Photo Credit: federico stevanin

If you haven’t heard Jim Croce‘s famous song, Time In A Bottle. Take a moment to listen to it below:

One of the best gifts of marriage is being able to enjoy God’s creation together, whether it’s on exotic trips across the globe or exploring your own backyard. God’s creation is inspirational if we only take the time to look and appreciate what’s around us.

This date night begins by making a “Message in a Bottle.”

What you’ll need:

• A Bottle, cleaned and dry with cork
• White computer paper
• Brewed cup of tea, room temperature
• Waxed paper
• A paint or pastry brush
• Ribbon
• Funnel
• Confetti or red hots candy or sea shells
• Sand, rice or fake snow
• Stapler

Directions:

Take a sheet of paper and lay it on the wax paper. Paint the tea on the paper using the brush until the paper is completely covered. Gently lift the paper and loosely crinkle it into a wad.  Open the wet paper and set it back on the waxed paper to dry.

Once it has completely dried, it is time to write your letter.

There are several options you can do at this point.

1. Recount all the wishes and dreams you have seen come true since you’ve been together. This could be places you’ve been to, accomplishments you’ve celebrated, romantic memories, etc. Whatever it is you want to recall on this date. It would be great if you could list the date or year it took place as well, since this date is all about “time.”
2. List all the dreams and wishes you have for your future together. This would be a great way to propose marriage, or to give on your first anniversary when there aren’t as many dreams come true, as there are dreams yet to come.
3. Draw a treasure map that leads your spouse to all the places that are special to the two of you. Have them start at #1 which could be where you met. Then, have the map lead you to your first date, the place where you were married, your first home, the hospital where you had your children, etc. A variation if you don’t live near all these places would be to list all the places and remember where you were in your relationship at the time. You could even include a picture of each and paste it onto the paper.
4. Or you could simply write a love letter to your spouse and give them a surprise at the end with some special time you have planned with them – like a couple’s massage, a round of golf or miniature golf, a bowling game, or sharing a banana split.
5. Let the bottle be your gift to them of time past, time present and time future. You could include three letters – one for each.
6. You could have an entire day planned out – something every hour listed on your paper.  Or you could have breakfast in bed, lunch out without the kids and a date out on the town for dinner. A fun way to surprise your spouse would be to have the bottle placed somewhere in the house where they discover it on their own. If you know it is laundry day, have it buried in the piles of laundry to be sorted. If you know your spouse will be paying bills, have it setting by the computer. If you use either of these choices or something similar, I would put a tag on the bottle telling them when and where they must meet you to open the contents of the bottle. How fun to anticipate all day long what’s in the bottle!

Hopefully, this list gives you some ideas as to how you can build a very special date around a simple message in a bottle.

Places to get bottles (or you could make your own from a wine bottle with cork.)

Take your letter and roll it tightly with the message on the inside. Tie it with ribbon and attach the end of the ribbon to the cork using a stapler.

Using the funnel pour the sand, rice or snow into the bottle. Add confetti, red hots or tiny sea shells into the bottle.

Insert the letter into your bottle and press the cork in the top to close. The letter should come out easily when the cork is removed.

We may not be able to “make days last forever,” as Jim Croce penned, but we can make this date a special memory which lasts forever in the mind and heart of our spouse. Now that’s a date worth our time and effort!