Using LEGO for romantic reasons. No, not that!

MorkMan

Anyone else use LEGO building as an activity done with their partner? My wife and I have recently found that a nice bottle of wine and a new set can be a great evening. No shows on the TV (maybe music channels), no electronics (iPhone/iPad), just conversation. Reminds me of the years gone by when couples played cards to while the night away.
Anyway, it has been a good time for my wife and I and I highly recommend trying it!

legomatt

And if you get through many bottles of wine in one sitting, you'll also get the fun of staring in wonderment at your otherworldly creation the following morning... before looking for the box to find what it was meant to be. ;oD

nexander

Its something we want to do, the problem is getting the right set that works well with two adults. I don't want to spend all night finding pieces and her doing the building yet doing a separate bit each and putting it together isn't good either.

Any suggestions?

Shib

nexander said:

Its something we want to do, the problem is getting the right set that works well with two adults. I don't want to spend all night finding pieces and her doing the building yet doing a separate bit each and putting it together isn't good either.

Any suggestions?

how about working on a theme together? That way you can be building seperately but also together and then working on layouts/improvements together.

bluemoose

For something a bit more original, how about doing a mosaic based on a family photograph that means something to both of you; maybe a fave wedding photo, or a pic of one of your kids (if you have any), a pet, your home, etc.

I've always thought that the version of their wedding photo that Katie & Ryan Wood did in Lego together was pretty special -
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lights/1518655481/

BOBJACK_JACKBOB

My wife and I build together sometimes. I am the AFOL. She is the AFOL-enabler! She loves that I have Lego as a hobby. She loves the idea of Lego, the finished model and appreciates the happiness I get from it. However... she is not the most... spatially aware person (trying to be delicate here!). She is clumsy and uncoordinated! She finds Lego fiddly and frustrating.

She always builds the people. Sometimes she helps with sets. On Christmas day we built santa's workshop together. She built the reindeer, minifigs, sleigh, tree and north pole sign. I built the workshop and toy machine. She finished about 5 minutes before me.

Interestingly she loves friends. She prefers to build them as there are less moving parts, easier to identify colours and are generally simpler models. Last christmas I built the Lone ranger mine and stagecoach while she built the Friends pet salon.

This is the best way for us to build together. Rather than try to build a set together, we both build something each. So we are building separately but together.

We may only do this 4-5 times a year but these are my favourite building sessions.

Bob

Brickarmor

nexander said:

Its something we want to do, the problem is getting the right set that works well with two adults. I don't want to spend all night finding pieces and her doing the building yet doing a separate bit each and putting it together isn't good either.

Any suggestions?

#10214 Tower Bridge! Or maybe 2 copies of a 3-in-1 Creator set like #31026, so you can either combine the main builds or compare alternate builds.

MorkMan

@BOBJACK_JACKBOB‌ That is the set we built, and done along similar lines. But I built half of the house and she built the other as well as the reindeer and sleigh. I was busy with the wine and making nachos, so time-wise it was about equal. I like your idea of building two separate sets. We wouldn't get into each other's way as much grabbing for pieces.

drdavewatford

My other half has no interest in LEGO building whatsoever, but she occasionally surprises me by offering to help deconstruct big models and/or sort the parts; most recently I've taken apart both Death Star II and the Super Star Destroyer over Christmas to free up display space for other models and she dived into the task with relish....

SirKevbags

drdavewatford said:

My other half has no interest in LEGO building whatsoever, but she occasionally surprises me by offering to help deconstruct big models and/or sort the parts; most recently I've taken apart both Death Star II and the Super Star Destroyer over Christmas to free up display space for other models and she dived into the task with relish....

I've witnessed at first hand a willingness to fiddle with built models though.....

Is there a possibility that some DS II parts have been "accidentally" mixed with those from the SSD? ;-)

drdavewatford

^ Ha!

Nope - all elements present and correct for both models I'm relieved to say! Both had been on display for more than 3 years and hence I was concerned they might have shed a few elements during that time, but all safely sorted, bagged and packed away now.

nexander

Well after she finished her PR I got her for Christmas she suggested rebuilding my nearly complete ( but operational of course) death star.

Separate sets are the way to go i think. Im thinking either a mini or vw camper for her while I do ecto 1.

She realy wants more modulars, not quite in the 'just because I love you' present price range!

Sanddoodle

We are husband and wife, both retired and both AFOL. We do buildings together, large and small (not many vehicles). On the modular and Harry Potter sets we took turns building each floor. Tower Bridge, we each built one of the towers. However, we do our MOCs independently. Sometimes we'll each do a draft, or work on each other's when making improvements and changes.

We agree with the person who recommended three-in-ones: we each do one of the builds plus switch off during the building and sorting and dissembling. We've got it down to a science now, hardly uttering a word when it's time to switch over.

See our web page: elderplay.weebly.com/three-in-one.html

Don't forget the making of wish lists and shopping together, very romantic!

thedoctor46

A few drinks and a new Lego set makes for a fine evening with the Mrs.

We've got it sorted...she sits on the left, I sit on the right, the instructions are open in front of us, she completes the left page then hands it to me to do the right, when it's not our page we search for the others pieces.

MorkMan

^Man, that's romance! I like the idea! Maybe MorkWife and I can try this with our #21301 Birds set this weekend.

legomatt

Sanddoodle said:

We agree with the person who recommended three-in-ones: ...We've got it down to a science now, hardly uttering a word when it's time to switch over.

Oh, the joys of reading things out of context. lol ;oP

aldredd

I find sets such as the winter village sets work well for wife who isn't really into Lego, but finds them 'cute' - and she's pretty excited about the scooby doo sets too!

Tufted_duck

Loving the romantics coming out the woodwork! My wife likes Lego and will build but isn't an AFOL herself. Saying that she's head over heels about the new undersea theme so we'll be getting all of those. Her interest is in the sets and themes that are about exploration rather than open conflict. She always ties it back to the classic space sets she used to have.

jmwardy

My wife hates Lego (perhaps she's an AHOL?) and has to put up with an AFOL husband and two young boys who are just as obsessed with it. I mentioned this thread to her in the hope that she might want to do something similar but she just laughed and then blogged about it.

Actually, if you have a non-AFOL partner who also finds our world annoying and/or baffling, they might want to check out my wife's blog at https://brickwife.wordpress.com/

cheshirecat

Ok this got me thinking, somebody has to make a 50 shades of bley moc.

SithLord196

My fiance and I have spent a lot of time building together.

Actually our plans for this weekend include continuing work on her Parisian Restaurant and my Palace Cinema while watching the 24 Hour race that's on.

For Christmas I got her the Friends Jungle Sets and she built those while I worked on the Death Star (the playset one). During the summer when we weren't living together yet we would sit on her porch at night and build smaller sets we had gotten.

bendybadger

@jmwardy Love your wife's blog. My wife would echo a lot of the sentiment in there. I love that she likes the Polybags but want to open them. Had that discussion a few times with my wife too. Let her open a few of your spares and see if you can tempt her to the Lego side.

Redbullgivesuwind

My girlfriend keeps stealing my peices when I build stuff. I am considering tying her down when I open my Lego. Also she has forced me to budget my Lego spend. I have found ways around that though.

electrobovine

@jmwardy... AHOL! Ha! That's the funniest thing I've read on here since Pitfall went on about low-swinging man balls knocking over LEGO :)

youngagain

My wife and I have just been laughing over the brickwife blog. Very funny, and all so true. And no, it's not normal, but then who wants to be normal ?
I'm very lucky in that my wife encourages me (and sometimes does the old build herself).

snowhitie

Very funny blog!

Can't believe you have so many unopened poly bags! Imagine being able to build those in one go :-)

youngagain

Well the Mrs is getting hooked, thanks to all this romantic talk of building things together. We are currently building the bike shop & café together, following the idea that one does each left hand page, and the other does the right, working very nicely. Only problem is she's encouraging me to spend even more money !!! It's nice to share a hobby though, and also she can't complain about Lego everywhere.

ryjay

Lol, I have no idea how romantic it is, but my wife and I seem to organize the legos much more then we build. We have three kids who love to build, and what we seem to do is when they are done playing/displaying their set, we dismantle, check all the pieces, place back in bags, heat seal and put back in the box. 100% ready for another time.

Norlego

If anyone needs boardgames from the 80s, I have just bought a box full to sell on my stall..... I seem to remember talking with my girlfriends back in the 80, even reading books...

TheLoneTensor

I'd like to go back in in time and see the responses had you not included the "No, not that!" in the title.

ModelMama

Been an AFOL 3 years now. Hubby very supportive but not usually a builder. However for our anniversary last year (24th) he insisted on us buying, and building together, Helm's Deep. It wasn't on my wish-list really, but he really really liked it (all our family being LOTR fans). Was great, but also a bit strange building together as most of my builds are with my 11-year old daughter (PTFOL? - Pre-teen-fan...?). Totally different styles! The most romantic thing for me is him simply being interested in what I'm doing with this hobby - he loved my last MOD (a medium-blue Ship's Chandlers based on the Green Grocer).

Jern92

nexander said:

Its something we want to do, the problem is getting the right set that works well with two adults. I don't want to spend all night finding pieces and her doing the building yet doing a separate bit each and putting it together isn't good either. Any suggestions?

For our date nights we tend to get a large enough set that we can both build together. We'd turn to a page of the instructions, decide which of us were going to look for which particular type of piece, and then get at it. Once we have accumulated all the pieces, we'd each build the side of the model closest to us. He lets me do the figures as well as he's not particularly interested in them. It turns out to be pretty fun overall. Of course, you really need larger sets like buildings etc. for this to work. And we both like buildings, though he also likes ships and trains. I'm more of a modular fan.

Next we're planning on an MOC-ing a castle together, which should be fun. Now to gather all the necessary pieces and sets...

Jern92

youngagain said:

My wife and I have just been laughing over the brickwife blog. Very funny, and all so true. And no, it's not normal, but then who wants to be normal ? I'm very lucky in that my wife encourages me (and sometimes does the old build herself).

Is the brickwife blog still ongoing? I haven't noticed a new post in ages, and I like reading it.

DreamyBongo

I usually build a rod like object with antenae and guns and ask if it reminds her of something.

Drmnez

A few times that i bought my wife a gift i took it to the pab wall and made gift boxes around the gift

Lego91

For my 100.000 brick party (yes I did celebrate that) I bought a bottle of champagne and my parents had to build a Mixel. My Mum one and my Dad one. My Mum dislikes most sets and my Dad really likes Lego. It was such a fun experience to watch them struggle with damn Mixels. My Mum was better than my Dad which surprised me. My Dad was done with the world and totally frustrated and blamed it on his poor vision. Sure thing! They are married for over 30 years and end up "fighting" with each other pretty often but after the building attempt they were like a freshly married couple. Together blaming me for the sets I picked. Haha! 

Personally I don't have any romantic Lego experience but the thought of it is nice. I guess finding a girlfriend who loves LEGO like I do is rare. 

Jern92

Brickarmor said:

Its something we want to do, the problem is getting the right set that works well with two adults. I don't want to spend all night finding pieces and her doing the building yet doing a separate bit each and putting it together isn't good either. Any suggestions?

#10214 Tower Bridge! Or maybe 2 copies of a 3-in-1 Creator set like #31026, so you can either combine the main builds or compare alternate builds.

Planning on tackling the Tower Bridge with my date soon. But then it won't be a date night as much as a date day, considering how big that model is.

karmajay

Since my wife became interested in Lego (which started when my grand daughter told her she was not very good at it) I bought her a modular. She enjoyed it even though she needed help. Now when she gets a new modular I buy a big set (USC SW, etc) and we both open them up and put them together.

karmajay

jmwardy said:

My wife hates Lego (perhaps she's an AHOL?) and has to put up with an AFOL husband and two young boys who are just as obsessed with it. I mentioned this thread to her in the hope that she might want to do something similar but she just laughed and then blogged about it. Actually, if you have a non-AFOL partner who also finds our world annoying and/or baffling, they might want to check out my wife's blog at https://brickwife.wordpress.com/

This is amazing. I can't wait to have my wife read it!

nexander

Just had 2 enjoyable Lego nights with the wife. She is polishing off PC and I'm slowly working on the mrk II crane. I still have a lot to do and she itching for more. My 'to build' pile is going to take a hammering! Doing separate sets seems to do the job.

VorpalRyu

My wife sorts the pieces for me as I build & I've done the same for her, about as close as we get to building together... Then again, I'm collecting Marvel & she's started collecting the Elves range.

legogal

The best romantic build we have found is the Louvre because we have had so many good times there. We built it after dinner one night, and it really was a fun date night. I usually end up finding pieces for Hubby who can never find anything anywhere, and he enjoys the building part more than I. Never thought about the "you build the left page and I will build the right page approach", but it sounds like a winner if you both like to build. The architecture sets are lots of fun to build together if you are looking for a place to start. And modulars sound like another great build together series. This is a fun topic for sure!

iplante

When my wife and I build together we alternate. I'll build 1-2 pages, she does the next couple, etc. takes longer but you both get to build as much and there's more interaction that way. 

MorkMan

I'm glad to hear so many others build/sort/etc. with their significant other. Who knew LEGO had clutch power for more then just the bricks themselves?

Once my wife and I move into our new house, I am going to suggest we 'relax' a bit by building the Parisian Restaurant. It's been sitting boxed up for over a year. Taking it out and building with her will be great. Stress of moving=bad. Wine+Wife+LEGO=good!

Averhoeven

My fiancé and I have taken to occasionally building things together as you mentioned. She finds all the little representations of real life things cute, so things like the modulars really do it for her. The way we do it is we search together and gather all the pieces needed for a page or 2, then we just build together from that new pile.
Then there's also this, which was on the table with a bunch of other things when I proposed. The minfigs are as close an approximation to us as is possible in Lego form (had to buy a $30 DC set just for that hair...). She absolutely loved it and most people claim that's their favorite of the pictures from that night.

MorkMan

@averhoeven That's a great story! It's those little things that keep that spark alive! Congratulations on your upcoming marriage! !

lordzarak

I got married earlier this month (This is the wedding that @prevere mentioned in the Lego Status thread) and it was a blast!  We personalized many areas of the wedding and reception to match our interests and personalities, including a "Legoaized" version of our wedding logo (that's a pumpkin and a lemon with our names), a Lego brick groom's cake, and a Lego building area for the guests!  The Lego table was a smash hit with everyone and kept people busy while the bride and I were off getting our pictures taken.  Beforehand, I built a small set featuring a groom (me) dangerously distracted by his favorite hobby while the bride looks on worryingly! 

KingAlanI

jmwardy said:

My wife hates Lego (perhaps she's an AHOL?) and has to put up with an AFOL husband and two young boys who are just as obsessed with it. I mentioned this thread to her in the hope that she might want to do something similar but she just laughed and then blogged about it. Actually, if you have a non-AFOL partner who also finds our world annoying and/or baffling, they might want to check out my wife's blog at https://brickwife.wordpress.com/

Reminds me of this: A family in our old neighborhood has a father and two sons who are total sports nuts; and the wife and daughter couldn't care less.
-
There is #40165 Wedding Favor Set with a bride, groom, alternate hairpieces and head, and a white arch with flowers and jewels. US [email protected] has it marked down from $9.99 to $7.99.

I remember an MTG thread about some design accents. Someone said that's nothing, they knew of entire ceremonies conducted in Klingon or Elvish.

AndyPol

I use LEGO indirectly for romantic purposes I suppose.

I suggest a trip to Bluewater, tell my wife to go and enjoy herself, she does, she is overjoyed with her shoes/clothes etc, she is pleased with me for suggesting the trip and meanwhile I manage to get my supplies in the boot of the car before she finishes! Then with the skill of a cold war spy swap, the boot gets emptied at home and she is none the wiser, unless my children tell her "Dad got that the other day at Bluewater", then the romance dies slightly!

nexander

^kids are always the weak link. I never say 'dont tell mummy' because it means they will! I don't make a big deal and always have a small set bought so if they do blab you can say 'i got a wee something and they are wrong about everything else'. Not that I have ever done it before :)

TheMaker37

I build with my college aged daughter every once in awhile, I only came out of my dark-ages less than two years ago and I got her involved when she started complementing some of my sets while visiting. It's nice, we take turns finding pieces/building and we argue about what music should be playing.