As the weather gets colder, the thought of trudging through the city to meet up with a Tinder date or someone your friend insisted on setting you up with becomes infinitely less appealing. The fact that it’s dark well before 6pm and there could be a snow storm any minute doesn’t help either. That’s why fall and winter are considered “cuffing season”.
According to Urban Dictionary, “During the fall and winter months, people who would normally rather be single or promiscuous find themselves, along with the rest of the world, desiring to be “cuffed” or tied down by a serious relationship. The cold weather and prolonged indoor activity causes singles to become lonely and desperate to be cuffed.” It’s true that having someone to snuggle up with when it’s freezing outside is pretty comforting.
If you’ve been seeing someone and haven’t quite make it official, there’s no better time than the fall to go all in. Here’s why:
There’s lots of good TV to catch up on
Summer TV is full of reality shows and re-runs. Luckily, there’s always plenty of shows on Netflix to binge-watch, but fall is when most of your cable TV favourites are starting new seasons. That means, while in the summer you’re probably just fine with missing a night of TV in favour of happy hour on a patio somewhere, in the fall and winter, you’ll be rushing home to catch the latest episode of The Walking Dead or American Horror Story.
New shows like HBO’s Westworld and Netflix’s Luke Cage were made to be watched while huddled under a blanket with someone, ignoring the fact that it’s starting to snow outside. You don’t need to go out to have a good time when there’s plenty of entertainment and good company right at home.
The holidays are coming
Being single over Christmas has its perks— namely, not having to buy someone’s else’s parents Christmas gifts— but it also has a pretty significant downside. Without work and your usual routine to distract you, the fact that you’re alone becomes a lot harder to forget. Not to mention you’ll probably have family members questioning you about whether you’re dating anyone yet. You don’t need to hear your great aunt’s two cents about ticking clocks and how if you insist on being so picky, you could end up forever alone.
Don’t forget, having someone to kiss on New Year’s Eve is always a welcome bonus to being taken when the holidays roll around as well.
There aren’t as many fun date ideas in the winter
In the summer, the world is your oyster. There are countless unique things to do on a first date, including but not limited to, drinks on a patio, a baseball game, a picnic, bike riding and a day at the beach. In the winter, being outside isn’t as appealing, and trekking across the city to meet up with someone seems more like a hassle than anything else.
Basically, dating in the summer is fun, carefree and full of possible surprises. Dating in the winter is a pain and no one wants to do it.
He’s more likely to be looking for something serious too.
Women aren’t the only ones who are looking to settle down as the weather gets colder. Guys like the warmth and comfort of having someone to come home to just as much, and since they’ll have a lot fewer opportunities to meet new people at BBQs, happy hours and outdoor concerts, they’ll probably jump at the chance to hibernate for the winter with a girl they enjoy spending time with. You never know, all the time together over the winter could lead to a solid bond that could go the distance even once the weather starts to warm up again.
It’s actually an evolutionary thing
Consider Charle’s Darwin’s classic “survival of the fittest” theory. In the past, traveling in packs and being coupled up, especially in the winter, increased chances of survival thanks to more bodies to generate warmth and scavenge for food. People who had someone else looking out for them were also more likely to survive through the winter and go on to reproduce. Those specific challenges might not be so relevant today, but we all still have those instincts inside of us.
Before you start to panic about having no one to cuff with this fall, don’t worry— Tinder still works all-year-round.
What do you think of cuffing season? Share your thoughts below.