The Perfect (Easy!) Date Night Jar

Have you ever gotten into a date rut with your spouse?

I know that for Corey and I, it’s so easy to fall into the same old routine and forget to branch out and try new things. We get so caught up in the day-to-day that we don’t think to plan anything unique, and when date night rolls around we always fall back on the good ol’ dinner-and-a-movie routine.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with a plain ol’ date (a night out is a night out, amiright?), but sometimes it’s fun to step out of your comfort zone and try something new. One of the most memorable dates Corey and I have ever been on is when we accidentally found ourselves in the middle of an intense scavenger hunt race that we totally weren’t prepared for – we’ll never forget the hilarity of that day!

Since it can be so hard to come up with ideas on the fly for fun things to do, I decided to surprise Corey with a date jar that would do the thinking for us.

I started by glitter-ifying an old mason jar with some Mod Podge – just spread it on, sprinkle on the glitter, and shake off the excess (then add an extra layer on top to seal it all on there).

Once my jar was pretty, I grabbed some large popsicle sticks and did some brainstorming.

Once I had a nice list of date ideas, I categorized them – there are a billion different ways you could divide them up, but I put mine into three categories:

1. At-home dates that require little to no planning or money
2. Dates that require leaving the house and don’t cost more than about $50
3. Big dates that require more extensive planning  and more money

Once I had my list of dates, I designated a color for each category – light pink is for the stay-at-home dates, dark pink is for the cheaper leave-the-house dates and purple is for the more expensive dates.

I bought some large popsicle sticks and colored one side of them with the category colors, then I flipped them over and wrote a date idea on them.

After that? I tossed them in the jar and called it a day.

Seriously. Easiest gift ever.

I’m so excited to dive into this little jar – it’s a great way to get us to step outside the box a little bit with our dates and it encourage us to try new things. And hopefully it will break us out of what “what do you want to do?” “I don’t know, what do you want to do?” rut!

Here’s a list of the dates I used for the jar. Some of them are Austin-specific, but the majority of them can be done just about anywhere.

Stay at home dates ($)

1. Create a new signature cocktail
2. Take a walk to the park
3. Watch a movie we’ve never seen
4. Grab a bottle of wine and have a game night
5. Grab fast food for dinner and rent a movie
6. 1000 piece puzzle and pizza
7. Cook dinner with completely new recipes
8. Lay in the backyard and look at the stars
9. Play video games together
10. Try out a new television show

Going out dates, little planning ($$)

1. Buy each other gifts from the dollar store
2. Go watch the bats downtown
3. Go to a drive-in movie
4. Go try a new restaurant
5. Go to the dog park
6. Go see a movie at the dollar theater
7. Hit up a few thrift stores
8. Dinner/movie (Corey’s choice)
9. Dinner/movie (Amanda’s choice)
10. Hit up some garage sales

More expensive dates ($$$)

1. Visit a winery
2. Go explore a new part of downtown
3. Go see a movie at Alamo Drafthouse
4. Get a hotel room downtown
5. Shopping spree at the outlet mall
6. Go to Six Flags
7. Go camping
8. Try a fancy restaurant we’ve never been to
9. Go antiquing in Gruene, TX
10. Go spend the day in College Station to reminisce

I can’t wait to see how testing out these dates pushes our limits and encourages us to be more creative when we have time to spend together. Going on unique dates is always a fantastic way to bond with your spouse, and it can create some lasting memories!

What are your favorite out-of-the-box date ideas?