My husband is SUPER hard to buy things for presents! He never has ideas and everything he wants is super expensive... which can be okay, but he usually can't even think of those kind of ideas either. He also is kind of one of those guys that buys it when he needs it, never saving anything for gifts and ideas. He really has everything he needs.
I can always get him tools or movies, but I never have ideas of big things to get him.
This year for Christmas, I asked him what he wanted. He was kind of a bah-humbug this Christmas and was NOT into the gift giving mood at all. He responded to my question with this - "I just want to spend time with the ones I love! I can buy what I need. What is the point of Christmas gifts anyways?! It just makes people greedy and expect to be spoiled!" Now there is a little truth to that, but him having that attitude was not going to change people's view of Christmas, and he just needed to get with the Christmas spirit!
So I took the first part of his answer and ran with it! I gave him twelve dates, one for each month of the year! This way he would have to spend a night with me (someone he loves, his first answer) at least once a month. Also with our new baby, I thought it might be nice to make a "mandatory" date night once a month so we don't forget about our relationship!
I also really liked this because it's not the typical dinner and a movie that so many couples tend to get stuck in a rut with. This has us going out (or staying home) and doing some fun things that we have never done before!
I filled twelve gift bags with the necessary supplies for each date. Sometimes it was just money, other times it was supplies needed to complete the date.
I got the original idea on Pinterest off of The Dating Divas page. They have a pre-made book you can buy, which I did, but I didn't love all the dates. There was also a free one that I downloaded too, but once again, I didn't love all those dates. So I decided to combine their ideas and my ideas and this is what I came up with!
This is what I did for each month and what I put in each bag:
January - Dinner and Ice Skating - $50 in the bag
February - Dinner at a Chinese Restaurant, then home to keep with the Chinese Zen and have a spa night... Bubble bath for two, massages, hot stones, etc. - $30 and massage lotion, hot stones, bubble bath, etc in th bag
March - Dinner and Laser Tag - $50 in the bag
April - Couple's Cafe dinner at home - printables and ideas from the Dating Diva's site - Menu printable and some of the meal items in the bag
May - Dollar Date Night - $20 dollars (two ten dollar bills, one for each of us) and printables in the bag - printables and ideas for the Dating Diva's site - Warning - this one might make you blush! :)
June - Fishing Date Night - Fishing snacks and a new fishing lure are in the bag
July - State Fair Date - $60 in the bag
August - Drive in for Two - Movie snacks and movie and clues are in the bag - This is found on the Dating Diva's site
September - Sleep Over Date - Movie snacks and movie in the bag - The Dating Diva's do have a date kit for this, but I thought it was lame, and just did my own thing! :)
October - Dinner and a movie - $60 in bag
November - Lights Out Date! - Candles and flashlights in the bag - I also included this get to know you game from Dating Divas
December - Dinner and Christmas Shopping - $40 in the bag
You can download my version of the Twelve Dayts of Christmas by clicking here. Some of the links listed above, you do need to pay for. Or you can download The Dating Diva's date book and get them included in the download. The link for their book is - The Dating Divas Year of Dates Book. The free Twelve Dayts of Christmas can be found here.
I hope you enjoy this idea. I know my husband was TOTALLY surprised and thought it was really cool!
I hope this will help bring back the butterflies to your marriage and you will enjoy dating your husband all year long!
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