I got the idea from Camille from Friday We’re in Love (although she credits Shannon with the idea). She’s been planning them for her husband since 2011, so she has a lot of great ideas on how to package them and of course lots of ideas for the actual dates. I really liked her binder idea from 2014, so that’s how I decided to make mine.
I have a lot of scrapbooking supplies gathering dust, so my goal was to only use what I had on hand and not buy any new supplies to put this gift together. I did have to buy the binder and sheet protectors, but that was my only cost (not including the gifts obviously). I’m pretty obsessive about details and my handwriting annoys me 85% of the time, but I decided to just get over it and write all of the pages by hand. If we’re being honest, I probably re-did half of the pages because I didn’t like how they turned out, but I do love how personal the pages look vs. printing them out.
For each month I described the date on the left page and then put any tickets, gift cards, details, etc. on the right side.
I thought coming up with that many dates was going to be tough, but once I really started researching and thinking of ideas, I came up with way more than 12. So once I had my list of dates, I had to narrow them down and match them with certain months. We live in Phoenix, so I didn’t want to plan anything outdoors from like May-October. I also wanted to stick with activities we’ve never done together.
I’m sure some of them are hard to read, so here’s a list of all of the dates:
December: Hot Air Balloon Ride
January: A Taste of Old Town Scottsdale Food Tour
February: Wrigley Mansion Tour + Lunch
March: Horseback Riding
April: Overnight Trip to Sedona
May: Museum Day + Lunch in Downtown Phoenix
June: Studio Movie Grill (Dinner + Movie)
July: Pizza Making Class
August: Dave & Buster’s Game Night
September: Escape Room
October: Sunset Pedal Boat at Tempe Town Lake + Dessert
November: Festival VIP Tickets
Bonus Home Date: Sushi Making
I tried to mix in a few expensive dates (hot air balloon ride, night in Sedona) with some cheaper ones. Our library has a culture pass program that gets you into certain museums for free, so April’s date will only cost me lunch. For the Dave & Buster’s date I used my credit card to get D&B gift cards, so that date is pretty much free. I also used my credit card points for a Groupon gift card to use toward Pizza Making Class and Escape Room Groupons (don't forget to use Ebates to earn cash back on those Groupons).
This gift was perfect for Adam’s birthday, but would also make a great Christmas present or anniversary gift! It does take a bit of planning, but it’s actually a lot of fun to put together. I used a spreadsheet to I keep track of my ideas, sort them into months (and rearrange a 100 times), and list notes for what I needed to buy. If you want to make your own Year of Dates gift and need date ideas, I recommend checking out Camille’s blog, searching Groupon, and looking a local event calendars. I also put together a list of the ideas that I didn’t use this year…maybe next year!
Other Date Ideas:
Hiking and Brunch
Beer/Wine Tasting
Sporting Event
Glass Blowing
Fondue Night at Home
Hot Cocoa and a Christmas Movie (perfect for December)
At Home Taste Test – Try Strange Chocolate Flavors
Scavenger Hunt
Concert Tickets
Trampoline Park
We went on our first date last weekend (hot air balloon ride) and it was so much fun! I'm putting together a post with all the details for later this week!
Oh my goodness!!! This is GENIUS! I am doing this for Nick's birthday!
ReplyDeleteYou should! It was so fun to plan!
DeleteWhat a GREAT idea!! Also, I'm not sure if it's rthe same day nationwide BUT here in TN every wed is half price! I love having it all preplanned and pre paid for each month because you're bound to it! No excuses!
ReplyDeleteThat's a great tip! I think it's the same here too!
DeleteOh my gosh! This is such a great idea! This is so sweet!
ReplyDeleteBelle | www.OneAwesomeMomma.com
Thanks! It was so fun to put together and I'm looking forward to all of these dates next year!
DeleteThis is such a fun and personal gift idea!! I’d love having something to look forward to each month, too! :)
ReplyDeleteYes! I'm so excited for all of these activities next year!
DeleteI love this gift idea! I love how it creates quality time together and is a gift that keeps giving.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely the gift that keeps giving!
DeleteThis is such a brilliant idea, not only does it give something to look forward to, but it's a way of holding us accountable for spending time with each other when times get really crazy. thanks for sharing this, such a great idea!
ReplyDeleteYes! We've been so bad about going out and doing fun stuff together lately. It's just errands and chores around the house on the weekends and then suddenly it's Sunday night and we didn't have any fun date time.
DeleteThis is an AWESOME idea! I have pinned this to work on for a Valentine's gift! We have two little ones and are way overdue for a date night!
ReplyDeleteThis would make such a fun Valentine's Day gift!
DeleteThis is such a sweet and unique gift idea! I love this for christmas or valentines!!
ReplyDeleteYes! This would be perfect for Christmas or Valentine's Day!
DeleteThis is the coolest idea ever!!!!!
ReplyDeleteIt is! As soon as I saw it on Pinterest I knew I had to make my own!
DeleteWhat a fun idea! I love this so much more than buying something trivial
ReplyDeleteThanks Brittany! It's definitely more fun for both of us than buying something we'll barely use or don't need.
DeleteThis is such a great idea! I've never seen it before.... this would help me because I'm not very organized! ;)
ReplyDeleteI think you would love this then! Everything is planned out ahead of time, so you really just have to pick a date and make any reservations for that specific month.
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