Date night ideas

I guess it's all the "love" floating around in the air because of Valentine's Day, but I've been thinking about some of the awesome dates that my husband and I have been on. We love just being together, so we pretty much love  any date, but we do try to plan little special things for each other. Here are some of our best ones:

1. The 12 Dates of Christmas Challenge (idea from this blog)- We each wrote down 6 dates and put them in a jar and then took turns picking them out. Most were very inexpensive, quick dates, but it was a fun way to relieve stress and stay connected during the Christmas season. Here are some of the highlights: Went to the theater to see "Fiddler On The Roof", took silly Christmas pictures- we ended up building a "campsite" in our living room and taking pictures around a fake fire, sang Christmas karaoke- there are tons of songs on youtube, went to Starbucks and made fun of people walking by people watched, went thrift store shopping, made hot cocoa and drove around looking at Christmas lights, went to Burger King and bought $1 ice cream sundaes, walked around a lights display downtown, had cookies & milk while we watched "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas", built a "Christmas fort", played in the snow (El Paso had snow!), and drove around looking at Christmas lights in my hometown on Christmas Eve. See? They're all pretty "cheap", but we had a great time and made some great memories! 

2. Bookstore Scavenger Hunt- I got this idea from The Dating Divas blog. They have tons of cute date ideas- I've actually used several, and have several more bookmarked for future reference. Basically, you just make a list of things to look for in the bookstore- a funny joke, a book from somewhere you want to travel, a quiz in a magazine, etc. (The Dating Divas post has a list you can copy, or tweak to make your own). Then, you go to the bookstore together and complete the list. I think we ended up taking Star Wars quizzes (I held my own, thank you very much!), and laughing ourselves silly in the joke section (I thought we might get kicked out!). Another VERY cheap date (free!), but so fun!

3. Movie theme date nights- I've actually done several of these. We've had a Captain America night, a Pirates of the Caribbean night, and most recently, a Star Wars night. I didn't take pictures of the Captain America night, but I wish I would have!! I made "patriotic" food (Star Spangled Sliders), served Super Soldier Serum (blue Jones soda), and dressed up in 40's (ish) clothes. I even found a super cool Captain America shirt for my husband on sale at Walmart. Oh! And I downloaded some 40's music free from Amazon. It was a lot of fun! You can make these movie theme nights as elaborate or as simple as you'd like. My rule of thumb is to try to just use what I have at home. There are all kinds of websites out there that you can search for themed parties that will give you tons of ideas for whatever theme you want to go with. One of my favorites is Tip Junkie- they have tons of do it yourself ideas for parties!

4. Special dinners- Right now, I'm working on planning our Valentine's Day dinner at home. I'm planning to decorate our little dining room like a fancy(ish) restaurant and serve Italian(ish) food. I even have name for our little "restaurant": Posto Della Tartaruga, which is Italian for Place of the Turtle. Our turtle tank is in our dining room (that's just where it fits) and I'm NOT moving it just for a dinner, so I plan to just incorporate it into the general scheme of things. I found some beautiful pictures on Pinterest that I'm using for inspiration. I'll definitely share pictures of whatever I come up with. 

Source: thestir.cafemom.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: plumdelicious.blogspot.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: trulysmitten.blogspot.com via Jessica on Pinterest

I hope this gives you some good ideas of fun (& inexpensive!) date ideas. I'm always looking for ideas & things I can tweak to make work for us, so if you have any ideas, feel free to share them with me in the comments! Remember the main thing is to have fun and connect with your loved one. Happy Dating! ;)

P.S. Don't forget to check out the "share the love" link party over at Keeping Up with the Cantelmo's!