A LIST TO START FROM

100 reasons why I love you: examples to make your own

THE LITTLE THINGS JOURNAL · OCTOBER 20, 2026 · 7 MIN READ

These 100 reasons why I love you are examples, not a finished gift. Read them for the moment of recognition: “yes, that is exactly them, except it is tea, not coffee.” That small correction is where your own list begins.

How to use these examples.

The list follows the ten chapters in our gift writer. Some lines include a bracket like [the place] for you to fill in, and nearly all of them improve once a general word becomes a real detail. Skip anything that does not fit. For a method of finding your own material, read how to write 100 reasons I love you without repeating yourself. This page is the other half: things I love about you, ready to borrow and bend.

How do you make a reason specific?

Ask of any example: when did this last happen, where were you, and what exactly did they do? Rewrite the line with one of those answers in it.

Generic: You make me laugh.
Specific: You did the voice of the angry goose all the way home from the lake, and I could not breathe.

The second version could not be given to anyone else. That is the test.

100 reasons why I love you, by chapter.

The everyday things

Name the actual day, room or object.

1. The way you say good morning before you are properly awake.
2. How you make my coffee exactly right without asking anymore.
3. The way you hum while you cook, slightly off-key.
4. How you text “home safe?” even after a ten-minute drive.
5. The way you leave the last bite for me, then claim you are full.
6. How a grocery run turns into a good conversation with you.
7. The sound of your keys in the door at the end of the day.
8. How you always know where my glasses are.
9. How you fold laundry while telling me about your day.
10. The way you make [an ordinary weeknight] feel like something to look forward to.

Our favorite memories

Add one sensory detail: weather, food, a song.

11. The night we talked until they stacked the chairs around us.
12. Our first trip, when the hotel looked nothing like the photos.
13. The first dinner you made me, with the smoke alarm as a guest.
14. That lazy Sunday when we did absolutely nothing and it was perfect.
15. The moment I realized I could tell you anything.
16. How you held my hand at [a hard day you got through together].
17. Our first inside joke, which still makes no sense to anyone else.
18. Dancing in the kitchen to a song neither of us admits to liking.
19. The look on your face when you opened [a gift, a letter, a door].
20. The day we got lost and found the best meal of the trip.

Who you are

Follow each with a moment you saw it happen.

21. You are kind to people who will never know your name.
22. You tell the truth, even when a vaguer answer would be easier.
23. You keep going with the projects that matter to you.
24. You apologize properly, without a “but” at the end.
25. You notice who is left out of a conversation and bring them in.
26. You are curious about everything, from bird names to tax rules.
27. You stay calm when things go wrong, and it steadies me.
28. You are generous with your time, not only your words.
29. You can laugh at yourself.
30. You keep the promises you make to yourself.

The way you make me feel

Describe the feeling honestly, not grandly.

31. With you I can be tired, grumpy or silly, and none of it is a problem.
32. I can say the half-finished version of a thought.
33. You make me braver about the things I want.
34. One hug from you resets a bad day.
35. On my worst days, I still feel chosen.
36. You make home feel like a person rather than a place.
37. I laugh more with you than with anyone.
38. You make me feel interesting, even when I am talking about nothing.
39. I feel calm just knowing you are in the next room.
40. You make me want to be a more patient person.

Your wonderful little quirks

Make them smile, not wince. Skip anything they are self-conscious about.

41. Your strict rules about which mug is for which drink.
42. The victory dance you do after a perfect parallel park.
43. How you narrate what the dog is thinking.
44. The way you read the last page of a book first.
45. How you talk to the plants, and they seem to listen.
46. Your sneeze, which can be heard from the next street.
47. The names you give every car, kettle and houseplant.
48. How competitive you get at games you claim not to care about.
49. Your face when something is more sour than you expected.
50. The emergency snack that is always in your pocket.

The things we share

Use the names you actually have for your rituals.

51. Our running commentary during terrible reality TV.
52. The Sunday routine nobody planned but we both protect.
53. The words only we use, and what they really mean.
54. Sharing headphones on a long train ride.
55. How we split dessert, which is to say unfairly in my favor.
56. The playlist that has followed us through every move.
57. Our nightly “just one more episode” lie.
58. Cooking together, even when we disagree about salt.
59. The look we give each other across a crowded room.
60. Our walks that are only partly about getting somewhere.

The ways you care

Name the action and roughly when it happened.

61. You put my appointments in your calendar to ask how they went.
62. You can tell when I need a solution and when I just need you to listen.
63. You bring me water when I forget to drink any.
64. You take the early shift with [the baby, the dog, the bins] so I can sleep.
65. You are kind to my family, including the complicated ones.
66. You stood up for me when I was not in the room.
67. You make soup when I am sick and never make a fuss about it.
68. You give me space and are there when I come back.
69. You celebrate my small wins as if they were big ones.
70. You leave notes where I will find them during a hard week.

Our little adventures

The best adventures often went slightly wrong.

71. You say yes to the slightly ridiculous plan.
72. You treat a missed train as the start of a better plan.
73. You are the best person to be lost with.
74. You let me try new things at my own pace.
75. That hike we were both completely unprepared for.
76. You will try any food once and tell me honestly if I should.
77. You make a drive to [somewhere ordinary] feel like vacation.
78. You find the tiny museum nobody else visits.
79. You learn three words of the local language before every trip.
80. Camping in the rain, and how you laughed instead of giving up.

Even when we are apart

Apart can mean different cities, shifts or just a busy month.

81. The blurry photos of your lunch you send so I am part of your day.
82. Your voice notes recorded while you walk somewhere.
83. How you fall asleep on the phone and I do not mind at all.
84. You remember my time zone better than I do.
85. The way you count down to visits with me.
86. The care package with my favorite snack hidden at the bottom.
87. You make a five-minute call feel like real time together.
88. You watch the same movie with me, even when it is late for you.
89. You describe your day so well I can picture it.
90. Even on your busiest days, you find one moment to say hello.

What I look forward to

Keep these hopeful rather than binding.

91. Slow mornings, wherever we end up living.
92. Learning to cook the dish your grandmother used to make.
93. Growing old and still disagreeing about the thermostat.
94. The trip we keep talking about, whenever it happens.
95. Building traditions that belong only to us.
96. Watching you become whoever you are becoming next.
97. The garden we will almost certainly overplant.
98. More ordinary Tuesdays with you.
99. Finding out what we will be like at eighty.
100. All the reasons I have not discovered yet.

Can you copy and paste these reasons?

Yes, as scaffolding. Copy the lines that ring true and paste them into our writer with “Already have a list? Paste it in.” Numbers are stripped and each line fills an empty slot without touching what you have written. Then rewrite chapter by chapter and delete freely; the finished gift shows how many reasons you actually wrote. Just do not give the list unchanged. A borrowed line cannot carry what makes this gift land: proof that you were paying attention.

What if you cannot think of 100?

Do not force it. Work in ten-minute sittings, one chapter at a time, and stop when the reasons start sounding alike. If a chapter stays empty, it is probably not your chapter. Thirty true reasons are a complete gift.

Ways to give the finished list.

Writing and previewing in our gift writer is free, so you can see exactly how your reasons will read. A private gift link that opens one reason at a time, and printing as a keepsake book or cut-out notes, are part of a one-time payment. If paper suits your person, see our guide to making a reasons-I-love-you jar. Or copy the list by hand into a notebook. The format matters less than the moment they read a line and realize you noticed.