Love has always been about milestones—first dates, first kisses, anniversaries. But in 2025, a quirky, endearing new trend is sweeping across the dating world, especially among younger couples: arbitrary-versaries. These are not your traditional markers like “we’ve been together one year today.” Instead, they’re celebrations of offbeat, personal moments—like the day you first binge-watched a series together, your first Uber ride as a couple, or even the night you made soup together for the first time.

What might seem silly at first is actually deeply meaningful. Arbitrary-versaries are a way couples are reclaiming intimacy in an age that often feels rushed, transactional, and filtered through social media. They’re reminders that love isn’t just about grand gestures or formal milestones. It’s about the ordinary moments that become extraordinary when they’re shared with the right person.

There’s something disarming about this trend. It’s not about perfection or performance. No one’s renting out a rooftop bar to celebrate the first time they shared an inside joke. But they are leaving love notes, making pancakes, or taking selfies to commemorate it. Arbitrary-versaries are personal, low-pressure, and rooted in joy. And maybe that’s exactly what modern relationships need right now.

In a world where comparison can easily overshadow connection, celebrating your own private moments keeps your relationship focused on you. Not what everyone else is doing. Not how polished your relationship looks from the outside. But how it feels between the two of you. These small celebrations create rituals—fun, weird, spontaneous rituals that become the glue in a relationship.

For example, take a couple who marks “dog-versary,” the day they adopted their dog together. That shared commitment isn’t just about the pet—it’s about the decision to build something as a team. Another couple might toast every April 3rd because it’s the day they accidentally wore matching outfits to brunch and got complimented by a stranger. It’s silly, it’s niche, and it’s 100% theirs.

That’s the beauty of arbitrary-versaries: they bring laughter and playfulness back into dating. When so much of love can feel heavy—especially when juggling work, finances, or emotional baggage—these small celebrations bring lightness. You don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars or wait for a “real” anniversary to celebrate what you have. You just need to notice those little sparks and honour them.

What makes this trend especially refreshing is that it pushes back against the idea that love must be validated by external timelines. Not every couple moves in after six months. Not every relationship follows the same path. And that’s okay. Arbitrary-versaries let couples define their own rhythm. Maybe your first “I love you” wasn’t until month nine. Maybe you took a break and then came back stronger. Maybe your relationship doesn’t look like the fairytales—but it’s yours. That deserves to be seen.

And let’s be honest: these kinds of celebrations are often the memories that stick. Ten years from now, you may not remember your third dinner date. But you’ll probably smile when you remember the time you both got food poisoning from that dodgy taco truck and spent the weekend binge-watching cartoons. That’s an arbitrary-versary if there ever was one. And when couples take time to acknowledge those moments, it reinforces the bond in a way traditional milestones sometimes can’t.

In fact, many therapists and relationship experts are applauding the idea. Celebrating small wins and shared experiences is known to build relationship satisfaction. It encourages appreciation and gratitude—two pillars of long-lasting love. When you pause to say, “Hey, remember this moment? I love that we went through it together,” you reinforce your connection in a powerful way.

Of course, like anything, this trend isn’t about going overboard. You don’t need to turn every Tuesday into a party. The magic is in the spontaneity, the sincerity, the way it brings you closer together. It’s not about making a spectacle—it’s about making a memory.

Arbitrary-versaries are also a brilliant tool for couples who want to keep things fresh. Especially in long-term relationships where the days start to blur into routine, these mini-celebrations offer opportunities to reconnect. It might be a silly dinner theme, a shared playlist, or a handwritten note. But it’s something. Something that says, “I still notice you. I still choose us.”

In the grand scheme of things, love isn’t built on anniversaries. It’s built on the Tuesday mornings, the burnt toast, the shared glances, the weird inside jokes no one else understands. Arbitrary-versaries are just a way of saying, “This matters. We matter.”

So if you’re in a relationship and wondering when to celebrate—don’t wait for the official date. Celebrate the first time you laughed until you cried together. The time you went on a spontaneous road trip. The day you fixed a broken chair and felt like a team. Those moments might not make it into your photo albums, but they’re the soul of your story.

In 2025, love isn’t just about swiping, matching, and committing. It’s about creating joy from the little things. It’s about choosing each other—over and over—in small, meaningful ways. Arbitrary-versaries might be unconventional, but they’re one of the most human ways to love. And maybe, just maybe, that’s what makes them worth celebrating.