Date Night Jar

Hey y'all!! How is it already March?? I feel like this year is flying by and it just started like last week! Let me start today with a life update...husband is officially getting out of the Army this spring after 6 years of service! While we (mostly) enjoyed our time as a military family, we are more than ready to go back to the slightly more stable civilian life and hopefully move closer to family in Texas. While nothing is 100% set in stone yet, husband got accepted into a Veterans program with a technology company. After completion of the program (and passing a couple of very hard tests), he will hopefully be offered a full time job in...wait for it...the Dallas area! While it's not Houston, it's in Texas, and if that's as close as we can get right now, that's good enough for us!  We've already begun working on the little things the house needs to sell and I've started cleaning out rooms and closets to get rid of stuff we just don't need or use anymore--you don't realize how much stuff you accumulate until it's time to pack and move it all. Luckily, the Army will send packers and movers, so we won't have to do much physical work, but the thought of someone packing and moving all of your worldly possessions is way more mentally exhausting! So stick around as I share with you the pains and joys of selling our home, finding a new home, moving, and getting re-adjusted to life outside the military! 2017 is about to get crazy, folks!

I'm probably about 2 weeks late on this post since Valentines Day has come and gone, but my 9 year wedding anniversary is coming up soon, so it inspired me to share with you a gift I made hubby a couple of years ago! So many of my friends and family (us including) get caught up in the day to day life of raising a family, working, and running a household that there isn't much time to date your spouse. If this sounds like you, keep reading for a fun way to come up with a date idea without much thought or effort, which makes finding time the only obstacle!

The first thing I did was start writing down date ideas that we've either never done or have done before and really enjoyed. When I ran out of my own ideas, I turned to Pinterest. Ahh good 'ol Pinterest to the rescue! Once I had a pretty good sized list, I got some craft sticks and started writing the ideas on them. Easy enough, right? Once I finished, my OCD kicked in and I thought it would be nice to have these ideas in categories to make it even easier to choose one. So I divided the sticks into 3 categories-free/cheap, moderately priced, and splurge dates. I just figured this would make it easier to suit whatever budget we had for that particular day or weekend instead of pulling out something that cost a fortune only to have to pick 5 more times to find an activity that fit our current situation. Once divided, I colored the ends of the sticks three different colors to correspond with the pricing categories. Once that was all done, I stuck the sticks in a mason jar, wrote on the outside with a paint pen, and poof, one date night idea jar!

We haven't used this as much as I'd like, but hopefully once things settle down for us a little more towards the end of the year, we will start using it again! It's fun to just reach in and not know what adventure you are going to go on together!

So here's the list I came up with and we use in our jar, let me know in the comments if you have any ideas that aren't on my list and maybe we can add them to our jar! This could be easily adapted to make a "Family Sunday Funday" jar filled with family activity ideas as well!

Free/ Super Cheap Ideas
Board Game night
Do a puzzle together
Go swimming
Make a fancy dinner together
Have a picnic in the yard (or living room floor)
Picnic at the park
XBox Game night
Netflix marathon
Backyard Camping
Give each other massages
Give each other pedicures (yes, guys need these on occasion too!!)
Go on a hike at the park (we just did this one last week and had lots of fun!)
Make a family (or couples) vacation bucket list
Have a backyard fire and make s'mores
Photography Date (go somewhere pretty and take pics of each other or the scenery)
Drive around and look at Christmas lights (obviously this is seasonal!)

Moderate Priced Ideas ($10-$40)
Double dinner date with friends
Pool Hall Date
Go Ice Skating
Drive in movie date
Pottery Painting date
Wine & Paint date/Paint Class
Breakfast date
Go to the Zoo
Fondue Dinner at home
Go to the Driving Range
Play a round of golf
Play mini golf
Bookstore date (walk around with a cup of coffee discussing books!)
Go to a bar to watch a football game
Go to a shooting range
Go to a museum
Go to an aquarium
Vineyard or Brewery Tour date
Dave and Busters for dinner and games
Go to batting cages
Go bowling
Go see a movie
Coffee shop date
Try a new restaurant
Drinks & desserts only date
Go to a local fair/festival/rodeo

Splurge Dates (Over $50-ish and/or require pre-planning)
Go to a bed & breakfast overnight
Fancy dinner date
Couples massage
Camping at the lake (or wherever you like to go camping)
Go to a concert
Go zip lining
Go horseback riding
Rent a boat for the day
Go to a college/pro sporting event
Hot air balloon ride
Beach weekend/overnight

Happy dating!! :)

-A