Date Night Gift Baskets

With Valentine’s Day coming up in a couple weeks I’m thinking about date nights and sweet gifts so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to share some ideas that combine both! Giving a gift basket that has a date night activity is a thoughtful gift that shows your loved ones that you value time with them over any material object. Find the ideas below and click through to get all the details of what you can include in each basket!

Cooking Dinner for 2 Date Night Gift Basket

Painting Date Night Gift Basket

Game Night Gift Basket for Couples

Dinner and a Movie Date Night Gift Basket

A Year Of Date Nights Gift Basket

Looking for other date night ideas?

5 Winter Date Ideas

50+ Date Night Ideas

Summer Day Date Idea: Recreate Memories On A Local Road Trip

One Year of Pre-Planned Date Nights Gift

Strengthen Your Marriage with a Year Of Dates 

 

I’d love to hear about your favorite date night you’ve had with your significant other! Chat with me on Twitter @aliciamarie112

PIN THIS POST TO SAVE THESE IDEAS FOR YOUR NEXT DATE NIGHT!

 

Double Date Idea And A Paint Night Gift Basket

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #FronteraExperience #CollectiveBias

For a while now I’ve been wanting to go to one of those places where you can hang out and paint. It sounds like it would be such a great time but I really don’t get out that much for girl’s night or date night since becoming a parent. Because of this I thought it would be fun to put together a paint night gift basket to bring the painting fun home! The basket is perfect for a girl’s night in or a double date night with another couple. (Personally I love the double date in idea because you get time with a friend and your man – just get a sitter to share and enjoy some adult couple time.)

Along with the painting there’d have to be food because a fun evening isn’t complete without it! When I thought about the bright colors of paint I had bought, I immediately knew they would pair perfectly with the vibrant flavors of one of my favorite cuisines- Mexican! I also knew I wanted something simple because nothing kills the fun of an evening for the hostess like being stuck in the kitchen while everyone else enjoys time together. Luckily I knew just the right ones that would work- Frontera® Frozen Skillets, inspired by Chef Rick Bayless. They only take about 15 minutes to cook so they can be made before guests arrive or while everyone’s artwork dries.

The paint night gift basket makes a great gift for a friend or your significant other. To make it for a double date night just put enough of everything for four people in the gift basket!

Here’s what I put in my gift basket:

  • 4 Canvases to paint
  • Acrylic paint in various colors
  • 4 Paint palettes
  • Paintbrushes (fine and wide tip)
  • Colorful plates and napkins

The gift basket is easy to put together. I used a black tin and decorated it with some paper flowers on the outside and added some crumpled paper inside the bottom of the tin. I added in canvases to paint (two 5X7 and two 8×10 sizes), paintbrushes, tubes of acrylic paint, paint palettes, and colorful napkins and plates for our dinner.

Speaking of dinner….if you love Mexican food you have to try these skillets. Frontera® Foods brings premium ingredients and flavors into the kitchen so they make the perfect dish to bring friends together. I bought two flavor varieties, the Frontera® Chicken Fajita Skillet (made with tender cuts of seared chicken simmered together with fire-roasted poblanos and chipotle chiles) and the Frontera® Carnitas Taco Skillet (made with slow-cooked pork with tangy tomatillos and roasted poblano chiles).

I loved that the meal’s ingredients and directions read in plain English and were simple to follow. They are so easy to cook that it took less than fifteen minutes to go from freezer to table.

I bought the Frontera® Frozen Skillets, along with two jars of their salsa (Frontera® Jalapeño Cilantro Salsa and Frontera® Tomatillo Salsa), at Target. We found the meals in the freezer aisle and they had a variety of flavors to choose from.

And, if you are into saving money (who isn’t!?), from now through November 25th use the Cartwheel coupon below to get 25% off Frontera® Skillets at Target!

Have you ever had a double date night in? If so, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!

5 Winter Date Ideas

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post.

As I shared a few weeks ago in my date night at home post, Sinisa and I do not get out to have date night very often. It seems like ever since we had kids we are lucky if we go on one or two dates a year. We are really working on changing this and have been trying to go on day dates while our boys are at school. Since I work from home and he gets one weekday off a week, it seems to work best for us at the moment. I wanted to share 5 winter date ideas for those of you looking to plan something special for Valentine’s Day or any other day you and your significant other can get away and spend some quality time together.

Go ice skating – Whether you find an outside rink or an indoor one, ice skating is a popular winter activity that could make for a fun date night. Just think about how romantic it would be holding hands as you skate around the rink together. Or that’s the dream at least. I’d probably spend most of the date on my butt since I haven’t ice skated since grade school :)

Go see a play – Movie dates have become the norm lately so shake it up a bit by going to see a live play instead. Whether it’s a community play or a show on Broadway, there are a number of options to pick from.

Volunteer together – Volunteering isn’t the most romantic date but it’s a great way to spend time together. Whether the two of you help at a soup kitchen, nursing home or food pantry, there is nothing better than being able to give back to others and it just may teach you a bit more about the character of the person you are on a date with.

Paint at an art studio – If you or your significant other like to paint check out your local art studio for classes. Many studios offer date night options where you can pay to come and paint and they’ll provide the space and materials needed for you to create something. Check ahead but many allow you to bring snacks and drinks as well!

Go out to eat at a B.Y.O.B Restaurant- What I like about BYOB restaurants is that you can save a great deal on alcohol by bringing your own. (Please drink responsibly and don’t drink and drive.) Sinisa and I recently tried out a Thai restaurant and it was a nice break from the typical restaurants we normally go to.

For our date we chose to bring canned wine with us because it is portable and easily fit into my purse. Unlike bottled wine, with canned wine you don’t have to worry about carrying around fragile wine glasses to drink out of or re-corking the wine. Backpack Wine is packaged in recyclable cans that are ready for any occasion, from the ski slopes to your favorite brunch spot. Their wines are sourced from great vineyards and they offer two varieties of canned wine, Cheek Rose™ and Snappy White™ (rose and white wine).

Backpack Wine offers a unique combo of great-tasting, quality wine in a fresh new way so you can skip the cork and bring the pack! Where would you take your Backpack wine?

Looking for more date ideas? I have a list of 50 here!

‘Dinner For Two’ Date Night Gift Basket

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #WonderfulYourWay #CollectiveBias The following content is intended for readers who are 21 or older.

Before we had kids, Sinisa and I would go on dates quite often. We’d go out to eat, go to the movies, and walk around local downtown areas. It was nice to be able to connect during those times. Unfortunately, once we had our first child, our date nights out became almost non-existent. Nowadays we tend to do a lot of date nights in which basically consist of watching a movie on the couch.

With Valentine’s Day coming soon, I wanted to change things up a bit and create a special date night basket. Since Sinisa loves to cook I thought he’d enjoy a gift basket full of goodies that would let us have a date night in where we could cook a special meal together. I’m calling this a “Dinner for two” date night gift basket.

I started by figuring out what type of meal we’d make and decided upon pasta. Maybe it’s the whole Lady & the Tramp spaghetti scene stuck in my head, but I equate pasta with romantic meals. Along with the box of pasta, I put some other items we’d need for our date night in the basket including Valentine’s themed kitchen hand towels, some red cooking utensils, a couple chocolate roses, salt and pepper shakers, candles and a bottle of wine to enjoy with our meal.

We have a few go-to pasta dishes that we make but Sinisa made a really delicious one a couple years ago that I wanted to recreate together. It’s a dish similar to Pasta Carbonara though we don’t add eggs to it like the typical recipe calls for.

For our recipe, I got all the ingredients at Kroger, including Barilla® Pronto® Penne pasta, a product innovation that allows for one-pan meals to be created with no need to wait for water to boil, and no draining required. I like this pasta because it cooks within ten minutes and is perfect for one pot meals.

Ingredients to make dinner for 2:

  • 1/2 box of Barilla Pronto Penne
  • 1/4 cup of bacon pieces
  • 1/2 cup of frozen peas
  • 2 cups of (cold) water or broth (we used vegetable broth)
  • 4 ounces of cream cheese
  • 1/2 cup of shredded parmesan cheese
  • Seasoning to taste (we used black pepper and garlic powder)
  • A teaspoon of vegetable oil

Directions:

Add the oil to the pan along with the bacon and peas and heat for a minute or so, stirring to mix.

Add the dry pasta.

Pour the cold water (or broth) over the pasta. (Feels strange doesn’t it? Usually you have to put a pot of water on the stovetop and then wait forever for it to boil before you can put your pasta in but this new pasta is “no boil”.) Cover and let cook on medium heat for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the 4 ounces of cream cheese. Then cover and cook for three more minutes to finish cooking the pasta.

At this point the pasta is fully cooked. Can you believe that you have perfectly cooked pasta in just 10 minutes?! Whoever invented this no boil pasta is a genius. I also love that you don’t have to drain it because the majority of the liquid has cooked out. To finish making this pasta dish, add the shredded cheese, season to taste and stir everything together.

I love the combo of cheese and bacon in this dish and the addition of the peas helps me meet my veggie goal for the week lol. This pasta dish is so easy to make and requires little prep which is perfect for date night. You’ll have dinner on the table within 15 minutes and making the whole meal in one pan is great because nobody wants to spend date night stuck in the kitchen washing a sink full of dishes.

What pasta dish would you make on your “dinner for two” date night? Find more “Wonderful Your Way” recipe inspiration here.

 

Date Night Ideas {One For Every Week Of The Year}

One of my goals for 2015 is to go on a date with Sinisa once a month. Since our {rare} date nights normally consist of dinner and a movie I thought it was time to do a little brainstorming and come up with some unique date ideas so we had a little variety. Of course I had to enlist the help of my newest blog contributor to get a male perspective. {It’s actually a funny story because when I finally climbed into bed last night he was half asleep and I was chattering on and on about this blog post idea I had and texting him date night ideas lol.}

Here are 52+ fun date night ideas that we came up with- one for every week of the year! Our goal is to do at least one a month and share about our experience :)

1) Go ice skating

2) Head to the library and check out some books about destinations you’d like to visit and then plan a trip together

3) Cook dinner together and have a romantic candlelight dinner

4) Pretend you are tourists in your own town and head to the number 1 tourist attraction.

5) Go on a picnic

6) Volunteer together

7) Take a dance class together

8) Go to a wine tasting

9) Visit a local museum

10) Have a game night and each pick your favorite board game to play

11) Go to a drive in movie

12) Make pizza together and practice tossing the dough

13) Go on a short train ride and explore a neighboring town

14) Find a big hill and go sledding on a snowy day

15) Workout together

16) Go tailgating and cheer on your favorite team

17) Find somewhere far from city lights and stargaze together

18) Bake cookies together and decorate a cookie for the other person

19) Walk around an arboretum or flower garden

20) Work on a diy project around the house together

21) Go shopping for each other! Go to Walmart or Target and head in different directions with a plan to meet at the front of the store in 30 minutes. Your goal? To each find a gift for the other under $5. Once you are in the car or back at home give the gift to the other and explain why you bought the item. (This date idea came from my college roommate!)

22) Get a couples massage

23) Go bowling. Whoever loses has to make dinner for the other.

24) Find the perfect spot to watch the sunset (or sunrise!)

25) Go on a bike ride

26) Take a cooking class

27) Write each other love notes and then read them to each other

28) Go camping

29) Go out for coffee and people watch

30) Take a cooking class

31) Buy a canvas and paint and spend the evening creating a masterpiece together

32) Play a game of mini-golf

33) Go on a double date with friends

34) Go on a day trip with no destination planned. Enjoy the ride as you drive through nature and stop at places that look interesting

35) See a live show

36) Get dressed up in your Sunday best and go out for brunch

37) Rent a foreign language romance without subtitles and create your own translations of what they are saying just based on their body movements and facial expressions

38) During the holidays, drive around to look at Christmas lights. Don’t forget the hot cocoa and the Christmas music

39) Go to a sporting event, like a baseball game

40) Turn some romantic music on and dance together in your living room

41) Go to an open mic poetry night. If you are brave get on stage and read poetry you wrote

42) Head to the beach on a warm day

43) Stay overnight at a B&B

44) Visit a nearby lake and go paddle boating

45) Spend the evening in front of the fireplace

46) Take a walk, hand in hand

47) Go roller skating- old school!

48) Go to a free concert at your local park

49) Take a trip to your local thrift store and pick out an outfit for each other

50) Take a boat tour or walking tour of your town or one nearby

51) Visit your local Farmer’s Market or county fair

52) Go to the pumpkin patch in the Fall and then carve pumpkins

53) Spend a whole day in bed together

 

What would you add? I’d love to hear your date night ideas!

Preparing For A Long Awaited Date Night

This post is part of the HEALTHY ESSENTIALS® 2014 program by Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, Inc. and The Motherhood, who sent me a box of products and compensated me for my time. Opinions, experiences and photos shared here are all my own, and I hope you enjoy them.

Sinisa and I on a date in 2007 <3

I am so excited to be going on a special date night this week! My mom is watching the boys and Sinisa and I are going on our first date night in a long time. It’s been at least a year, if not more, since we have gone out sans kids for more than the hour and a half that they are at Awana.

Sinisa is planning the whole date and made us reservations for a nice Italian restaurant. {He says it’s where we went for our first Valentine’s Day but my memory is so bad that I don’t remember that long ago.} I think we will be going out for drinks or a movie as well so it should be a fun night.

Since this is a special occasion I’m going to have to spend longer than 5 minutes getting ready. I plan to run to the store and get a nice top to wear for our date. I also am going to make myself up by doing my hair and makeup. He will be quite surprised seeing me transform from my sweats and ponytail!

I don’t normally wear more makeup than some mineral powder and lip gloss but I have some new Neutrogena makeup I’m going to use. I like Neutrogena makeup because it doesn’t irritate my skin and it looks natural.

I recently tried their MoistureSmooth color stick and was very impressed with it. It looks like a big lip pencil, has a texture like lipstick or balm but goes on smooth and feels like a lip gloss. This stick adds color I don’t normally get with lip gloss but doesn’t feel thick like I am wearing a lot on my lips. I also love that it isn’t sticky because I hate that feeling. The smell of this color stick was fruity which I liked as well. I was sent  the Sweet Watermelon color to review but will be going out and getting a few more colors since I really like it.

The mascara I was sent is their Healthy Volume Mascara. It has Olive in it which the package says helps plump the core of each and every lash. I don’t wear mascara often but thought this was a nice product. I liked that my eyelashes didn’t clump together like some mascaras make them do.

With both makeup products on and a nice, new shirt I think Sinisa will be surprised to see me when I come down the steps for our date night! If you want to treat yourself to some new makeup for your next date night, you can get a printable coupon for $1 off any NEUTROGENA® Cosmetics product at HealthyEssentials.com.

Bertolli’s “Make A Weeknight Special” Challenge

When Bertolli’s frozen soups first came out I was invited to try out the soups at a blogging event. I shared then how much I loved these soups so I was more than happy to work with Bertolli again. Bertolli challenged a group of bloggers to make a weeknight special by preparing a nice dinner for two in less than an hour. I knew this would be such an easy challenge to complete. I took the soup out of the freezer and dumped it all into a pot and turned the heat on. I had to stir it occasionally but while the soup was cooking I poured some wine, took out bread, and added some fresh flowers and was completely ready for a special meal with Sinisa in less than 20 minutes. How easy is that!? {And wouldn’t that make a special date-night-in for Valentine’s Day if you don’t have a sitter?}

This one is my favorite out of all the varities

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Dinner is served! 20 minutes is all it took to prepare a special dinner for two :)

 More about the Bertolli Meal Soups:

·      Bertolli® Frozen Meal Soups are hearty and fresh-tasting with vegetables, meats, pasta and herbs individually flash frozen at the  peak of freshness.

·      Bertolli® Frozen Meal Soups are available in the frozen aisle, and can be prepared on your stovetop in minutes.

·      With robust flavors and rich textures, new Bertolli® Frozen Meal Soups are available in four varieties: Chicken Minestrone, Roasted Chicken & Rotini Pasta, Tomato Florentine & Tortellini with Chicken, and Tuscan-Style Beef with Vegetables.

Bertolli can also be found on Facebook and on Twitter.

(Disclosure: I was compensated by Bertolli to participate in the Weeknight Meal Special Challenge.)

Date Night Ideas {Saturday Stumbles}

I’m excited to be going out on an actual date with Sinisa for the first time in a very long time. Both kids are going to be gone so we are going to have date night. Here are some ideas I came across while looking for fun date night ideas:

Have a Chinese themed date night at home {great pictures and ideas here}

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If you have a whole weekend for the date, check out this WILD JUNGLE SAFARI date idea!

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33 At Home Date Night Ideas

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Check out these unusual date night ideas {sure to make you laugh for years to come}

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Recreate your first date! {and find more ideas here}

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Go sledding {and 50 more date night ideas here}

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One friend used to go to the store with her boyfriend and they each had to buy something for the other. The catch? The gift had to be less than $5. It’s always funny to see what each person buys for the other on their limited budget.

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The Knot has 20 date ideas here {including volunteering together}

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What is your favorite date night idea?

August 5, 2008

Looking back at my post yesterday I realized I did not share the biggest news of the day…. my son was two months old!!! (bad mommy!) I can’t believe that I gave birth to him that long ago. I wrote him a letter last night telling him all of the new things he had started doing over the past month (smiling, noticing toys, and um, headbutting). I am so proud of him each day like I guess all parents are. OH and you will never believe what I did today… I hurt my child! Physically hurt him! It was an accident and I ended up crying more than he did. See he woke up this morning with a huge scratch right in between his eyes because his nails were long because someone (that would be me) is afraid that I will get some of his skin in the clippers. So I decided I could not wait any longer because he was getting his picture taken today and I didn’t want him to scratch up his face even more. I clipped one nail, then two, then three, then four and ahhhhhhhh!!!! clipped some of his skin. His face, the look was what made me feel the worst. It was like “how could you do this to me mommy?” And then the blood. Just the tiniest bit but I had made my child bleed. He’s fine now thank God. I know he won’t remember the time when mommy got his skin in the nail clippers but I still felt bad.

Tonight I went on a date with my wonderful fiance ( I actually got to use one of my 50 million cute purses). I had received a gift card to Chilis for my birthday (thanks to my mil) so we decided to use it. The food was so good. It was nice spending time with him. In other relationship news, we are starting the “21 Day Complaint Free Marriage Experiment” (www.simplemarriage.net -sorry I’m new to blogging and don’t know how to make this clickable so you are just going to need to copy and paste). As much as my fiance does for me I know I still find things to complain about so hopefully this experiment will remind me to keep my words positive.

Other than starting that experiment, today was my first day of my competition with my sister in law to see who can lose the most weight in three months. I had debated about putting my weight on here for everyone to see but screw it… please keep in mind I just had a baby… and don’t laugh when I tell you… 173.8. Wow I can’t believe I just wrote this down and am going to publish this. Anways, back to what I was saying. Yes, that’s how much I weigh and I haven’t yet determined how much I want to lose per week. I don’t even know what’s healthy and realistic to lose. I think I started today off ok. I didn’t exercise because I wanted to spend as much time with my family as possible (my man works two jobs and it’s been over a month since he’d had a day off). Today I have had: ham sandwich with mustard and cheese, crispy chicken salad, two rootbeers, one strawberry daiquri (yum), and a cup of chocolate skim milk. Oh and I had half a scoop of vanilla ice cream, almost forgot that. My food choices weren’t the best but on the positive side, I didn’t snack on anything.

Today’s challenge: Remind your partner of one thing that makes them fantastic. If you are single then tell a family member/roommate one thing that makes them great. :) Have a wonderful day!