Forget flowers and dinner reservations – Modern couples are marking milestones that are even more thriving, smelly or weird.
They are called “arbitrary communication” – composition, specific to a particular holiday, celebrates messy, awkward and unique modern moments that define the relationship in 2025.
Think about it: “The first time you opened the door,” “The night you first naked meet,” or “The new show of your abandoned carnival day.” Yes, really.
“We swiped in December and a week later we met the stands that should be one night,” pop music editor Emma Glassman-Hughes wrote in a recent post.
She cited the term “responsive” previously coined by Domary’s expert Laura Boyle, who noted in a 2021 blog post that they could be “an interesting excuse to mark the passage of time with your loved ones and intend to be with more time.”
“By December, already filled with memories in the bank, we had no clue about the dates that took into account our actual “anniversary”.”
Rather than feeling pained by the “official” coupling, Glassman-Hughes and her partner threw away the rulebook and celebrated their first annual “Co-combination Day” in March, marking the night they made tomato, kale and white bean soup together.
“Cooking together in my kitchen was like a big step, breaking the barrier to intimacy that was as special and rare as the first kiss,” she recalls.
“As the soup cooked, we talked about where our tastes overlap and diverge in the music, which he called the night of “co-combination.”
Tiktok users also tend toward strange anniversary trends.
A user @mmakalea proudly recorded her husband’s “first time” in making the yard, dubbing it as a “marriage milestone.”

Meanwhile, a pair of @couplagoofs became real in the @itgetsbetter video, highlighting the first time they felt “comfortable enough” to tell each other to brush their teeth, and the first time they “pissed”[ed] The door opens. ”
The red is on the boat, too. In r/polymery subreddit, user @nothanx_nospanx crowdfunding “stupid and sweet relationship first” to mark their upcoming first anniversary. The list includes “first scheduling problem” and other unique multiple moments.
One user answered the highlight of their own anniversary, writing: “Leave the toothbrush in each other’s place, create your joint calendar, their pets accept your day, successfully negotiated the holiday between partners.”
It turns out that celebrating unconventionality may save your relationship.
According to a previous New York Post report, a staggering quarter of couples fell into “relationship ruts” with symptoms ranging from boring sexual behavior to barely speaking.
According to a survey conducted by Talker Research on behalf of Lovence, many people say boredom lasted for 10 months. 63% of people are worried that it may end without intervention.
But those who add to things by trying new events together (or just commemorating stupid moments) are more likely to recover the spark.
So whether you are “official” or just a date or open, you can celebrate the day you adopt your dog or the night you first pass gasoline – don’t wait for traditional milestones.
Just choose the weird memory you like and call it love.