Gather r he et Tog DATE GUIDE
Set
THE MOOD For your date this evening, you will be making a meal together. Before you begin, we encourage you to consider your surroundings and set the mood for your date. In your Date Night In Box you will find items to set your table; feel free to add any other elements of your own to enhance your dining experience. Locate your included Vanilla + Pumpkin tealight candles from Bare Candle Company, light them and enjoy the aroma of fall! If you love Bare Candle Company as much as we do, head to barecandleco.com and use code DATENIGHTIN for 15% off mini and standard candles through 12/25/2019. Next, locate your dinner napkins and head to datenightinbox.com/ gather-together for further direction. Don’t forget to access your custom Gather Together playlist at datenightinbox.com/gather-together.
Optional
DINNER MENU GRAB YOUR RECIPE CARD
Each month we include
Hi, friends! I’m Marina from
custom recipes provided
marinamakesblog.com. I
by Marina (from
love that this date involves
marinamakesblog.com).
cooking and better yet, that
Our hope is that you will
it includes a delicious soup!
be inspired to use this
There’s nothing better than
recipe card again in the
cozying up in the kitchen
future.
and cooking with your
Enjoy!
significant other. While your soup simmers, I hope you’ll also enjoy making my recipes for cranberry and orange bourbon cocktails, buttermilk biscuits and caramel and pecan cookies. Work together and enjoy your time making these mouth-watering masterpieces. I’d love to see how your food turns out, so please share pictures of your results on social media; don’t forget to use the hashtag #marinamakeseats. Happy eating!
TABLE TALK IT’S TIME TO SIT BACK AND ENJOY A BIT OF TABLE TALK. WE HOPE THIS FUN, LIGHTHEARTED DISCUSSION WILL BRING SOMETHING NEW TO YOUR RELATIONSHIP!
Coming together to form a relationship is no simple task. It can be challenging to blend the strengths and weaknesses that defined you before you were a team. When it comes to problemsolving in your relationship, you rely on your shared strengths to tackle the job. On the flip side, you may also have shared weaknesses that don’t get the care they deserve because, well, your partner is in the trenches right there with you (if my weakness is cake and your weakness is cake, we’re going to be eating lots of cake). This relationship maintenance exercise will help draw out some shared strengths for you to take advantage of and (with an open mind) some shared weaknesses to pay a little bit more attention to. Use this as a tool to offer encouragement for the progress you’ve made and lovingly shed some light on some areas where you might benefit from some outside accountability.
DIRECTIONS: Take a few minutes to fill in your own chart on the right. List three of your strengths and weaknesses and three of your partner’s strengths and weaknesses. Compare your answers for a quick peek at some of your differences and similarities.
MY
MY
YOUR
YOUR
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
MY
MY
YOUR
YOUR
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
Remember to trust each other with your shared goal of coming together for the greater good! Humbly assessing the needs of your relationship allows for even more growth and love. With this in mind, discuss the following questions: ––
What strengths do we share?
––
What weaknesses do we share?
––
What individual strengths do we have that complement each other?
––
What is one practical step we can each take to step out of our weaknesses?
CHEERS to coming together!
Soup MATERIALS Corn Chowder Mix |
Water
Does your family celebrate holidays lavishly or minimally? Regardless, there is something fun about gathering together for a meal and celebration. As the weather cools, enjoying a warm meal can be especially cozy and special. Tonight, you will be making delicious Farmhouse Corn Chowder from Halladay’s Harvest Barn. Locate your mix and follow the directions on the packaging. As you enjoy your meal, continue with the next activity.
Recipe For Love MATERIALS Recipe For Love Notecard
Have you ever seen a recipe for love? One cup of trust, a zest of joy, a tablespoon of romance, a dash of humor and two spoonfuls of patience. For the next activity, you’re going to create your own “love recipe.” Consider what ingredients you might gather that combine to create your unique relationship. Locate your Recipe for Love notecard and complete it together. Discuss the questions below. 1.
Which ingredients come naturally to your relationship?
2.
Are there some ingredients you have to work harder for? Why are they worth fighting for?
3.
Are there any ingredients you feel are missing from your current recipe? How might you incorporate those into your relationship?
1 1 2 1 3 1
Romance Humor Joy Compatibility Trust Respect
Gather Together
WORD SLAM
MATERIALS Gratitude Slam Cards
For your next activity, prepare to think on your feet with this fastpaced card game. As most good competitions begin, determine a wager for whoever loses the game. Maybe the loser does the dishes, has to give a back rub, or does laundry for the next week? It’s up to you! GAME PREP INSTRUCTIONS 1.
As a team, choose a short starting word having to do with fall or date night.
--
Suggested Words: GATHER, THANK, LOVE, GIVE (If you need to use more generic four- or five-letter words, feel free to do so).
2.
Find the cards you need to form the starting word and place those cards on your table or playing surface where each of you can see and reach them. Make sure they form the starting word you have chosen. Leave a bit of space between the cards, so there will be no overlapping when other cards are placed on top.
3.
Shuffle and deal the remaining cards equally between you and your significant other. There should be no cards left in the deck.
PLAYING INSTRUCTIONS Hint: As a reminder, the cards are two-sided. They are printed either with a different letter on each side or with blank spaces. Either side of the card may be played to make a legal word, with the blank serving as a “wild letter.” 1.
Play a quick game of rock, paper, scissors to determine who will start the game.
2.
Place a letter from your hand anywhere on the starting word to form a new word as soon as you recognize a new play. This is a speed game; players do not take turns placing new letters on the word. ––
You cannot play the same letter if it will make the same word. For example, if the current word is “THANK,” you cannot play another “A” immediately on top of the “A” in the word on the table. You can, however, play an “I” to change the word to “THINK” and then play “A” to change the word back to “THANK” if you can do so before your opponent changes the word to something else.
––
It is up to you to allow slang, acronyms, proper names for people or places, hyphenated words, or words with apostrophes.
3.
Call “time out!” to challenge a word if you don’t think your opponent played a real word. Stop the play to discuss the legitimacy of the word and consult a dictionary if necessary.
4.
Continue playing until one player runs out of cards or no more legal plays can be made. The player who is out of cards first is the winner. If both players still have cards and nobody can make a play, whoever has the fewest cards left is the winner.
REFLECTION TAKE A MOMENT TO REFLECT ON YOUR GATHER TOGETHER DATE NIGHT IN BOX. DISCUSS THESE QUESTIONS TOGETHER:
--
Which aspect of the date did you enjoy most?
--
In what ways are you stronger together than apart?
--
What did you learn about your relationship?
--
How will you use this date to build on your relationship moving forward?
WAYS TO CONTINUE YOUR NIGHT --
Play Gather Together Word Slam.
--
Display your Recipe for Love as a reminder of all that goes
--
Continue to practice gratitude for all that your partner
into your relationship.
brings to the relationship and encourage one another to strengthen your weaknesses.
--
Give back to your community by volunteering together at a
--
Host a gathering of friends and family to celebrate a season
--
Discover and make a new recipe together.
local soup kitchen.
of togetherness.
Until Next Time!
#DATENIGHTINBOX @DATENIGHTINBOX