Stardew Valley allows you to start a new virtual life, moving to a small town to take over an abandoned farm. As part of this new life, you can develop relationships with the other townsfolk, and for some of them, you can even start a romantic relationship. There are a few hoops you will have to jump through to settle down with someone and start a family with them.
You will need to improve your relationship with people by giving them gifts they like. If you need a list, check out GameSpot’s All Stardew Valley characters, birthdays, and gifts guide, which details the favorite gifts of every character in Stardew Valley.
How to date in Stardew Valley
Before you can propose marriage to someone, you need to date them for a bit. In order to date someone, you need to first reach eight hearts with one of the potential marriage candidates. Once you reach that cap, the following morning, Pierre will send you a letter informing you that bouquets are now being sold at his store for 200G. Giving this to a marriage candidate at eight hearts will act as a proposal to date. You can date multiple people without penalty, although there are special cutscenes related to dating every male or female marriage candidate.
How to get married in Stardew Valley
After you start dating a marriage candidate, the heart level cap is raised to level 10. Once you hit 10 with a marriage candidate, you will receive a letter from Lewis informing you that a Mermaid’s Pendant is the traditional way to propose marriage. In order to get one, you need to buy it for 5,000G from the Old Mariner. The Old Mariner appears on the eastern part of the beach, which is accessible after repairing the bridge with 300 wood. Once you have access to that area, he will appear on rainy days, but you have to do the first farmhouse upgrade and be at 10 hearts with a marriage candidate; otherwise, he won’t sell it to you.
After giving it to your future spouse, an icon will appear on the in-game calendar, marking the wedding day. After getting married, your spouse will move into your farmhouse, and the heart relationship level cap will be raised to the max. If you want to get divorced, you can find the option in the Mayor’s House for 50,000G. You cannot get married to multiple people at once.
How to have kids in Stardew Valley
The option to have kids becomes available after getting married and purchasing at least the second upgrade for your house. Once the requirements are met, there is a chance to be prompted to either have kids or adopt them (depending on if you and your partner are the same gender), to which you can either say yes or “not now,” with the yes option resulting in a kid arriving 14 days later. You can have a total of two children, and it will always be one boy and one girl, and they never age past the toddler stage.
How to get rid of kids in Stardew Valley
Somewhat darkly, there’s also a way to remove your kids from your life. If you want to get rid of the children, you can do so by unlocking the late game area, The Witch’s Hut via the Goblin Problem quest. There you can use a Prismatic Shard to turn the children into doves, permanently getting rid of them, although your partner can prompt you to have children again afterwards, so long as you still meet the requirements.
