Creative Dollar Dates

Last Sunday, I went to a bridal shower for a sweet young lady Ryan and I went to church with at our first church together. She was in the youth group then and was always one of my favorite people to talk to each week. It's been fun to watch the progression of the relationship, which has been largely spent long distance. {How hard!!!}

As you know from reading about life here, dates are a pretty big deal to me, as is time spent together. I think successful marriages are born out of {first of all} a foundation built on the Lord, and right after that, a commitment to investment in each other. And I love it that said investments don't have to be pricey. They just have to be done.

So...one of my gifts to her was this date jar, inspired by Pinterest, of course, through this post by the really creative ladies at the Dating Divas. {GREAT date site if you don't frequent it.}

I thought I would share with you my version of it in case you want to try it for a gift sometime. {The original post contains a free printable with all their date ideas on it, but I modified some of them, so I'll give you  my own list.}

It starts with a glass jar - any old glass jar. I used a Ball jar with a canning style lid. I found scrapbook paper at the store, and printed out a label that said 2 Lovebirds, 2 Dollars, 1 Creative Date.

I used extra scrapbook paper to decorate the lid. I just traced the lid onto the paper, cut the paper a little smaller, and taped it down. The ring fit over it nicely. If you prefer, you could always use fabric or burlap or something on this part - this was just my version.

And now for the part that counts! :) The insides! My gift was a $20 gift, but you could easily make it more if you wanted. I got $20.00 in ones and paired them up, so I had ten sets of $2.00. I rolled each pair of dollar bills and secured them with a slip of paper bearing a date idea for that $2.00. Like I said, if you wanted more, you could either roll more sets of $2.00 and just add more date ideas, or you could roll $5.00 instead or throw in a few $5.00 dates. Get as creativea s you like!

Here were my date ideas:

* Visit a bakery and get two cookies. Head somewhere fun to enjoy.

* Rent 2 dollar movies and have a movie night.

* Go to the dollar store and surprise each other with a creative gift!

* Go to a drive-thru and get a milkshake...and two straws.

* Eat a box of ice cream sandwiches while watching the sunset.

* Lay on a blanket and stargaze while listening to 2 new songs you've downloaded.

* Get crayons and paper and have an art date.

* Buy books at a yard sale or secondhand bookstore and read them together (or to each other).

* Go to a flea market and find the most creative thing you can get for $2.00.

* Trade the dollars for pennies and make wishes in fountains as often as you can.

I had fun making it, and hopefully they will have fun making memories on dates! {And I'm not gonna lie...kind of want to make a jar for us too!}