Be My Valentine All Year Long (Gift Idea)
Alright. I realize that it is a little early to begin talking about Valentine’s Day, I mean, many of us are just now getting all of our Christmas decor put away!
But really February 14th is only a few weeks ahead of us and this gift idea will take a little time to get together.
For Christmas, Richard and I usually make each other gifts, and since I already shared his wonderfully thoughtful gift with you from this past Christmas, I decided to share mine today. Perhaps you will find inspiration for a unique Valentine’s Day gift for your husband!
I call it the “Year of Romance” box.
I was inspired by a gift I found on Pinterest called “Let’s Go on a Date.” The idea was to plan out 12 different dates (one for every month) with your hubby and then buy gift cards, tickets, or include cash for those dates in an envelope. The point is to be intentional about your date nights and surprise your husband with creative and out of the ordinary experiences.
I was really excited to create my own version of this gift for Richard, giving it my own personal spin. Also, there was no way I was going to be able to pay for all the dates in advance (hello, we are making gifts for each other!), but I did pay for one specific date that will be a special outing for us… which will be revealed in March!
Here is how I created my Year of Romance box:
First, I needed a box of course, so I snagged a pretty one at Hobby Lobby for 50% off, plus it had a crack on the top, giving me an extra 15% off… yes.
Then I created 12 different envelopes for each month. I bought stickers to label each month on the envelopes.
Each envelope contained three items:
1. A Planned Date Night
Ok, I said that the only date I paid for was one special one in March, but I got this Groupon right before I made the Year of Romance box and thought it would be nice to use in January since Christmas always leaves you a little stretched financially. -Plus Richard is a HUGE fan of going to the movies, so it isn’t as lame as it sounds. (The other dates are a little more “out of the ordinary” for us)
2. A Marriage Challenge
I “created” challenges for each month. These are just simple things that we can do together as a couple to work on our marriage. Similar to the Love Dare idea. The first month is a challenge to pray for each other every day and with each other ever day… something pretty basic, but often neglected.
3. Prayer Bookmarks
This is meant to assist us in the challenge to pray for one another. There are new bookmarks in each envelope so that we can keep up to date on what we need to be praying for. There is a section for prayer requests for the other person, for yourself, and for your marriage as a whole.
Also in the box was a small envelope of Coffee Talk cards.
These cards each have a couple of questions to ask your spouse. They are called “Coffee Talk” cards because they are meant to be used on nights when we are unable to go out and do something, but can brew a cup of joe, sit, and talk together. Again, sounds simple, but sometimes when you don’t plan for things… they just don’t happen. The questions range from simple things like “What are your favorite blogs to read these days” to more important things like “What can I do, that I am not already, to let you know how much I love you.” They are basically conversation starters for those days when you seem to only talk about the kids.
Part of my desire in creating this box was to spur on our desire to “explore” each other again. It seems like the longer you are married the less you purposefully look at your spouse and seek to get to know them. This of course is understandable, since you feel like you know each other so well, but we are constantly changing, constantly growing in our walk with the Lord, and as a result our relationships are constantly shifting. The purpose in these Coffee Talk cards is to help us to rediscover one another.
And now it gets to the really cheesy part. (What? You thought we were already cheesy? Ha ha!)
In addition to everything mentioned above I included two resources for our time together:
We love to read to each other. We love to read period. So to add a little out of the ordinary reading into the mix as well as expand our literary horizons, I included The World’s Greatest Short Stories ($3.50!) and 100 Best-Loved Poems ($1.50!) in the box. Usually we read non-fiction to each other which is always a positive (books like this one which we are reading right now), but I wanted to provide something that we could read that would take the place of a movie one night or something to read while we have a picnic at the park or sit in a coffee shop together. And what could be more romantic than reading poetry? (Cheesiness Explosion!)
For those not fond of reading out loud, you could include some new romantic DVD’s in your box. I was going to add a few into our box, but didn’t have enough room.
So, there you have it, the Year of Romance Box. Create your own and wow your husband with a desire to grow closer over the coming year!
UPDATE: Click here to print your own Coffee Talk cards for free!
This post is linked up at Time~Warp Wife
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Wonderful gift! I’ve done something similar but this takes it up a notch, love it! I think I will work on one for my hubby – since Valentine’s day is around the corner. He loves my hand-made gifts so this will work perfectly. Thank you so much for sharing! Have a fantastic day! ~M
Love it! Thanks for sharing this great idea in advance… one definitely needs time to plan and make it <3
Yay! This is awesome–I’m excited to do something like this for Tim! Thanks, Jessalyn for the idea
What a great idea. Thank you for sharing.
What a great idea! So glad you shared it early because I need to get started!
I think I will use this for our anniversary! March 14th gives me a little more time to put this together!
Love this idea! Wheels are already turning for how I could personalize it for James, thanks for sharing!
I love this idea, especially the coffee talk questions. Unfortunately, even when my husband and I do get to go out, we don’t know what to talk about other than the kids!
I know right? You are sitting there and thinking, “Really? Why can I only think of the kids right now?”
If you do a search on “Questions to Ask Your Spouse” you will find some inspiration.
This is a great idea! I did something similar for my brother and sister-in-love, but not as elaborate. I posted about it in my Handmade Holidays post, but I got the idea from the Dating Divas website. Now I think I need to do something like this for my own husband.
I was just wondering if you have a template that you used for the bookmarks? I love this idea and now have a group on women leaders from my church going to work on this for their husbands. Any great creative date ideas you would be willing to pass along too? Thanks so much for your help!
P.S. Any templates you might have for the coffee talk cards or any ideas you have for the challenges would be great to, I am so not creative!!
Thanks in advance!
LOVE LOVE this idea! Would you mind sharing some of your coffee talk and monthly challenges? Thanks!
Hello Ladies! I just wanted to let you know that I will be posting Coffee Talk printables tomorrow as well as ideas for marriage challenges.
I was wondering what you printed on the front of the first envelope? I am not very imaginative and am curious what or how you introduced this to your love. And where can I find the printables too? Thanks and this idea is so fun and I have only a few days left to complete this awesome gift!!
Hi Stephanie! I believe the picture you are referring to is of a letter that I placed on top of the envelopes explaining what the box was all about. I explained what each of the envelopes would have in them, but also what the purpose of the box was-to focus on our marriage throughout the year. I made the coffee talk cards available here. I hope that helps!
Is there a printable for the book marks and marriage challenges?? Thank you for sharing this!!
No, I am sorry. I did make some printables for the coffee talk cards here and listed out some suggested challenges in the same post.