Dating · 2 min
Cuffing season: love or just central heating?
The cold kicks in and suddenly everyone wants a partner. What cuffing season means, why it happens and how to tell if it’s love or just a craving for a blanket buddy.
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October. It’s dark by seven, the terrace has lost its charm and, out of nowhere, that chat you’d forgotten about starts buzzing again. Not a coincidence. It has a name: cuffing season.
What cuffing season means
It’s the stretch, roughly October to February, when loads of people look for someone to see out the winter with. Cuff comes from handcuff: getting “cuffed” to someone until spring. The term was born in US slang and now half the internet uses it.
It peaks between November and Christmas, and plenty of these stories get a rethink after Valentine’s Day, when the good weather comes back.
It makes sense. It’s cold, there are more sofa nights, and the Christmas dinners roll in with the same old question: “So, are you seeing anyone?”. Searches for dating sites go up in winter (and again in early summer), according to a study by Patrick and Charlotte Markey. And the first Sunday of January tends to be the busiest day of the year on dating apps.
Winter doesn’t create the need for company. It just turns the volume up.
Love or central heating?
Starting in autumn doesn’t make it fake. The real question is whether you like the person or the plan. Three clues:
- You can picture summer together. If in your head the story expires along with your coat, there’s your answer.
- You talk about more than what to watch next. A blanket brings you closer, but it doesn’t make conversation.
- You’d still want it without the cold. Quick test: 25 degrees, a terrace, a Friday. Still keen?
How to enjoy it without a frozen heart in February
- Say what you want from the start. “Something chill for the winter” and “something serious” are different plans, and both are fine if you both know which one it is.
- Don’t pick out of fear of being alone. Being single in December is not an emergency.
- Look for affinity, not just company. What you have in common is what survives the spring.
And if you’d rather meet someone for how they think, not for how they look in a photo with a scarf, that’s what your bottle is for.