Christmas

Image: Stir

Actress Busy Phillips is starring in her latest project – a new holiday promotion for dating app Stir, which caters to single parents.

The campaign MILF on the SHILF campaign satirizes the popular Christmas tradition in many households with kids of “Elf on a Shelf,” but now with an adult twist. The goal is to help single parents have a little fun this holiday season and embrace their inner MILF or DILF (Mother or Father I’d like Fireside, according to the campaign).

The campaign features a video of Phillips in elf attire posing on a mantel, luxuriating in costume in a bath, and advocating for parents to take care of themselves this holiday season – instead of focusing all their attention on making sure the kids have a great holiday.

Image: bumble

Bumble for Friends, the new standalone app for finding friends from dating app Bumble, has partnered with holiday turkey brand Butterball to bring people together this holiday season.

The new partnership initiative called “Find Your Table” features a series of Friendsgiving events and some resources to help people make new connections ahead of the holiday season. The purpose, according to the joint press release, is to “help people make new connections and discover the joy and ease of gathering with friends and family, over turkey, this holiday season.”

The in-person event launches Thursday, November 2nd at 6:00pm EST in New York City, and will feature friendship coach Danielle Bayard Jackson, No More Lonely Friends founder Marissa Meizz and Dinner with Friends Founder Anita Michaud, along with reps from Butterball, according to the release. They will conduct holiday tastings as well as help to connect people.

Dating app Hinge has partnered with popular taco chain Chipotle as well as Uber Eats to offer a new “Cuffing Season” menu and delivery service for daters. 

According to CNN, the new menu will include three special selections: “Day Date” which includes two entrees and a side of chips and salsa, “Date Night” featuring two entrees, a side of chips and queso and two Tractor drinks, and the “Hinge Date” for the solo riders, with one entrée, one side of chips and salsa, and one Tractor drink. According to Fox Business, these options will be available for free delivery or discounts at certain times during the promotion.

Dating app Hinge wants its users to meet in person over cuffing season, specifically over burritos from Chipotle.

Hinge partnered with the popular Mexican food chain to offer free burritos for its users from December 13-31, the height of cuffing season when people tend to hook up during the cold days of winter. What better time to share a hot, delicious meal with someone you met over a dating app?

Hinge users get a buy one/ get one free deal for burritos, salad, or an order of tacos, according to website Bustle.

If “find love” is one of your resolutions for 2016, you're in luck. Get your best pickup lines ready, because the busiest time of year for online dating is rapidly approaching.

Match.com has revealed the exact day the most users will log on in 2016, and even narrowed the time down to the minute. Using their site traffic data, Match predicts that Sunday, January 3, at 8:52 pm EST is when the most users in all of 2016 will be logging on to the site.

Why is early January peak season for online dating? January 3 follows two major holidays, Christmas and New Year's, when singletons can feel especially lonely. On top of that, the beginning of the year is prime time for New Year's resolutions, which are often made about love and relationships.

Dr. Helen Fisher, biological anthropologist and Chief Scientific Advisor for Match, says there's a biological reason for this behavior. “I think all three brain systems for love become stimulated around this time of year, including sex drive, feeling of attachment and romantic love,” she told Bustle.

She goes on to say that the novelty of the holidays can trigger the dopamine system, which encourages feelings of romance, while the hugging and nostalgia that accompany the season can trigger feelings of attachment. If you're not in a relationship, it can emphasize your singlehood.

“Moreover,” she continues, “the beginning of the new year is a natural time for rejuvenation and renewal; and has been for thousands of years. So we naturally begin to look around for a true love.”

If you can't log on exactly at 8:52 pm EST on January 3, don't stress. Match says that peak season will span the full month of January and then some. The site rountinely experiences a 60 percent leap in new members signing up between December 25 and February 14, so you could have a new special someone just in time for Valentine's Day.

And it's not just sign ups that get a boost during this time of year. The number of messages exchanged also increases with the influx of new numbers. Match says that a whopping 50 million messages are sent during peak season.

In order to secure that V-Day date, users step up their game across the board. Along with sending more messages, members use the new year to rejuvenate their profiles and add new photos. Fifteen million new images are uploaded to Match between Christmas and Valentine's Day.

Is all that effort worth it? Statistics say yes. Match predicts that 1 million people will go on dates as a result of the elevated activity during peak season. Now is the perfect time to freshen up your profile and double down on your dating efforts in 2016. For more information on this dating service, please read our review of Match.com.

It’s that time of year – the decorations and lights are up, people are rushing around to catch the sales, and extra glasses of bubbly are being poured in festive cheer. Not to mention all the happy couples, who seem to be everywhere and doing romantic things like ice skating and warming up together by a nice fire.

Instead of running in the other direction or shutting yourself off from social events this holiday season because you don’t have someone to go with, it’s time to pull out that pair of red heels and start meeting new people. And having some fun.

The holidays are the best time to socialize, especially if you’re single. Between happy hours, office holiday parties, and friends inviting you to their holiday festivities, there’s much more of a chance to meet someone new. (Bonus: you don’t have to use Tinder, either.)

Following are 5 tips for a fun holiday season – and to meeting more people:

Accept all invitations. Even to that boring networking mixer or Aunt Sally’s potluck dinner. During the holiday season, more people attend social events than at other times of the year, so those invitations you try to avoid might actually be more fun than you think. You never know who might show up.

Invite your friends (if you can). Maybe your best pal is not romantically your type, but you have fun hanging out together. This is a good time of year to make plans and bring him to parties with you. This expands both of your social circles, and therefore both of your options of meeting more people.

If not, be brave and go solo. It might seem intimidating to go to a party alone, especially if you think it will be filled with couples. Instead of avoiding dinner parties and other couple-ly events, dress up and put yourself out there. You never know who your friends might have invited, or who they could set you up with in the future. There’s nothing more attractive than a woman or man confidently walking up to strangers to strike up conversation.

Do something you enjoy, just because. Do you like to make hot chocolate with a shot of whiskey for your friends? Do you like decorating a Christmas tree, volunteering your time to a local food bank, or binge watching your favorite TV series while you bake cookies? Do it. There’s no time like the present. It will also put you in a good frame of mind for all the holiday stress ahead.

Spend time with the people you love – and like. The holidays are about being thankful for the people in your life who bring you happiness, joy, or even a good shoulder to cry on. These are the people to hang with this holiday season. It’s really about having fun and sharing experiences with the people you love, romantic or not. It puts you in a great frame of mind for when you do happen to be out and meet someone who catches your attention.