First Basket Date!

I told you a few days ago about the dates basket I made as a wedding gift for my sister and brother-in-law.  As promised, I'll be sharing the contents of each month's envelopes so you can use the ideas yourself.  When Kim & Larry got back from their honeymoon, they came back to my parents' house and spent the night so we could catch up and spend some time together.  I knew they'd be hanging out that Monday, so I made one more envelope for their basket so they had one to do immediately.  (Probably selfishly, too...so I can be there for their first and explain how the date cards work).  As I told you before, I included one envelope per month, so this extra date made 13 total dates.


For each envelope, I labeled the outside with different scrapbooking stickers I had in my supplies.  Of course, you could also make labels on the computer in different fonts instead for a cheaper option but still make it cute.  I bet (although I haven't looked) you could even find a set of the month names in clip art or other downloadable images online.  I used the stickers because I had enough variety and supplies to do them all different, but probably would have either made some labels on the computer or written straight on the envelope if I didn't have them.  No need to spend extra money!


So, since Kim & Larry already had an "August" date (stay tuned for that reveal soon), I just labeled this envelope with the exact date of the Monday they'd be at my parents' house.  Inside this envelope were only two items:

• Date Card
• DVD of Kim & Larry's Wedding Reception

Here is the date card that was included in the envelope:  

So as I said, this isn't a date that most of you could or would probably include in your basket.  It took DAYS to take the 4+ hours of video from their reception and edit it down to 2 hours.  I used iMovie to edit and iDVD to format and burn the DVD.  I thought this would be a great way to remember their wedding day and a keepsake for the remainder of their marriage.  If you are giving this as a wedding gift, you could do the same thing for a 13th date or maybe even an album of pictures taken at the wedding.  I'm sure there are a ton of other ideas you have about how to include a "13th envelope" but it's certainly not necessary.  Twelve dates is definitely enough!

Kim & Larry opened their gifts after a long lazy Monday (Kim wasn't feeling too well, either).  Yes, the card did say that it would take place on my parents' "crappy couch"...this is a couch they've had for years and either swallows you or rolls you off when you sit on it.

They were pretty excited to have this keepsake and plan to watch it every year on their anniversary.  

So, this date wasn't super involved, very detailed, or even had a lot of stuff to "do".  It kind of worked out since we were all still getting out of "wedding coma" and Kim wasn't feeling well.  It was a good opportunity for us to take a minute to slow down and take in all that happened together.  Any of you that have been involved in a wedding know that during that night, you are totally absorbed in the moment and running around, dancing, eating cake, and mingling.  Before you know it, it's over!  Watching it back (at least for me) gave me the chance to appreciate it and enjoy it even more.  We had lots of fun watching the video, remembering different moments of the night and seeing things we didn't even know were going on.  There was LOTS of dancing, and I gave them permission to fast forward through some of it.  :o)

There you have it!  Date number 1 of 13 in the Dates for a Year basket!  Stay tuned for the August Date!  Kim & Larry opened the envelope while they were still at mom & dad's last weekend, but I don't want to reveal until they get to go and give me some feedback on whether it was all the fun I think it will be or a flop!  I'm hoping they'll snap a few pics I can share, too.  ;o)