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A date night jar with 60 ideas, each marked with cost and prep
This date night jar comes ready to cut: 60 ideas on paper strips, two pages of 30, in four sections. Every strip carries a cost code and a prep code, so you can sort your jar of date night ideas before you draw.
- Strips
- 60 ideas, 30 per page, 3.75 × 0.55 in each
- Paper
- US Letter and A4, portrait, print at 100%
- Designs
- Multicolor, with a color bar per section, and minimal
- To fill in
- Nothing: every strip is printed
What is on each strip
Section
At home, out and about, outdoors or try something new; in the multicolor design each has its own color bar.
The idea
One or two lines, such as Hike a trail neither of us has done. No brands, alcohol or anything explicit.
Cost code
“$ under $25 · $$ $25 to $75 · $$$ over $75”. You see the code, never a price.
Prep code
“Easy: doable tonight · Plan ahead: a few days · Big plan: a week or more”.
Why the codes matter on a weeknight
Color is the usual fix in date jar ideas online. One blog colors its sticks so that “if money is tighter we know not to pick red or orange”; another marks summer dates so they never come up in winter. A code printed on the strip needs no key to remember, and it also tells you how much notice the date needs.
On this sheet, 19 of the 60 strips are both under $25 and doable tonight. Draw blind on a Wednesday, and about two draws in three need more money or more notice. So agree up front: a Big plan you draw on a weeknight waits for the weekend instead of going back in the jar.
| Section | $ | $$ | $$$ | Easy | Plan ahead | Big plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At home | 9 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 6 | 0 |
| Out and about | 2 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 3 |
| Outdoors | 10 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 2 |
| Try something new | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 3 |
| All 60 | 27 | 24 | 9 | 28 | 24 | 8 |
Counts from the sheet itself. Quote: Our Kind of Wonderful; season colors: The Everygirl.
Three draws, all $ and Easy: a normal weeknight.
How to make a date night jar from the sheet
- Print both pages at 100%.
- Cut on the lines. Neighboring strips share one, so a single long cut frees a whole row.
- Fold each strip in half and drop it in a jar, a tin or a box.
- Before the first draw, sort the strips together: each of you pulls any you would dread, and you agree whether a done strip goes back in or onto a done pile.
That sorting is the point: the Date Night Opportunity report advises dates that balance both partners’ interests, rather than what the same partner wants each time. If you want date night ideas in a jar that never stall midweek, put the 28 Easy strips in one jar and the other 32 in a weekend jar.
Page 2: outdoors on the left, try something new on the right.
60 date night jar ideas, with cost and prep codes
Every idea from the sheet, word for word, in printed order.
At home
| Idea | Cost | Prep |
|---|---|---|
| Cook a dinner from a country neither of us has visited | $$ | Plan ahead |
| Build a blanket fort and watch a movie inside it | $ | Easy |
| Have a candlelit dinner at the kitchen table, phones away | $ | Easy |
| Do a puzzle to a playlist from the year we met | $ | Easy |
| Make pizza dough from scratch and top it together | $ | Plan ahead |
| Hold a blind taste test of chips, chocolate or hot sauce | $ | Easy |
| Recreate a restaurant meal we loved, printed menu and all | $$ | Plan ahead |
| Play a board game tournament, best of three | $ | Easy |
| Order a fancy meal kit and dress up for dinner at home | $$$ | Plan ahead |
| Take an online calligraphy or photography class together | $$ | Plan ahead |
| Make dumplings or sushi at home for the first time | $$ | Plan ahead |
| Look through old photos and tell the stories behind them | $ | Easy |
| Have a karaoke night in the living room, two songs each | $ | Easy |
| Set up a spa night with face masks, robes and slow music | $$ | Easy |
| Plan a dream trip in detail, down to the budget | $ | Easy |
Out and about
| Idea | Cost | Prep |
|---|---|---|
| Eat at a restaurant serving food we have never tried | $$ | Easy |
| See a stand-up comedy show | $$ | Plan ahead |
| Catch a late movie and share one big popcorn | $$ | Easy |
| Visit a museum and each pick one favorite piece | $$ | Plan ahead |
| Go bowling and keep score on paper | $$ | Easy |
| Take a pottery or painting class together | $$$ | Big plan |
| Go on a dessert crawl: three places, one dessert at each | $$ | Easy |
| Spend an hour at an arcade and trade tickets for a prize | $$ | Easy |
| See live music at a small venue | $$ | Plan ahead |
| Walk a farmers market and cook lunch from what we buy | $$ | Easy |
| Play a trivia night as a team of two | $ | Easy |
| Book a tasting menu for a special night | $$$ | Big plan |
| Explore a neighborhood we have never walked | $ | Easy |
| Go ice skating or roller skating | $$ | Easy |
| Take a day trip to a nearby town | $$$ | Big plan |
Outdoors
| Idea | Cost | Prep |
|---|---|---|
| Watch the sunrise with coffee from a thermos | $ | Plan ahead |
| Hike a trail neither of us has done | $ | Plan ahead |
| Have a sunset picnic in a park | $ | Easy |
| Go stargazing away from city lights | $ | Plan ahead |
| Rent bikes and ride without a set route | $$ | Easy |
| Paddle a kayak or canoe for an afternoon | $$ | Plan ahead |
| Camp for one night, even if it is in the backyard | $$ | Big plan |
| Take a photo walk and print our three best shots | $ | Easy |
| Go apple or berry picking in season | $$ | Plan ahead |
| Fly a kite at the beach or in a big field | $ | Easy |
| Drive to a lookout or waterfall within two hours | $ | Plan ahead |
| Build a campfire and make s’mores | $ | Plan ahead |
| Play a round of tennis or pickleball | $ | Easy |
| Rent a cabin for a weekend | $$$ | Big plan |
| Take an evening walk that ends with ice cream | $ | Easy |
Try something new
| Idea | Cost | Prep |
|---|---|---|
| Take a one-night cooking class | $$$ | Plan ahead |
| Learn a short dance routine from a video | $ | Easy |
| Try a beginner session at a climbing gym | $$ | Plan ahead |
| Solve an escape room together | $$ | Plan ahead |
| Take a glassblowing or woodworking workshop | $$$ | Big plan |
| Swap hobbies for an evening and teach each other | $ | Easy |
| Ride in a hot air balloon | $$$ | Big plan |
| Write letters to each other to open in one year | $ | Easy |
| Learn ten phrases for a trip we want to take | $ | Easy |
| Take a salsa or swing dance lesson | $$ | Plan ahead |
| Try axe throwing or archery | $$ | Plan ahead |
| Build something together from a kit | $$ | Plan ahead |
| Go to a cultural festival in our city | $ | Plan ahead |
| Volunteer together for a morning | $ | Plan ahead |
| Book a weekend away with no plans at all | $$$ | Big plan |
Download the jar strips
Two designs, both pages in one PDF, free with no email or account.
How often to draw: once a week, or twice a month
Sixty strips give you 52 dates in a jar, one a week, with eight to spare. In a 2022 survey of 2,000 married, heterosexual men and women aged 18 to 55 in the U.S., 48% went on date nights once or twice a month or more.
Those who did were more likely to call their marriage very happy: 83 to 84% against 68 to 70%. The authors warn that one survey cannot show the dates cause the happiness.
Survey: National Marriage Project and Wheatley Institute, The Date Night Opportunity, 2023; fieldwork by YouGov, fall 2022.
- For favors you give each other: love coupons.
- For a night in with questions: the couple questions game, and more like it in printable couple games.
- For plans too big for one evening: the bucket list for couples.
Sort the strips together, so the jar is not one person’s wish list.
Questions people ask
What is a date night jar?
A jar of date ideas on folded slips that you draw from when you want a date without the debate. This one holds 60 printed strips with cost and prep codes.
What to put in a date night box?
The same strips; a box or tin works like a jar. For a gift, leave one $ and Easy strip unfolded on top, so your first date can happen that week.
Is this a color coded date night jar?
Yes, in the multicolor design each section has its own color bar. The minimal design sorts the same way, because the codes are printed, not colored.
Can you add your own date ideas in a jar like this?
Yes, on a slip the same size, 3.75 by 0.55 inches; the sheet itself has no blank strips. Give yours a cost and prep code so it sorts with the rest.
Is the printable free, and is there an A4 version?
Yes to both: free with no email, in US Letter and A4. There is no fillable version, since nothing on the strips needs writing.
Other free printable sheets
Save the date night jar to Pinterest
Pin it now, and the next time neither of you can decide what to do tonight, the strips are one print away.
One date a week, as a pact
In Alpacto a weekly date night can be a routine for the two of you, with a shared rhythm, visible check-ins and a streak. The jar picks the date; the pact lives on both phones and holds the reminder.