Unsubtle but not-too-mean ways of telling DH "not tonight dear"?!

[AdornMeWithSparkle]

DH is a bit precious a little sensitive to having his sexual advances rebuffed and, while I am usually up for some with my loving husband, there are occasionally times when I just want to sleep.

Yesterday I thought I was reasonably clear that I wasn't up for it by my frequent mentions of how tired I was but he joined me in the shower (where we just had a chat!) and then was snuggling in bed (which was lovely) but then his hands started wandering so I had to tell him "no thanks". He did a bit of a flounce then.
Anyone got any good subtle-as-a-brick but not too mean ways of telling the DH that tonight's not the night?!

1959sHousewife...LOL @ 'if it's not too personal'

1950s Hmm...not too personal seeing as how I started this but just trying t think. I would say that 4 out of 5 times that he makes advances, he is welcomed! Maybe even 9 out of 10..

Haven't given a weekly figure but I think you get the gist!

It doesn't matter if he's consciously doing it to make you feel bad, or whether he's doing it because he's genuinely upset/frustrated. It's a problem that he gets "huffy" when you say no, because that speaks volumes about how he sees sex between you in general.

I'll leave it at that because you've said you want to keep it lighthearted :)

Bertie - thanks, I do realise that his huffiness is not a good thing and am talking to him about it as well as leaving him to it rather than responding to te passive aggressivity of it.
The nice ways of refusing are sticking plasters while we sort it out at root, if possible!

A good starting point for talking, would be a conversation about just cuddling/kissing/touching/nakedness/oral sex (whatever stage you usually get to which always leads to full intercourse) and mention that, sometimes, it's nice just to do that without taking it any further. And see where the conversation goes from there :)

Only because I had always been in relationships with men who did the "huffy" thing before DP, and it was a bit of a revelation that if I said "Actually I don't feel like doing X tonight" while we were already doing Y, he would just say "Okay" and carry on doing Y and it would be nice, and unstressful, and non-pressured, and sometimes I even get into the mood and decide I do want X after all, and sometimes I don't and we both just enjoy what we are doing without it being an issue.

Bertie thanks again. I sent him a message (emailing works well for us!) earlier to say a few things about this stuff so hoping he'll take it on board!

Am wearing matching underwear today ;)

oh, and wish I had read your post first, Bertie 'cause I ended up sounding a bit negative whereas your gentler "it's nice to just cuddle sometimes" might have been better. ho hum.

Ah well, sometimes it's better to be brutally honest, especially if it's something which is upsetting you.

'Mind if we take a ticket?'

It's kind of shorthand 'do you mind if we take a ticket then redeem it at the weekend?'.

Was useful when DCs were small as it meant they had no idea what was going on.

The opposite is 'jelly?'