a girlfriend.
What to leave out
- Lines you found online, unchanged. She's seen them too. Use one as a starting point and swap in your detail.
- Clues about the present. If she hasn't opened it yet, the message shouldn't give it away, and if she has, it doesn't need a footnote.
- Next year's resolutions for her. A plan together is lovely. A list of what she should change is not.
- Anything sent at 3 a.m. after the office party. Write it sober, schedule it for the morning.
If you'd like the message to arrive with photos from the year and a song, a digital gift can carry it. There are more ideas on the Christmas page and among the digital gifts for your girlfriend.
Questions people ask
What should I write in a Christmas message to my girlfriend?
One detail from this year that only the two of you would know, one small plan for next year with a place or month in it, and your name for her. Two or three lines are enough for a card or a text.
When should I send my girlfriend a Christmas text?
When she wakes up on Christmas morning, so it's the first thing she reads. If you'll be together, say it in person and keep the text for later in the day.
What do I write if we're spending Christmas apart?
Describe the room you're in, guess at hers, and finish on the day you'll see her. One specific detail of her Christmas, like the dish she always steals, does more than a long paragraph.
How do I write a funny Christmas message for my girlfriend?
Tease one real habit of hers, like how she wraps presents, then end on something sincere. Keep it to her habits, not her looks or her family.
