DIY: Make a Year of Dates

Valentine’s Day is almost here, and if you’re looking for a one-of-a-kind Valentine’s gift for that special man in your life, look no further. What could be better than a year of dates all planned out ahead of time!

What are some good ideas for a year of dates with your guy? You can find lots of good Groupons for restaurants to go to, tickets to a show or sports event, take a class – the choices are endless! There are also a lot of free options, like take a walk on the beach, have a picnic, go on a hike, etc.

For my year of dates with my hubby, I started by buying some clearance Christmas cards after the holidays – just for the envelopes. After all, why pay full price for red envelopes when you can buy some horrible Christmas cards nobody wanted and just use the envelopes from there?

Next was the hard part. Figuring out all of our dates. I bought a bunch of discount movie tickets from Costco, so about half of the dates are dinner and the movies. I did make sure to buy Groupon-type deals for restaurants we had never gone to, like a cool Brazilian barbecue place, an Italian restaurant with an ocean view – you get the gist of it.

I also bought some tickets to one of my husband’s favorite bands, some baseball tickets (also on sale from Costco), some cooking classes we can take together, and a walking food tour.

Next I made this printable with all of the month names for each envelope.

If you like, you can download this printable for free, here:

Year of Dates – Months

I cut out each month and tried to find some matching washi tape with which to affix it to the envelope. Let me tell you, I kind of have a crazy amount of washi tape – and I rarely use it because I think, “It’s so pretty, I don’t want to use it all up.” Well, I finally did it! I starting using my washi tape for this Valentine’s craft – hooray!

My final step was to make a “cover” for the envelopes.

If you like, you can download this printable for free, here:

One-Year-of-Dates

I tied it all together with some twine, and I think it turned out looking pretty nice.

The best part is – this isn’t just a great Valentine’s gift. You could do this as a Christmas gift, birthday gift – pretty much any special occasion! Wouldn’t this make such a romantic, thoughtful Christmas gift for men?

What are some date ideas you would put in a year of dates package?