Showing posts with label Year of Dates. Show all posts

Year of Date Idea: Bowling

Think back to the days of elementary school birthday parties. I spent many of them at the bowling alley. It was so fun trying to get all of the pins down for a strike, watching other people and trying to emulate them and actually getting some exercise that you were unaware of. It was youthful fun. Why not have some youthful fun with your hubby?

Year of Dates - January

If you have been following along with my blog, I gifted my husband a year of dates for Christmas 2013. It wasn't very successful between a new baby, lack of babysitters and lack of time. So, as requested, I gifted it for him again this past Christmas {and gave you the tools to do so too}.

This year, we are determined to stick to it. Here is a recap of the gift and our January date.

Year of Dates Ideas - Our January Date - Cooking Class | Managing a Home

This year I went smaller..in packaging that is. I got a small gift box and I did more handwriting this year to make it even more personal than last year.

I used craft paper envelopes and craft paper cardstock to give it a more "natural" feel. I secured the flap with washi tape so it is easier to open than last year when I glued the envelope shut <insert evil laugh>.

As far as the date card itself, I went all out and purchased scrap-booking stickers to decorate the card. This month's date was a Cooking Class.

I pre-booked our babysitter {my mom} well in advance because I booked this specific class on this date because of the menu. It looked delicious!

We took our cooking class at La Cucina at the Market in Philadelphia. The company is owned by Anna and she offers great classes - ranging from Pasta or Sausage Making to Knife Skills classes. She offers wonderful options for "Enchanted Evenings for Two" which we took full advantage of on our date.

The class was lead by Chef Jacquie of Taste 4 Travel. She was an amazing teacher and brilliant chef. She showed us how to create each of these meals, butcher a pork loin, properly trim brussel sprouts, de-stem spinach {not a fun job by the way} and gave us great tips and tricks on all types of cooking and baking questions. Mia was the resident pasta maker. She made the dough for the raviolis that we all pressed, molded and filled. She really puts love into her dough.

It was a great opportunity to get to know other young couples and really enjoy ourselves. The company at the table was great, the company at the stove was amazing and knowledgeable and the atmosphere was very pleasant.

{all photos are courtesy of Anna at La Cucina at the Market}

Properly butchering pork loin. Year of Dates Ideas - Our January Date - Cooking Class | Managing a Home

Learning how to butcher a pork loin properly

Spinach De-Stemmers. Year of Dates Ideas - Our January Date - Cooking Class | Managing a Home

Master spinach de-stemmers

The amazing class we had - so many fun people

Overall it was an amazing night! We would definitely go back for this experience again. I encourage you if you live in the Philadelphia region, or would be visiting the city, to look up La Cucina at the Market's events or Taste 4 Travel to see if there are classes or tours that fit your style!

Any way you cut it, a cooking class would make a great gift for anyone. {See what I did there?} And it would make an amazing gift for your Year of Dates!

Year of Dates Gift Ideas

Now that I have gifted this year's dates, I will keep you updated on what dates you could include in yours in the future.

2015 Dates

January - Cooking Class

February - Bowling

March - Stargazing

April - At-Home Spa

May - Dinner & a Movie @ AMC Dine in Theater

June - Picnic in the Park

July - Food Crawl - drinks, apps, entree and dessert all in different restaurants in the same town.

August - Drive in theater - again :)

September - Beer/Wine tasting - again :) we have so many

2014 Dates

January - Philadelphia Home Show {tradition} and money for cookies at Reading Terminal {tradition}

February - Schramm Spa Date {his ABSOLUTE favorite}

March - Beer Tasting at a Brewery

April - Movie on me

May - Spring morning walk and money for breakfast

June - Drive in Movie Theater {yes we have some near us :)}

July - Couples Massage {most pricey and reminder of our honeymoon}

August - Wii Game Night

September - Bushkill Falls Hiking {tradition}

October - Apple picking, hot apple cider and apple cider doughnuts {tradition - first date}

November - Dave & Busters fun date

December - a New Christmas movie and hot chocolate

How to Plan your Year of Dates Present

This year, my husband asked me to gift him A Year of Dates again. If you missed last year's present, read it here.

I am sharing with you how I am planning my gift to him this year. I obviously cannot share specifics since he does read my blog. I will be posting throughout the next year about what dates we are doing so you can use them for your gift next year!

Planning a Year of Dates - how to including printables | Managing a Home

*some links used are affiliate links*

Matching Months to Dates

Pretty obvious, but it is harder than you think! I used my Date Ideas Board on Pinterest to provide some inspiration.

I have a handy, dandy printable that I used to help me plan. It has a column for the month, the date that I chose {use pencil - lots of erasing and moving around}, as well as cost for the entire date and what I am willing to contribute. I am always sure to include a BIG date in there. Big date = most expensive. I always pay the full amount for that one, because some months, I opted to not pay for the entire date and that month we just budgeted in some of the money needed. For the rest of the dates, I mixed in some cheap and free dates as well.

I also have added columns so that you can note what gift item you will include {gift card, voucher, cash, etc} and a column to help you remember if it is completed or not.

Printable Planning Page for Year of Dates Present | Managing a Home

Click here to download planning page

I am cheating a little this year and reusing one that was extremely popular and re-gifting dates we didn't get to do, so I feel confident I can share them with you.

Spa Date - I opened up the Schramm Spa for one night only. I gave him a choice of 6 options, he got to choose 2. {can't have it all} I found recipes online for facials, foot scrubs, bath salts, massage oil and a lavender face mask. When he made his choice about what we would like and made his 'appointment', I gathered my materials and made what I needed to make. I was rather inexpensive because it is done at home and all of my treatments were made at home as well. This was by far his favorite date.

Hiking Bushkill Falls - we didn't get to do this date because of the timing. The height of the season this year fell later and it just didn't land on a weekend we could get up there. Going for a walk or hike is a perfect date. You get exercise, beautiful views and best part for us is we could take our baby girl along. You can find hiking trails near you and pack a picnic to take along.

Drive-in Movie - We still have a couple if drive in movie theaters near us. It seems like such a great experience. You can see if there is one near you. If not, many movie theaters are starting to convert to full service theaters. This would be a great "dinner & a movie" all at once.

For ideas, you can follow my Date Ideas Board on Pinterest, check out Groupon or Living Social {just be aware of the expiration dates} and be sure to think about some things you did when you first started dating and throw those in there too. These traditional things took up most of my dates for our first year.

Writing out your dates or Printing them out

I have to admit, this was my most difficult task. I wanted to say something meaningful but everything came out not-so-cute quirky or it didn't make sense. Since I hand-wrote each month's date so I went through a lot of paper. Surprisingly, this is the one thing I got the most comments on from my last post - how handwriting the notes really adds something special to the gift. I have always believed in handwriting notes when it is especially sentimental or meaningful.

This year I started to type out each date idea. This way I can have my wording available and then hand write on the pages I chose to use.

Some tips to help you:

Title page: Explain why you are gifting this to him. In our case, my husband's love language is time spent together so this is my expression of love. Here is a glimpse of last year's.

How to assemble a Year of Dates Present. Introduction letter | Managing a Home

Month descriptions: Give brief instructions on how it is to work. This is also where you can make it sweet or add any cryptic messages you may want to add {wink,wink}.

How to plan a Year of Dates. Monthly letter example | Managing a Home

Assembling it all together

Use any envelope you would like. I used these larger ones because I had some gifts that wouldn't fit in a small envelope. This year, I may use the small envelope - haven't decided.

How to plan a Year of Dates. Monthly envelope example. | Managing a Home

Here are the labels that I used for the large envelopes. I have included ones for smaller envelopes. Print, cut and paste onto the envelope.

How to Plan a Year of Dates. Labels for envelopes for the gift | Managing a Home

Click to download the large labels or small labels

Put in a box and you are ready! Happy Holidays!

I also have created a Year of Dates for Kids!

Plan a year of dates for your kids. Free printables. Makes a great Christmas Present

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Our Year of Dates Christmas Present 2013

Christmastime always seems to be my favorite time. I love the lights, the tree trimming, the Christmas carols {even in October}, but my favorite part is choosing the BEST gift for everyone on my list. I start making my list and checking it twice in September.

So I'm starting Christmas on my blog now!

Last year, my husband and I were having a baby. Her due date was December 16. Knowing she was due so close to Christmas, I was making sure that I had ALL of my presents purchased, wrapped and under the trimmed tree by Thanksgiving. Yes that's right - Thanksgiving. I started thinking about what I could possibly give to my husband {besides a baby} that he would love and would hopefully bring us closer together {again, besides a baby}.

I saw this on pinterest and it gave me a great idea. A year of dates!

via

If I give him a year of dates, we will be forced to spend time together after the baby is born.

So, I started scheming and planning in July. I had come up with all of my dates and pre-paid for some of them.

Here are our dates for the year: