*This post is done in partnership with Date Night In Box (DNIB), but all thoughts and opinions are 2LWithIt’s*
Date Night In Box (DNIB) is a monthly subscription that sends a curated box of everything needed to plan a romantic date night at home. Each box includes: a custom Spotify soundtrack, an optional dinner menu (complete with recipes for apps, entrees, dessert, and drinks), games, crafts, and thoughtful conversation starters.
One of the things I like most about DNIB is their partnership with Tri-Development Center of Aiken County (TDC). TDC helps individuals with autism, head and spinal cord injuries, and intellectual disabilities, find employment in Aiken, South Carolina. TDC finds the helpful hands that put together each and every DNIB (and Kids Night In Boxes, too). I love to support companies that give back to their communities, so if you’re looking to give a gift that supports a good cause, look no further!
This month’s theme is “Throwback,” which pays homage to everything awesome from the 80’s and 90’s. To get your date started, I’d recommend turning on DNIB’s customized Spotify playlist, which for this month is ON POINT. I’m talking hits from Van Halen, Eurythmics, and Bonnie Tyler (among many others).
Next, there’s an optional dinner menu that’s included with the date night. This month’s recipes included some: Booyah! Fruit Punch, homemade Hot Pockets, All That and a Bowl of Salad, and Homemade Dunkaroos (my personal favorite). There are also materials to make your own freeze pops with some Kool-Aid powder (and if you’re feeling frisky, you can add a little vodka to make them “adult” freeze pops). DNIB’ers can find all of the recipes in a PDF available through accounts on the DNIB website.
We didn’t have a chance to try this month’s recipes, as I’m figuring out what I can and can’t eat on some new GI medications…so hopefully it’s all worked out by next month we can give you a 411 on the recipes! That being said though, the recipes looked really good this month and I love how Marina, the chef behind the dinner menus, took the time to include some really OG snacks like dunkaroos and hot pockets.
In addition to snacks and tunes, this month’s box also includes some very nostalgic activities. M.A.S.H. anyone? There’s also a fun trivia game and a karaoke activity, complete with blow up microphone and lyrics to sing along to (again, through the DNIB website). The karaoke game was a lot of fun because it came with this scratch off card that blends in a truth or dare element. We had a great time showing off our moonwalk skills between verses of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”
While you’re going through the activities, you’ll find a variety of extras to add to your throwback experience, like: pop rocks, smarties, a ring pop, neon shades, and a Rubik’s cube (check out how my fiancé made a cool pattern in it; he’s a wiz at making designs in them!). Throw in some gushers and maybe some fruit by the foot, and you’ve got the perfect nostalgic experience.
This month our box also included the optional faith-based discussion guide. If this is an important aspect to your relationship, I’d suggest checking it out. It’s a two-page pamphlet with Christian thoughts and questions that tie in nicely with the other date night activities. DNIB has also created a faith-based playlist that features Christian artists. This is the first time I’ve noticed this detail, but it might have been in other boxes and I just missed it; either way, a cool option to have some more tunes to enjoy on your date.
This month, many of the faith questions deal with the notion of asking yourself, “what do I really want” and how that answer can change when things don’t go according to plan. There’s a line in the text that says “if we always do what we want to do, we will end up where we don’t want to be.” To me, that resonated extremely loud, because these last few years, for me personally, couldn’t be further from how I pictured my life going. Personally, professionally, health-wise…it’s all been a learning process of letting go and letting God (so to say). Once I gave up trying to control the outcome for situations that were vastly out of my control, I started to find glimmers of happiness. That’s not to say I’ve mastered this in the slightest, but relinquishing that desire to map it all out has been the best and worst thing to happen to me.
Figuring out what you want – in life, in a relationship, in your job, etc. is an ever-changing answer. What you might have wanted a year ago may not be what you want now, or even what you want in your future. Since we’re in the realm of relationships with the date box, I think it’s wild to think about the kind of person I wanted to date at 20-something is wildly different from the man I’m planning on marrying. Even within our relationship, I think the things we wanted from each other as a partner have evolved over this last year, for the better. When things get tough, something that reinforces that commitment is the idea that a relationship, a marriage, a partnership, is a daily affirmation. Leaving is easy. Anyone can do it. But I think some of the strongest examples of relationships I’ve seen growing up have been the ones that commit to weather the storms in life, no matter how much water the relationship metaphorically takes on.
So, that’s our two cents. All in all, I think this was one of our favorite boxes to date. We loved getting the opportunity to talk about things from our childhood, like pop tarts and the Backstreet boys. The activities were really fun, and this month we took the faith discussion guide with us when we went out to dinner. It was really nice to add that extra level of connection while we were out of the house (and super easy because the guide folds up so you can take it when you’re out and about).
Next month’s box is “Let It Grow,” so maybe we will see some spring-themed activities that get us outside?
For pricing and more details about the boxes, check out Date Night In’s pages here:
Use code “15OFFNIB” for 15% off all plans; limited quantities apply.
