Mike and I just got back from our anniversary trip, finally. Over nine hours in a car driving through the Nevada desert with no air conditioning in triple digit heat… yikes. We made it home safely though, and I’m not going to let that negate all the positive aspects of the trip. I’ll get into that story in a bit, because it’s kind of interesting to look back with some perspective. For now, let’s get into the actual reason for today’s post–a fun DIY “year of dates” gift! Typically our anniversary gift to each other is a trip, but for our 10 year I wanted to give Mike another gift.

DIY “year of dates” gift

To make your own “year of dates” gift you basically need 12 different date ideas. The content and cost of each is totally up to you. In an effort to be a little bit more budget-friendly I started planning this several months ago by hoarding gift cards as we received them. I also pulled small amounts of cash out at various intervals. Some of the date nights I included are:

• A breakfast date at Chick-fil-A
• Movie gift card
• A gift card to Studio Movie Grill
• Gift cards to local restaurants
• Cash for a “Mike’s choice” date and a “Justine’s choice” date

So, we have one date for each month. These won’t be our only dates. But now we have one date a month that is planned out and paid for. This is perfect for those weeks when you are feeling no motivation to do something or you’re not sure how you can work it into the budget. You could also include at-home date nights. However, I wanted to be sure we had at least one date night out a month, so that’s what I did.

| Read: 10 Unique and Budget-friendly Date Night Ideas |

and now for our anniversary trip saga–

One positive aspect that happened by accident actually started out as a big fat NEGATIVE. That is that I forgot my laptop. I had planned to bring it so that I could work on some work things I had deadlines for. We were unloading the car at the hotel Wednesday night and I turned to my husband–“do you have my laptop”. As in, had he gotten it from the car or did I still need to grab it. As soon as I saw the look of confusion on his face my heart sank and I went into panic mode. I was so upset with myself! I knew that I had stuck it with the rest of the items to be packed in the car. However, I hadn’t ensured that it had actually made it into the car.

| Read: Why Overnight Dates are Important for our Marriage |

I was so stressed wondering how I was going to get done all the things that I needed to do. I let it bother me for about 30 minutes or so. Then I realized that nothing could be done about it now, so I might as well turn my attitude around. I emailed some people about deadlines and prepared myself for a couple of late nights once I got home. Then I enjoyed the rest of my anniversary trip with Mike! We floated in the lazy river and we people watched along the Strip. We saw a great show and we ate some delicious food. In other words, I was doing everything that I should have been doing on an special trip with my husband instead of being on my laptop for hours. Sometimes stuff happens and the world keeps turning and things work out. Amazing, huh?

Have you ever made a special gift for your hubby?

Follow along on Pinterest for more date night ideas!