Need ideas based off of "Cheap Dates" card set.

[Snork]

Long story.

When my now wife and I moved in together we were both working retail and on a tight budget. We purchased a deck of cards that was called "52 Cheap Date Ideas." The title says it all, it was 52 ideas for inexpensive dates that were simple and not so simple. Examples were, go to a zoo, go on a picnic, buy candles and a red table cloth and recreate an italian resturaunt, write poetry for each other over dinner, etc...

We took a few cards and reworked them into things we could do in the parks. We buy a set of blank invitation cards and write them in the cards, seal them up and randomly pick one for each day we are there.

Some examples of reworked ones are; 5 dollar gift day (we both spend $5 or less and buy a gift for the other), Take a picture with a random character day (we get to pick one character picture for the other that day). We have also made some that are not so cheap like; Buy some artwork for the house day, or "John's $25.00 gift day" where I would get a $25 gift of my choice, and Pin Trading Day (we both buy pins we like and do not trade with anyone, so thisn one was not so popular...).

So, after 5 years of doing this, we are looking for new ideas.

Does anyone have little things that they do in the parks that kind of fit this bill? We try to make them generic enough so they can be done in any park or DTD or waterpark? We drew the "buy a piece of artwork" while at Seaworld once and now have a tacky Shamu statue on our living room, but it is special due to the randomness of it.

So, anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Very cool idea John. I'm going to have to think about this one. So you need 52 random ideas for Disney?
Things that pop into my head right off is something like trying something different, food, a ride, something that you've never experienced at Disney. I know it's vague but as many times as we have even been to Disney, we have not done everything.

how goofy are you willing to be? Would you break out in song and dance and take a pic?

What about a scavenger hunt? Passporter has a treasure Hunt book out that might help.

 

[rlovew]

share an ice cream together

find a quiet spot to sit together for 5 minutes

give a small gift ($1 or less) to a child behaving around you (check with their parent first)

buy something that glows for a nighttime activity

walk around holding hands

share a snack you have never tried before

let your spouse choose your meal for you

Those are a few opff the top of my head- more specific park and area ones are easier than something general for all of them but i will think some more and ask DH when he gets up as well.

Rebecca

 

[party of 3]

what a GREAT idea!! thanks for sharing this with us.

i love the try a new place to eat one. we always seem to go to the same place. last trip we did new places mostly. and we enjoyed it.

i don't know where you stay, but how about one gets up early and goes and gets breakfast in bed for the other!

how about having a special desert ordered for the other one ahead of time. so they surprise them with it, after the meal. it could say lots of things on the desert. i love you, i appreciate you, thanks for being you......

watching the fireworks from the beach at the poly! -that's one of my favorite things to do. and it does not cost anything!

buy a special christmas ornament with the date to remember that trip. it's always a nice memory when putting up the tree to talk about the places you've been together. -we do this one too!

how about buying ears for each other. i happen to love the ears. i've never wore them, but i do love them.

how about staying at the mk until it closes and watch the castle change colors. i love to do that on our last night of vacation. its our kinda farewell. then we are so tired the next day, that we sleep on the flight home. works great for our 7year old!

i am really going to try to work on a list for our next trip!
thanks for the idea.

i'd love to hear more of these!

 

[vanyel]

This is a great idea!

How about:
ask a cast member or a stranger to be in a picture with you
Wear matching shirts for the day
Spend the day exploring your resort
get up really early and walk around the resort


My other ideas were already taken

 

[Snork]

Thank you everybody for the great ideas!

When my wife say the "buy something glows" she said that one will be added.

We are also adding the "Get a stranger to be in a picture with you."

These are great ideas because they are universal and can be done at any park.

As for some of the questions, we do not need 52 ideas. We usually do one for each day, so we will need 10 for our upcoming trip. So far we have

1) Buy something that glows. (thanks, rlovew!)
2) Ask a stranger or CM to be in a picture with us. (thanks, vanyel!)
3) $5.00 gift day (we both buy a $5.00 or less gift and exchange it at dinner, harder then you would think)
4) $25 gift for John
5) $25 gift for Laura
6) Buy artwork for the house

So, we just need a few more. I want to try to work in Party of 3's suggestion for the christmas ornament with the date, but not all the parks have personalization stores (...?), so that one may get changed into "buy something with the date on it or get something personilized with the date."

So, thanks to rlovew, vanyel, and party of 3! You guys so totally rock!

 

[party of 3]

you are very welcome.
thank you for the idea. dh and i were talking about it yesterday and we might try to do something like this for the 3 of us next trip! so thank you!!!

they do the ornaments in downtown disney.

 

[morgansmom2000]

We always get an ornament too!

 

[SharonLovesMickey]

I have to weigh in on the ornament idea! I have been doing that for a few years, but am finding it hard to get ornaments that say the park or have the date on them. The photopass ornaments are not unreasonably priced and you can not only add a photo, but include the date. So maybe one should be: take a photopass photo for an ornament.

I made one for my Dad for this year and it turned out so great I ordered one for us too.

I would also add:
search for hidden mickeys
mail a postcard to someone

 

[morgansmom2000]

We pick one out and get it personalized. It costs a bit more, but it's worth it, in my eyes.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

Go on a ride where they take a photo and try to be kissing in the photo. (You have to time it just right!)

Buy each other something chocolate (the food of love!).

Buy T-shirts that "go together" (for example, one with Belle and one with the Beast, or one with Mickey and one with Minnie, etc.)

Teresa

 

[vanyel]

My husband's birthday is next week and I struggle every year to find something unique and different for him. (he doesn't "need" anything).

So, I've decided to take cardstock to make a deck of 52 cards and I'm going to print out things that we like to do on the weekends and some things we've talked about doing. Things like go for a walk at the dunes, go wine tasting at the local wineries, go for lunch in shipshewanna.... plus, I'm going to add some wild cards that say things like "your choice".

The trick might be to get to 52 without too many wild cards.

So, lots of thanks OP for the great idea.