Kid Date Jar
Pre-pandemic my husband and I would regularly take our children out for solo kid dates. It would look different for each one, but it would allow us to have some separate time with each child. It was one of my favorite times because one was not interrupting the other and we could give each of them undivided attention. I loved how much they would open up about friends or different topics.
Then a pandemic hit. I feel like that is how everyone’s story starts these days.
Our one on one time went out of the window and there was a lot of family time together, which was great! But, our kiddos lost that designated time and they definitely have been at each other’s throats due to all the forced bonding the past 9 months.
In hopes to bring back this special time, I have created the ‘Kid Date Jar’ that we are going to gift our children for Valentine’s Day. I am super excited about this idea and I think they are going to be just as excited!
The idea behind the jar is to brainstorm several dates, place them on strips, and put them into a jar. Each week, or when time allows, invite your child to grab a strip out of the jar and do whatever activity is on the strip of paper.
The kid dates can be just about anything and do not have to cost a ton. Remember the most important thing is spending designated, solo time together.
Here are some that I have come up with:
- Go on a picnic
- Hot cocoa date
- Smoothie date
- Get nails painted
- Visit a park your choosing
- Play a board game
- Donut date
- Bake something
- Go to the library
- Free choice!
- Do a craft
- Ice cream date
- Take a hike together
There really are hundreds of things you could write down. I think a good mix of free and low-cost items is great. I threw in a few “big” ones to make things exciting.
Because I know life is crazy I have created a free printable with ideas for you. I have also included a bunch of blank ones too, so you can jot your own ideas down. If you have multiple kids at home, I would recommend printing these off on different colors of paper and assign each child a color. Grab your printable by clicking the button below!
