I decided I would like to tone things down a notch, plan a more calm and relaxing date, and take my husband to one of MY favorite places… a bookstore! Of course, I would have to add some creative touches to make sure he enjoyed the date as much as I would.
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Date Night Idea
With me being such a bookworm, I even made a particular book my inspiration for one of my previous dates, the Choose Your Own Date Adventure Date. When I was planning what to do for this date, I wanted something that was fun, free and easy to put together and I’m telling ya, this date has all of that! It may seem like random date ideas that aren’t your typical dinner and a movie. But seriously, with these amazing printables, you can just print and go. Easy-peasy! This is one of the most original date ideas you can find! You no longer have to wonder what to do after dinner date, the bookstore date will be fun and memorable for years to come! Here is what we did for our bookstore date. We started off by eating at a super-friendly-to-the-budget eatery. Afterward, I handed him this:
Bookstore Scavenger Hunt
We then headed off to a bookstore, I chose Barnes & Noble mainly because they have wooden chairs, armchairs, & couches scattered around the store. When choosing a bookstore for your OWN bookstore date I would suggest keeping that in mind! Those little nooks are perfect meeting spots for this date!
Once we were there, and ready for our bookstore scavenger hunt to begin, we found a cozy little spot and I presented him with the FIRST of two “Task Cards.” There were three tasks that we both needed to complete before meeting back at our cozy spot. Now, you can do this two different ways! You can give each other 30 minutes and split up… meeting back at the designated spot when the time limit is over… OR you can just go together to each section, find the different books/magazines, and meet back at the spot. We chose to do the second option. But this is your bookstore date, so do what suits the two of you best! Good thing we did… since we could barely hold in our laughter when we discovered that our rival universities had COOKBOOKS!! I am a BYU alumnus and Jamie is a HUGE Ute fan….
Here is the recipe that Jamie picked out:
Original Date Ideas
Next stop for this bookstore scavenger hunt is the Magazine section! This was a tricky one! It was harder than I thought to find quizzes in the magazines. If you also have a hard time, you can adjust that task to just finding a great article to share with each other. I found plenty of sizzling articles to share with him in Cosmopolitan and he found awesome photography tips to show me in Popular Photography. (BTW – notice how AMAZING the pictures are in this post!?! My birthday was this month and Jamie picked up on the million and one hints and bought me a FABULOUS camera… thus his sudden interest in photography!! He wanted to make sure his investment was the best option out there. LOL)
And then on to the Children’s section for this bookstore date… SO much fun! Here are our picks! Mine is Where the Wild Things Are and his favorite was The Berenstain Bears – In The Dark.
Bookstore Date Day 2
Now, confession time! We had SOOOO much fun doing this, that we ran out of time to do the other task card! We spent SO much time in each section having fun talking, sharing articles/finds, and laughing, that we completely lost track of time! It was such a hit with my husband that he insisted that we return the next day to finish the date. Remember… this is the husband that does not like to pick up a book and read for fun! The bookstore scavenger hunt was a total success!
Day TWO: The tasks on the second bookstore date card were… The “Joke Task” took us for-ev-er! We could not stop sharing jokes with each other and laughing!! So one joke each was just not enough for us!
The dream vacation task was really neat! I learned something NEW about Jamie! I always knew he had a thing for history and ruins, but I never knew he wanted to travel to Peru! So if you zoom in on the picture below, you may be able to see the breathtaking picture he is holding up of an ancient civilization in Peru. Where do I want to vacation? HAWAII!!!!
What to Do After Dinner Date
Our last task ended the date on a super romantic note! Sharing lovey-dovey poems out of some poem books we found. Great way to top off a wonderful bookstore date! The actual date cost us absolutely NOTHING! Free entertainment for two nights in a row! Jamie actually told me afterward that he would love to go to our local library and just sit in the children’s section and take turns reading our favorite books! WOW! Have I converted him to believe in the wonders of reading?
Jaime thought it might be fun for others who do this date to have a “WILD CARD” task, meaning that the person planning it could ask their spouse to make up a task on the spot that the spouse would really enjoy. Like sports, self-help, fishing-related, etc. So if you want to do something like that, we included a blank task card just for you! One more nice thing about doing a date in a bookstore… well, a BIG bookstore, is that you can grab a cup of cocoa and a pastry at their in-house eatery to snack on during your date! I’m telling you this is one of the most original date ideas out there! And it’s so much fun! If you decide to use these original date ideas, make sure you plan on it taking at LEAST 3-4 hours!! I promise you will have plenty to do… even if you are not a reader! So if stop sifting through random date ideas, this bookstore date is the perfect date night idea to shake things up!
