We promise each other we won't miss one.
We say we will do something each week, whether it be a dinner date, getting ice cream, or just going for a walk in the park; blocking out an evening each week to just be together.
We even pinky swear on it (because that's when you know it's for real).
Then, time and time again..... we fail.
We get caught up in the business of everyday life between work, household stuff, running here and there, taking care of our rental property. Just life.
Bottom line ..... we suck.
Does anyone else suck?
I have to remind myself every so often that you do what you make a priority.
For example, I go to the gym because it's a priority for me.
I make time to take my dog for a walk every single day, because that is important to me.
I do a daily devotional so that I spend time with God because I value that time with Him.
So why not make my husband a priority then, too? Why do I fail in this area?
Does anyone else promise their spouse or significant other that they will devote one evening a week to a date night? A night where the kids are left behind. Where we don't talk about bills or have-tos. Where we can just enjoy each other and not worry about our jobs, the homework, the laundry, the errands that have to be ran, the lunches that have to be made and the spinning around and chaos that everyday life brings to us all.
Anyone?
So, I thought that maybe we needed to do something more than just pinky swearing each other since that didn't seem to be working. We needed something more. Something fun. Something that would take the guess work out of it and make it easy.
So I created a Love Dare Jar.
The idea came from the Love Dare book written by Stephen & Alex Kendrick.
The book involves a 40-day challenge for you and your spouse. Each day the book instructs you to do something with or for your spouse, whether it be praying together, spending quality time together or surprising your spouse with a special small gift. It was created to bring you closer to your spouse.
So, I decided to take that idea and turn it into a weekly Love Dare for Colin and I. My idea was to fill a jar with ideas (date nights and love dares) and each week, we would pick an idea and do it together for our date night.
The project was this:
I bought popsicle sticks from Michael's Arts & Craft Store (super cheap).
I painted the sticks 3 different colors (I used white, light blue and teal). Use any paint colors you have around the house.
The different colors represent how cheap or expensive the date nights will be. For example, I painted half of the sticks white, because those will represent cheap or free date nights. Some ideas for those would be going for a walk at the park, finding a playground and swinging on the swings, flying a kite, or watching a movie at home together.
The light blue sticks represented probably 40% of the popsicle sticks. On these were written inexpensive date nights that weren't free, but didn't cost a lot of money either. Some examples of date nights for these would be going to the zoo, trying a new restaurant, or going to a museum or water park.
The teal sticks represented only 10% of the sticks. These would be date nights that needed some planning in advance and they were generally more expensive. Some ideas were camping, going to a professional sports game, or taking a weekend trip together.
On each popsicle stick, I used a sharpie and wrote out the date nights/love dares.
Once they were done, I put them in a jar!
I decorated the jar and VOILA!
We have a Love Dare Jar!
So each week, we pull a stick from the jar to see what fun date night we will be doing each week! We hardly have to plan, we don't need to try and be creative or think of an idea on the spot (especially after a busy or stressful week). If we want to pick a more $$ stick, we pick one and then plan that love dare out for a future week.
Below is the full list that we used for our Love Dare Jar. You can personalize your sticks to the venues and events in your community.
Cheap or FREE
Take out & board games
Bake cookies together
At home massage night
Go to Geddes Park together
Cook dinner together (make it a theme night)
Go to dollar store and buy each other a gift
Living room camp out night (make a tent, movie, snacks)
Build a snowman, carve a pumpkin, fly a kite, farmers market (seasonal)
Listen to old music from high school days - reminisce
Organize photo albums together
Watch wedding video together and dance to our wedding song
Build a model Porsche together
Take a long drive
Volunteer together at the animal shelter
Volunteer together at Forgotten Harvest
Riverside Park and picnic
Board games with snacks
Ice Cream
Nature photo session
Take a walk through the neighborhood
Take the dog to a dog park
Inexpensive
Salvation Army Trip
Irish Pub for apps
Movie night out (her choice)
Movie night out (his choice)
Try a new restaurant
Go on a lunch date
Dessert date only
Event at Rock Financial
Do something nice for a neighbor together
Pay it forward at a coffee shop
Zoo
Botanical gardens
Planning required $$$
Camping
Restaurant Hop: Different place for appetizer, dinner, dessert
Go to a Tigers game
Weekend get-a-way (somewhere new)
Hocking Hills
I hope maybe you were able to find some of this useful and maybe you, too, can create a Love Dare Jar for you and your significant other! Love Dare Jars could be fun for the entire family, too! Make one for Friday Family Fun nights with the kids or for Sunday Funday with your clan!
Whether you pinky swear, shake on it, or create a Love Dare Jar, my hope for you is that you find a way to invest in each other and maybe find a little creativity along the way!
I dare you!
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