Amanda Batula & Kyle Cooke Are "Working On" Something Major This Holiday Season (EXCLUSIVE)
Summer House's Amanda Batula revealed her favorite holiday traditions with her husband, Kyle Cooke.
Amanda Batula loves the holiday season, but there is just one thing that her husband, Kyle Cooke, needs to work on this year ahead of Christmas 2024. While the Summer House couple might love the summertime, they are fully embracing the holidays — as soon as Kyle learns to shop for his wife of three years.
Amanda recently sat down with The Daily Dish where she revealed exclusively that Kyle is "notoriously the worst gift giver in the whole world."
"He doesn't think about it. So it's something we're working on," she explained. Knowing this, Amanda doesn't put "too much pressure" on Kyle to exchange physical gifts all the time. Instead, she likes to exchange experiences, rather than objects. "So for something like Valentine's Day, it is more of a romantic, let's go to dinner, let's go on a nice date night," she said.
But this year, Amanda is "trying to get him better about gift-giving," she said. "So I have to be better about dropping hints for him and making them very clear," she continued. "'Cause I'm a great gift giver. That's all I can say on that."
Details on Amanda Batula's Holiday 2024 decor
Although Kyle might take the back seat when it comes to gift giving, Amanda goes full force when it comes to decorating their New York apartment for the holiday season. She told The Daily Dish that she loves putting a personal touch on her holiday decor. So don't expect to find any generic ornaments on the tree in their very colorful abode.
"There are some fun ones on there," she explained. "And I've also bought some for myself that feel — they're very not Christmas-like at all. There's a can of Diet Coke and a bag of Cheetos. It's that kind of fun stuff that just — whatever reminds us of each other that year, we get."
However, she opts for a fake tree rather than a real one for a practical reason. "We had a real one once upon a time," she explained. "But getting it out on the sidewalk in New York City, down an elevator, through the hallways, it's just a mess. So we went with an artificial one."
Aside from the tree and the ornaments, Amanda tends to keep things pretty minimal in their space. "We don't do anything crazy... a lot of candles, and some cute greenery, nothing over the top," she said. "There's not too many places to hang stuff. And also it's hard in the city, I feel, storing all the decorations. So I try to keep it minimal. And then keep the candles burning so at least it smells like Christmas in the apartment..."
Does Amanda Batula still want to move to New Jersey?
Summer House Season 8 captured Amanda wanting to move out of New York City and into a home in the New Jersey suburbs so she and Kyle could start their family. But, Amanda told The Daily Dish in October that they have since put those plans on the back burner — even though she wants to move into a home, eventually.
Amanda said that she and Kyle are looking to find a "new apartment in the city" that they can "grow into" in a family. "We'll probably live in the city for a bit longer," she explained. "I will get that house in New Jersey, though, don't worry. Just later. At some point, just not yet. I'll be there, don't worry."
-Additional reporting by Stephanie Gomulka
