Date Night Vase!

     Anthony & I have been married for almost 20 months (if I did the math correct - and we all know that rarely happens), and I think that we've both realized that we tend to get into these "comfortable", "monotonous", "lazy" phases where we end up doing the exact same thing every day. Come home from work, make dinner, eat dinner, do some chores, play with bunnies, watch tv.  The last part is the part that gets frustrating. I know also, that I am a huge homebody so if I don't make plans in advance to do something I will pretty much just stay inside all day which then makes me not want to go and do something later on anyways. And let's face it, we all need to get out of the house every now and again.
     I saw a link on Pinterest for a date night jar - and I LOVE this idea, so I made one - except that ours is more like a date night VASE (ok it is a date night vase) because we didn't have popsicle sticks and the mason jar was too small for all my rolled up pieces of paper. I'm super excited for this - I am convinced that it is going to be SO much fun and that we will grow even closer together as a result of it.

Thanks to Pinterest and these lovely bloggers:
Life in the Green House
Six Sisters' Stuff
Small Notebook
Ideas for a Fun Date
Happy Money Saver
The Dating Divas

and some creativity on our own behalf, we were able to come up with a TON of fun things to do together.




When I told my husband what I was doing, the first thing he asked me was, "are you making it color coded?". Of course I am - normally I would have done it a little more uniformly, but I'm trying to NOT spend money when I have other things that will work just as well, so I just used what ribbon I had laying around and split it up into 4 categories.

• Dark Pink Ribbon = more expensive dates, dates that involve advance planning, or both
• Light Pink Ribbon = less expensive dates that get us out of the house
• Tan Ribbon = at home dates
• Princess Ribbon = $5 or less dates

(I realized after I had tied the dark pink ribbons pretty tightly that I should have used the Princess Ribbon for the expensive dates and another ribbon for the cheap dates, but I'll have to fix that another time.)

Here's a list of the dates we decided to include:
Dark Pink Dates - More Expensive Dates/Planning Dates:

• Melting Pot
• Go to the Zoo
• Weekend Away
• Hotel Stay for the Night
• Dinner at a Fancy Restaurant
• Go to a Local Fair or Carnival
• Go See a Play
• Go to the Water Park

 
Light Pink Dates - Less Expensive/Out of the House Dates:

• Go to the Botanical Gardens
• Go to a Museum on Free Admission Night
• Try a New Restaurant
• Theme Night - Decide on a theme and stick to it ALL night
• Go to a Local Sporting Event
• Coffee Date
• Window Shopping for the House
• Dessert Only
• Bowling
• Mini Golf
• Dinner and a Movie (Hubster's Choice)
• Dinner and a Movie (Wifey Boo's Choice)

Tan Dates - At Home Dates:

• Have a Spa Night
• Go Swimming/Jacuzzi
• Back to the 50s Night – turn the kitchen into a diner with burgers, fries, milkshakes
• Rent a Movie from the Library to Learn to Dance Together
• Have an Outdoor Picnic
• Have an Indoor Picnic
• Build a Fort
• Action Movie
• Chopped Challenge
• Homemade Pizza and an Italian Movie
• Make Dessert Together
• Popcorn and a Chick Flick
• Puzzle and Pizza
• Take Out and Board Games
• Fondue and a Movie

Princess Dates - Cheap Dates (again, I should have switched the princess ribbon and the dark pink ribbon):

• Have a root beer float date
• Visit a bakery and pick up two cookies! Next, head to somewhere fun to enjoy
• Enjoy 2 Redbox movies and have a movie night.
• Lay on a blanket in the backyard and stargaze while listening to two new songs you’ve downloaded
• Grab water guns at the Dollar Store and have a water fight!
• Visit a fast food drive-through and enjoy a milkshake with two straws.