CHEAP Dates for a Year Basket

If any of you are bloggers and DIY enthusiasts, I'm sure you've checked out Young House Love.  I found them about a year and a half ago while browsing some home decor ideas and fell in love.  I think for two days straight, I just sat and read their blogs.  Anyway...If you follow Sherry and John's wonderful blog, I'm sure you've heard of the Pinterest Challenge.


**Side Note**  If you are not on Pinterest yet, get on the ball.  It's SO addictive and so full of amazing inspiration and ideas for anything and everything.


Anyway...one tell tale sign that you are a Pinterest fanatic is that you pin things all the time, but never seem to get around to do most of them.  I've been trying to be better about that, and in fact plan to endeavor a Pinterest journey in the coming months (stay tuned).  But, I've got to say, most of the things I've tried are ideas, recipes, or something simple.  I haven't taken on a big "project" yet...until now.


If you follow my blog, you know that my sister just got married last weekend.  For their wedding gift, I wanted to do something creative.  I'm huge on gift-giving and try to make every gift I give meaningful, sentimental, creative, and/or memorable.  So, I didn't want to just get them a set of dishes and call it a day.


Enter Pinterest.

I came across this idea when I first joined Pinterest back in May.  In the midst of wedding planning, my sis didn't join until probably mid-June.  I crossed my fingers that she wouldn't see this pin (I pinned it, but deleted it once she joined, then just re-pinned it today).  I like the element of surprise, which is the reason I think I liked this gift.  They got back from their honeymoon last night and opened gifts, including this one, so now I feel like I have the freedom to share my first big Pinterest project.

The original idea uses a lot of gift cards to nice restaurants, activities, etc.  Well...being that I can't afford to do that, I decided to do a bargain/free date basket.  Which I think actually works better for a newlywed gift, because they'll have ideas and some supplies to re-do the dates they enjoy without breaking their budget.  Here's what my completed basket looks like:

Each month has it's own envelope that has card describing the date and (most of) the supplies they'll need for that date.  I also added one extra envelope to include a letter that explained the gift:

I got the basket at Big Lots for I think only $4, then decorated each envelope with scrapbook stickers.  I decided on 12 dates, made supply lists, went shopping, and decided which month to assign each date to. I used a pack of coordinating scrapbook paper, then created cards for each date which includes a short poem, where, what time of day, the supplies they'll need, and explanation of what to do for the date.


They were super excited, and I think are looking forward to open the envelopes each month.  Of course, I can't post what all of the dates are because that would ruin the surprise!  But...it does give me something to blog about monthly.  I told them to give me some feedback and take lots of pictures.  I'm sure this will be something that they enjoy and build great memories from.  That's the hope anyway.


Overall...this entire basket cost about the same that I would spend on an actual wedding gift for my sister ($100-$125).  So, really, it was not much of a stretch to do it.  If you're interested in doing this as a gift for someone, let me know and I'll be happy to send you the card document for each date.  This would be a great gift for an anniversary, Christmas, wedding, and even for a couple having a new baby.  They have a great variety of dates, no two are alike, and each of them I think will bring out a different aspect of their relationship.  I hope it keeps things exciting and romantic for them.  Stay tuned to find out what's in each of those envelopes...I can't wait to share!