6 reasons to have a 'sex holiday' before the holiday season

Slowly but surely, the holiday season approacheth. For many of us, that signifies a whole lotta cozy quality time spent with family and friends around piles of comfort food. Of course it can also mean hectic travel plans, frustrating family politics, and zero to very little space and privacy.  The latter can be especially frustrating, considering that people tend to feel particularly horny during the holiday season.

Maybe it’s that there's something nostalgic about the time of year that increases the desire to feel more romantically and intimately connected, or maybe it’s that holidays offer us more time to relax, which means more time to reacquaint ourselves with the adventurous spark that’s usually buried under endless to-do lists.

But how to marry an increased sex drive and more time off with increased family time and no peace and quiet? Hell, depending on where you’re planning to spend the holidays, you may not even be able to share a bed with your SO. What’s worse, if you and your partner have no choice but to split up to attend your respective holiday get-togethers, the distance becomes even more palpable. And while long distance sex is always an option, chances are you’re craving more.

Enter the pre-holiday “sex holiday.” Scheduling one can provide an opportunity for both of you to chill out, reconnect, and prioritize intimacy. Offering yourselves a pre-holiday escape valve may be just what the good goddess ordered: a solid way to strengthen and center your emotional and physical connection so you can then enter the festive season with a deeper sense of closeness and shared experiences. Really, what’s more holiday-cozy than that?

What exactly is a sex holiday, anyway?

The answer is oh-so-simple, yet also complex. Your sex holiday can be anything you want it to be—just be sure you both agree on what that is before plans are made. While the main goal of a sex holiday is to celebrate your coupledom and carve out space for sex and intimacy, the way in which you choose to do that is just that—a choice.

Maybe you book a cabin in the woods away from everything and everyone—one with a stone fireplace and a shag carpet where you can find ways to blow off steam in peace. Or maybe you plan yourselves a quick tropical getaway and get your summer on—just because you can. Sometimes, there ain’t nothing like dark rum and tan lines to get one's motor purring. And, of course—if you and your partner both happen to swing that way—there are always even more, um, adventurous options out there, y’know, like swinger’s resorts, sex parties, threesomes, that kinda thing. Ya heard it here first. Whatever you decide on, be sure you’re both (enthusiastically) on the same page.

The benefits of a pre-holiday sex holiday

Still not convinced? Let’s break it down, shall we?

Scheduling a sex holiday before the holiday season takes over your life offers many benefits, including:

1. Stress relief

A pre-holiday sex getaway is a science-backed way to alleviate stress. Orgasms trigger the release of feel-good hormones known as endorphins, which have a euphoria-inducing, stress-reducing effect. At the same time, they reduce the level of stress hormones like cortisol circulating in your body. This overall hormonal shift promotes a state of calm and promotes emotional bonding with your partner. Not to mention, meaningful stress relief sets a positive tone for the upcoming holiday season—you’re both that much more likely to approach it with a chilled out, harmonious mindset.

2. More hotter passion

Sex holidays offer you a rare but golden opportunity to reignite the romance and passion in your relationship, an ingredient that’s sure to make the holiday season a lot more exciting. This is the ideal time to consensually and enthusiastically deepen your intimacy by exploring new sexual experiences, kinks, taboos and fantasies. And the creation of naughty new memories (and new traditions?!) can be carried with you into the realm of holiday festivities—whether you have privacy enough to dry hump one another into oblivion or not.

3. Quality time

Carving out time specifically devoted to exploring pleasure and intimacy with your romantic or sexual partner is quality time by its very definition. Imagine an uninterrupted, undistracted period during which you have no responsibilities other than connecting sexually, cuddling, and remembering all that good, real stuff, the stuff that's actually important to a life well-spent. Spending quality time together in a setting outside of the norm strengthens your emotional and physical bonds alike. You get to focus on one other without the noise, fostering a deeper sense of togetherness, baby.

4. Much-needed playtime

While the holidays are a time of undeniable playfulness, gratitude, merriment, and togetherness, let’s be real: they can also take a serious toll on your playfulness as a couple. Sex toys are great stocking, um, stuffers, sure, but why wait till the holidays when you could get yours now? Then there’s the lost art of the sex game—why not try one on for size? In the thick of our daily routines, sex too often loses its sparkle, at times becoming overly serious and predictable. Games are the perfect way to shake that up and get you nice ’n prepped for a little holiday boisterousness with your other loved ones—Twister, anyone?)

5. Better communication

Open and honest conversations should be your baseline, 100% of the time. But since your focus is so, well, focused over the course of a sex holiday, strong communication can go even further. Think improved understanding between you and your partner, more effective problem-solving, and, in turn, an improved sexual relationship, which is bound to continue throughout the holiday season—and well beyond it. Remember, a top notch sex holiday requires zero distractions—so let your phone die, if you dare.

6. Anticipation, anticipation

Anticipating your sex holiday before it happens as well as reminiscing about it after the fact (and indeed, during the holiday season) can add an extra layer of excitement—a sheen, if you will—to any and all festivities, making them that much warmer and more enjoyable. Part of being in a couple, after all is making plans together—plans that feed your couple emotionally, sexually, hell, even spiritually. So if you have the resources to make it happen, why hesitate? Looking forward (and back) is half the fun, after all.

Happy sex holidays to all, and to all a love bite (if that’s your thing). <3