Date Sticks

This month we are focusing on things you love and if you have a significant other, they should be at the top of the list!  Life is busy with...well, stuff and hanging out with your spouse or S.O. might not be as easy as it sounds.

Ahhh...date night.  Sounds so lovely right?  How often do you have them?  If you're like me, not often enough! Last year I scheduled date nights for the last Saturday of every month so that we would actually take them.  This was much more successful for us than previous years and we got to have a lot of fun outings. However, it seemed like all we ever did was go to a restaurant and hang out.  Which is ok, don't get me wrong, but it's not a lot of variety.  Then, to make matters worse, we started going to the same restaurant and hanging out.  Which equaled even less variety.

This year, I wanted to have a little more...guess what...VARIETY in our date nights.  I also wanted to have some cheaper options than going out to eat.  If you drink with dinner, and believe me, we do, dinner gets expensive.

Enter the Date Sticks.  I saw this idea on Pinterest.  The premise behind it was you could pick a date stick and have some spontaneity in what you were doing that night.  That's only partially what I was going for, so I took the basic stick idea and made it my own.

Number one, I don't want to pull a stick on a Saturday morning and get something that I really don't want to do that night.  OR, pull a stick Saturday night for our date and then find out I have to run to the store for supplies or a particular food.  That is starting my date off on the WRONG NOTE.

Number two, I read somewhere that you should have something to look forward to every day.  I kind of liked that idea.  Jumping on that band wagon, hubs and I decided that we would pull the stick a week before hand so that we can have something to look forward to and know what that something is. And, have plenty of time to prepare, if necessary.

Now, I will tell you that we have pulled a stick and said "Nah" and put it back because it was something we weren't feeling right now.  Hey, you do it your way, I'll do it mine.

There are lots of date ideas on Pinterest.  Some of them I liked, some I didn't, some were just not us. This is supposed to be fun for you!

I bought some large popsicle sticks at AC Moore and used a red fine point Sharpie to write my ideas on them.  We have 2 jars:  "Staying in" and "Going Out".  I used Mason jars and coated the inside with paint.  Then I tied on a red ribbon with hearts and voila...date jars.

So here, in no particular order, are our date sticks 2016.  Please feel free to steal them, alter them or add to them!

Staying In
Watch the first movie you ever saw together
Read aloud to each other
Exchange foot rubs
Mexican night
Take out and Scrabble
Watch a documentary together and discuss
Make calzones and play a board game
Have a candlelight night
Make your own massage oil.  Exchange back rubs.
Blankets on the back porch and watch a movie
Roast marshmallows over a fire
Make a bucket list together and make your own sundaes
Homemade pizza and Italian movie
Make mulled wine
Plan our next trip together
Make a puzzle and eat pizza
Nachos and a boy movie
Learn a new hobby together
Build a fort together
Camp outside together
Make milkshakes and watch home movies
Fancy popcorn and a chick flick
Look out our wedding album
Play a childhood game
Make dessert together
Play video games together
Dinner and a movie - with a theme
Search online for dream home
Have a picnic outside under the stars
Make fancy coffee and go for a walk
Video record the story of how you met and fell in love
Fondue and wine night
Play cards
Paint together on canvas
Make a playlist of 10 songs from when you were first dating
Pick out cheese, sausage and wine and then share
Write out 10-15 memories each.  Then read them out loud to each other.
Make foreign food and plan your top 10 trips you want to take.
Chopped challenge - recipe or ingredient
Make a collage of favorite pictures - digital or otherwise
Make something you've never made before in the kitchen together
Ice cream night!  Buy small containers of favorite (each of us).  Talk about ice cream memories from your childhood.


Going Out
Drive in date (http://www.goochlanddriveintheater.com)
Drive out of town to stargaze together (maybe you can do this where you live, we will see nothing!)
Go antiquing
Window shopping for the house.  Replan a room
Laser tag
Go zip-lining
Go to a hockey game
Grab a pint at an Irish pub
Go to a museum
Play darts
Go bowling
Do a wine tasting
Play paint ball
Drive go carts
Go rock climbing at a gym
Do a beer tasting
Go to the shooting range

Make time for your spouse this year, anyway you can!

Happy Dating!
K