Today I am shar­ing with you the dates I chose for my “dates for a year” gift. If you missed that post,  you can find it HERE.

1. Train ride to San Juan Capis­trano for Brunch at Ramos House Cafe’.
2. Tick­ets to the Kings game.
3. Walk­ing tour in San Diego’s Lit­tle Italy with a gift cer­tifi­cate to Extra­or­di­nary desserts.
4. Lunch at Lucha Libre. It’s this dive Mex­i­can restau­rant where you can reserve the “booth”. Funky and fun!
5. Puz­zle night at home. (this is some­thing they like to do together)
6. Art Splash Carls­bad where locals come together and paint the streets and show­case their art. (sent them to break­fast first)
7. Cineopo­lis, the fancy movie the­ater where you can recline in your comfy chair and have a wait­ress bring you a mar­tini, while you watch the lat­est James Bond flick!
8. Go Cars in San Diego. Basi­cally I sent them to be tourists in their own city. Cafe Chloe’ fol­lowed for lunch. (a San Diego must)
9. Pot­tery paint­ing at a local shop where they made each other a gift.
10. Ice skat­ing in La Jolla so they could bring back the teen romance in their life! haha
11. Their last date was a gift card to Michaels Craft shop so they can assem­ble their scrap­book together with their “year of dates” pho­tographs and memories…

These were the dates I chose for my sis­ter and brother in-law. My ideas were truly end­less, espe­cially the longer I thought about it. Here is a lit­tle added bonus for you…

More date night ideas:

• Pic­nic with all the trim­mings. (can­dles, blan­kets, wine and even a lap­top to watch a roman­tic movie)
• Din­ner at a restau­rant, but at the “chefs table”. (this is the room or counter you eat at while watch­ing your food being prepared)
• Spa day for fab­u­lous mas­sages and facials. A mini date at your local pedi­cure place would be great too!
• Be a tourist in your own city. I espe­cially like using Groupons/Living Social coupons for this.
• Whale watch­ing or sun­set din­ner cruise.
• Cook­ing class at a local restau­rant or store, such as Sur La Table.
• Amuse­ment park such as Dis­ney­land. Act like a kid again…even if for one day!
• An unusual din­ner out such as “eat­ing in the dark” or try a new food. (Indian, sushi, vegan, etc…)
• Museum or local art showing.
• Music con­cert for an old favorite band.
• Your local juice bar, fol­lowed by hit­ting the rock climb­ing gym. (fun even for beginners)
• Plant an herb gar­den together.
• Cre­ate a sig­na­ture cock­tail. Have fun exper­i­ment­ing with ingre­di­ents such as laven­der, rose­mary and mint. (look around on the inter­net for inspiration)

Date nights that are cheap or free:

• Embrace the great out­doors by going on a hike or stroll along the beach, river, or local nature spot.
• Wash each oth­ers cars together while blast­ing your favorite tunes. (if it’s warm enough, add a lit­tle water fight too!)
• There is noth­ing more roman­tic than cook­ing a meal together. Do every­thing as a team,  from choos­ing the din­ner, gro­cery shop­ping, prep­ping and cooking.
• Pam­per your sig­nif­i­cant other. Exam­ple: Let them watch their favorite t.v. , play video games, eat their favorite bad foods, GUILT FREE, while you make them food, always have a cold drink for them, do a few of their chores, give a lit­tle foot rub…you get the idea.
• Garage sale or flea mar­ket date. Des­ig­nate $10 and have fun search­ing for a gift for one another.
• Fol­low a local food truck to have some gourmet grub on a budget.
• Pay it for­ward together. This might be the most bond­ing date. (tidy your elderly neigh­bors yard, babysit for a sin­gle par­ent, deliver a sur­prise din­ner to some­one sick or depressed, have a fund raiser such as a garage sale for some­one in need, vol­un­teer locally such as a beach clean up, help friends have their emer­gency kits together, I could go on and on…)
• Attend a free con­cert in the park or movie in your local com­mu­nity. (usu­ally a sum­mer activity)
• DIY spa day. Cre­ate a spa atmos­phere with sooth­ing music, water with cucum­bers and lemon, low light­ing, favorite can­dle scent…and give each other scalp, hand, foot or neck mas­sages. If you have a tub, draw a nice bub­ble bath for the other with a tray of a few of their favorite things. (book, bub­bly, soaps) Throw a towel in the drier so it’s nice and warm for them when they get out.
• Game night,  such as chess or scrabble.
• Get some house­hold chore done, such work­ing in the yard. It might not be the most roman­tic date, but you will get some­thing accom­plished TOGETHER. Make it enjoy­able by tak­ing a break and hav­ing some cold beer and chips/salsa together.

I think these sug­ges­tions should keep you busy for a while. Please feel free to share your ideas in my com­ment sec­tion to share with every­one!! I’d really appre­ci­ate your cre­ative input.