Name: Love nuggets.

Age: New-fangled.

Appearance: Small, caring, gestural.

That's not really painting much of a picture for me. What are they? Small, caring gestures.

I'm still not quite following you. Give me an example of a "love nugget". Making a cup of tea.

We already have a name for that. It's called "making a cup of tea". More specifically, making a cup of tea, unbidden, for your partner. It's just one of a number of little acts of kindness that can help a relationship thrive.

Interesting. How does it help, exactly? According to the OnePlusOne charity, such small acts "demonstrate commitment, improve communication, show we care, achieve compromise and even resolve conflicts".

All that just from giving someone a cup of tea they probably didn't want in the first place? Other examples include going to the cinema with your partner even though you don't really want to see the film yourself, making creative presents, or giving foot massages.

Sounds pathetic. A study of 4,000 couples found that the most cherished acts of kindness in a relationship tended to be both mundane and spontaneous. Grand gestures were thought far less important.

What if you hate each other? Wouldn't it just be annoying? The idea is to prevent the problems that lead to marital breakdown by keeping your partnership strong. OnePlusOne has launched a "love nuggets" campaign, with £45,000 of a £2.7m investment from the Department for Education, to get people to take a more proactive approach to relationships.

That sounds a lot of money. How are they using it? For a start they've launched a website, in partnership with Netmums, dad.info and the Student Room, that includes a "random love nugget generator" to inspire you.

Are you sure? Because I just went and Googled "love nuggets" and found something altogether different. Unfortunately the term does have another, rather less safe-for-work definition.

Absolutely no mention of tea. Yes, I know.

It's a good thing I didn't try to surprise my partner with that one. No. That would have sent the wrong message.

Do say: "Hi Sweetie! Here's that spontaneous cup of tea the government told me to make you."

Don't say: "For future reference, it's two sugars."

• This article was amended on 29 July 2014. It originally implied that the project used the entire £2.7m funding from the Department for Education. In fact, the "love nuggets" project used £45,000 of that money. This has been corrected.