As we shake off the latest cold snap, it's hard to believe that Valentine's Day is just a few days away. It may be because I am hopelessly in love with my husband, but Valentine's Day remains my favorite commercialized holiday. Honestly, we don't need a special day to celebrate our love, but all the hearts, pink stuff, stuffed animals, flowers, and all the mushy stuff in the stores just gets to me. And while I'm pretty mushy and lovey-dovey on a daily basis, having a time of year where I can get away with it in excess is pretty fun.
This year, Brenton and I agreed not to exchange gifts, but I couldn't just let the day pass without commemorating it somehow. And what could be more ridiculously lovey-dovey than planning dates for the rest of the year? Thats right, I made a "date night jar"! While we usually don't have any issue planning dates together, sometimes its fun to leave it up to chance. Plus, the more pink, girly, glittery things I have in my possession, the better.
Need a last minute Valentine's day gift? Something that is heartfelt, sincere, and only requires one stop and some simple steps to put together? Well, you better read on!
All materials were purchased from Joann's craft store.
What you will need:
- Pink and red scrapbook paper or card stock of choice (glitter is always good)
- Mason jar or hooked storage jar
- Ribbon and lace
- 2 sheets of alphabet stickers (I reiterate, glitter is good)
- Fine point Sharpie
- Scissors
- Date ideas (the hardest part, honestly)
Step 1: Make the jar pretty!
a) Add ribbon and lace around the top of the jar. While I do like Mason jars or Bell jars, I just think they are a little over-used. Just as classic and cute is the hooking jar, plus you don't risk losing the lid to the jar. Tie your selection of ribbon and lace in a bow, or however you so choose.
b) Add your alphabet stickers to spell out whatever you want on the jar. With my red, glittery, cursive letters, I spelled out "Date Night Jar," "Love," and "Fun." Most of the time, you will need two or more sheets of stickers to get enough letters of the proper case in order to spell out what you want.
Step 2: Cut out hearts!
Using the scrapbook paper, draw out as many hearts as you have date ideas for. I always start with a stencil, then I traced and cut out 12 red hearts and 12 pink hearts.
Step 3: Write down the date ideas!
I said this earlier, but this was the hardest part for me. I asked Brenton to throw in a couple ideas, and we finally came up with twenty four ideas to draw from. Use a sharpie or whatever you want to write out your date ideas. Then fold them in half, toss them in the jar, and thats it! After these last couple photos, I will show you the list of some of the date ideas that are in our jar.
Date Ideas:
Most of these our relevant to our interests and local restaurants, parks, etc. But there are great generic ideas online if you search for "date night jar." I tried to come up with a good balance of dates out and dates at home.
- Two hours of foreign language study
- Program LED heart with Arduino
- Sushi at Midori's
- Install classic Mario Bro's emulator on Raspberry Pi
- Eat Frugal's in car at a park
- Action movie with mini pizzas
- Walk to Sweet Peak's ice cream
- Dinner at Brannigan's Pub
- Watch anime and eat chicken wings
- Quest together on WoW
- Movie at theater and Frozen Yogurt
- Cuddling and YouTube fail videos
- Dressy dinner at Mambo's
- Stroll around Lawrence or Woodland Park
- Warhammer skirmish
- Buy and play new board game
- Ice skating or sledding
- Skiing
- Comedy movie and Chinese takeout
- Eat dessert first
Obviously, some of these are seasonal, like skiing for winter, and walking outside in summer. So just throw the heart back in the jar, shake it up, and draw another date!
Until next time,
-Alycia
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