I do not even know where to begin. If I was comparing this to the rest of the date nights, this one in my book would be a big fat fail. And yet, the fact that we actually had a date night at all means it was a huge win.
If you don't have children, you might not know this, but two-year-olds (and almost two-year-olds) are impossibly dictatorial monsters. Our almost two-year-old is particularly high spirited and strong willed. Don't get me wrong, I am absolutely not complaining about parenthood in the least bit! Our kids is amazing! But she is exhausting and her tantrums are exhausting. Never in my life have I had someone pretty much beat me up (physically, mentally and emotionally) all day long. And then after the toddler induced abuse I am supposed to be 100% present with my husband (who is also exhausted from working all day), giving him my undivided time an attention for a date night?
On top of the toddler troubles, I had zero (maybe even less than zero if that's possible) inspiration for an "original" date night idea. For three days I stared at my computer browsing Pinterest for an unknown number of hours searching for something and finding nothing. Not one single idea.
I ended up walking around the local Dollar Tree for over an hour, searching every square foot of that retail space for some sort of hidden treasure I hadn't already found. And I found the most random assortment of things. None of the things in my cart seemed very great on their own, and yet I couldn't figure out how to make an entire date from any of it. Not to mention I couldn't really direct all my attention on the task at hand as 1. I had to entertain the toddler who had already grown tired of the toy I found for her when we first entered the store and 2. if I stopped moving the cart for even 30 seconds she would think it was time to get out of the cart and then begin thrashing and kicking and screaming until I picked her up (at which point she would commence puling my shirt down and exposing me to the entire store and then thrash and kick and scream until I put her down so she could run off, yes this happens on a regular basis. I can't take her anywhere.).
So instead of admitting defeat I decided to own my most lame date night idea ever and commit: The Mixed Bag Mash Up. This was complete with a new game, a science grab bag, and mixed up snacks.( I really wanted to a craft in there also, but I decided when I got home it was really a one person craft- that one person being me, and not desiring any help from my husband. I ended up making the craft today and Avery helped. Which consisted mostly of her following me around asking if she could touch the flowers (it was a wreath).)
Pretty much every element of the date failed.
The game I picked was really best played with closer to 7 people than 2 people. The first two times we played, the game ended so fast that we weren't even sure what had happened. We ended up having two ghost hands who I affectionately named "Invisible Joe" and "Betty". That helped the game go slightly better. And in case you are wondering, Travis won one game and I won all the rest. So my track record is still safe (whew!).
The science grab bag must have been made for four year olds. Now, we have done some silly things for the sake of having fun, but we couldn't even allow our intelligence to be lowered to the depths of the science-y "facts" and "experiments" contained within this kit. I don't even know what more to say about it. Fail all around.
The snacks I picked up actually weren't too bad: a tropical trail mix (banana chips/ dried pineapple and chocolate pieces) and a cranberry and pumpkin seed trail mix- I'll let you decide who ate which mix.
Our final part of the date came back to us pulling out those questions we answered in our Cheese Night date. I had a migraine and Travis was barely staying awake, so we got through about three questions each before we both decided this date was officially over.
But through all the fails leading up to and surrounding the date night, we still managed to reconnect and take the time to seek one another out. None of the other things mattered.