DIY Date Night Jar
If you’re looking to make a DIY Date Night Jar to keep your date nights creative and fun, this is a quick and easy tutorial to help you make your own date night idea jar! There are even 63 popsicle stick date ideas to get you started, and I’m sure after getting some inspiration from the list, you’ll be able to add so many more!
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What is a date night jar?
A date night jar is super simple! It’s a jar (usually something like a mason jar) that has popsicle sticks inside. Each popsicle stick will have a date night idea written on it. When it comes time for date night, all you do is reach into the jar and grab a random stick. Then, you have to do that date!
I love the date night jar because you only have to put a lot of thought into the date nights one time – when you’re making it! After that, no more creativity required, and you’re stocked up on date night ideas!
Where to buy a date night jar?
You can make your own date night jar (see below), or you can buy a date night jar already made.
This date night jar on Amazon has everything done for you – the jar along with 52 date night ideas already filled out!
Or you can also get a box like this on Amazon. I love this because it’s a little bit different, and it has 12 date night ideas rolled up in the box. It’s designed to do one per month!
This jar from Etsy is just the jar, and you would need to provide your own popsicle sticks and date night ideas (I have a list of ideas for you below!)
I love this Etsy listing that is not so much in jar form, but is a collection of envelopes with 35 date ideas.
How to make a date night jar
Making a date night jar is super easy. It really only varies depending on how much time you’d like to put into it!
Supplies
Supplies you’ll need:
A jar – mason jars like this are most common
You could also get colored popsicle sticks to be able to quickly identify which type of date you want to do. You could separate types of dates out by things like purple sticks are stay at home, green are dinner ideas, blue are for dates outdoors and in nature, yellow are low cost ideas, etc.
Another idea for categorizing the date nights might be having one color for dates that would be free, one for dates less than $20, and so on.
Labels. There are a few different options for labels. You can get something that will stick onto the jar, like these or these. Or, you can get something that will hang from the jar like this.
Markers. And, last, you will need a marker to write on each popsicle stick. I prefer fine point markers for this type of project!
Special Notes:
Two quick things to look out for when you’re making your own DIY date night jar:
- If you plan on doing a lot of decorating on the jar itself, you will likely want to make sure your jar is smooth all around.
Some mason jars come with their brand names etched into them, or raised on the side, like these. They’re absolutely fine to use for this project – I think they look very cute! It’s just something to keep in mind for your however much (or little) you plan on decorating the jar itself! - You’ll want to check the dimensions of the mason jar along with the popsicle sticks. Make sure the length of the popsicle sticks will fit within the height of the mason jar.
Step-by-Step
Step one:
Choose what you want to write on your label. It could be as easy as “Date Night Jar” or “# of Date Nights” or “Date Night Ideas.” You can get more complicated with this if you’d like, and put maybe your favorite quote about love or your names.
Step two:
After writing on the label, attach it to the jar.
Step three:
Write out the different dates on the popsicle sticks. Write one date per popsicle stick.
Like mentioned above, you can use colored popsicle sticks to put the dates into different categories. This is super helpful when you’re trying to decide on if you want to stay home, go out, do a free thing, splurge, etc.
You could also use the different colors to differentiate between seasons. Maybe some dates are more intended during the summer, maybe some are best in fall (like carving pumpkins!).
I colored my own popsicle sticks, which I did NOT enjoy very much, and it just doesn’t look as nice as ones that come already colorful for you. I’m considering redoing our popsicle stick date ideas one of these days!
When you’re finished writing out the dates on each popsicle stick, put the popsicles sticks in the jar. And just like that, your DIY date night jar is finished!
Rules
You don’t have to put rules on this, but here are the super basic rules we’ve incorporated:
- Ideally, we’ll do the first date picked. However, we can veto 2 picks (each of us getting one veto), but we HAVE to do the 3rd, if it gets that far!
- We can add or remove dates at any time throughout the year.
And, new this year, we added two more rules:
- We have to take a picture or two for each date, one picture including the popsicle stick. We’ll put this in a scrapbook/photo album, and write down any fun, funny, or special memories during the date.
- At the beginning of the next year, we’ll go through the scrapbook or album and review all the fun times we had!
For this scrapbook purpose, I’ve been just taking the pictures on my phone and putting them in a separate album and making notes in a designated note on my phone.
However, I’d love to get an instant camera like this instead of using my phone!
Or, a mobile phone printer like this!
DIY Date Night Jar Ideas
I made a date night jar for my husband and I a few years ago, and it has been so much fun to use! It keeps us doing different things, which even if they’re mostly at home can be a lot of fun! It’s always fun to find different ways to reconnect with each other!
Here are some ideas for your date night jar. Don’t worry about hitting a certain number. If your idea is to use this once per month, you can put 12 ideas in, or you can put 20 ideas in. If you have more, then you’ll have different options and less chance of picking the same date!
If you’re trying to do this once per week, you can definitely do 52 dates. Or you could do 30 dates and have a few repeats if you don’t mind. Even having a repeat will end up being different! Or you could do 60 date ideas just to add a little variety. Totally up to you!
63 Ideas for a Date Night Jar
I have ours separated into A Night at Home, Out and About, and Outdoors or Seasonal. I’d love to know your ideas as well!
A Night at Home Date Night Jar Ideas
- Karaoke night
- Find a new recipe
- Teach the dogs a new trick
- Play Hunt A Killer (this is our FAVORITE game to play together! Check out my full Hunt A Killer review, or check out the game here)
- The Office marathon
- Do a craft together
- Make a list of dream home wishes
- Watch a documentary
- Make thee biggest, craziest ice cream sundae
- Order in or take out & a movie
- Make a dessert together
- Plan an extravagant vacation
- Plan a weekend getaway
- Plan a vacation to another country
- Plan a vacation to a state neither of us has been to before
- Board game night
- Massages
- Take YouTube dance lessons
- Plan a themed party to have with family and friends
- Build a fort
- Homemade pizza & Shark Tank
- Mad Libs
- Christmas movie night (even if it’s July!)
- Make individual and couples bucket lists
- Write down our own versions of how we met and fell in love and read them to each other.
- Tech-free night
- Scary movie night
- Movie night: ______’s pick
- Movie night: ______’s pick
- Play Mario Kart on our Nintendo Switch (this is mainly because it’s the only video game I can play moderately well!)
Out and About
- Mini golf
- Coffee shop date (go to our favorite, or find a new one!)
- Dinner and a movie
- Bowling
- Go to the zoo
- Go to the history museum
- Go to the art museum
- Bookstore date
- Drive-in movie
- Ice skating (we have an indoor public rink in our city, so this isn’t only a seasonal thing for us!)
- Driving range
- Murder Mystery Dinner Theater
- Go to a comedy show
- Go to a piano bar
- Rock climbing
- Trampoline park
- Painting class
- Dinner at: _____’s pick!
- Dinner at: _____’s pick!
- Go to a play
- Go to the ballet
- Try a new restaurant
Outdoor and Seasonal
- Watch a movie outside
- Snowball fight
- Watch the sunset (or sunrise!)
- Build a snowman
- Go stargazing
- Get coffee and go on a walk
- Go hiking
- Go on a picnic
- Look at Christmas lights
- Go geocaching
- Build and fly kites
We’ve even added more things for our movie nights at home by breaking them down into genres, such as watch a mystery/thriller, watch an 80s movie, etc.
I hope you’ve gotten some inspiration to make your own date night jar, and I hope you really get creative with it – both with the jar and the dates! There are just so many different things you can do with this, and it can be a changing thing every year, like for us adding in taking pictures of each date we do and making a scrapbook!
And, check out why date nights are important in this article!
