DNI Power Outage

DATE NIGHT IN BOX

Power Outage

DATE GUIDE

WELCOME TO

your Date!

Welcome to your Power Outage Date Night In Box! Living in the age of technology, it can be easy to let real life moments slip through our fingertips. From social media to Netflix series, there are so many distractions constantly thrown our way. We hope to encourage you to turn ALL distractions off and simply enjoy the presence of each other during this date.

Tonight’s date will go deeper than physical lights and power. We will explore being vulnerable in the dark and how vulnerability yields growth. By letting down your guard with your partner, you are completely opening up to them and physically showing that you trust them with your heart and mind. We hope you use this experience to bring out deep connections with one another while remembering why you fell in love in the first place.

Speaking of technology, don’t forget to share your experience on social media using #DateNightInBox (once you complete the date that is!). One lucky couple will win and get their next date night FREE! Join us on Facebook or Instagram for more details.

If you received this date as a gift and enjoy your night, we would love for you to join us again next month! Thanks to all of you for allowing us to help build memories with you and your significant other.

Till Next Month!

From the Date Night In Team

DATE NIGHT ITINERARY

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SET THE MOOD COOK YOUR SUGGESTED DINNER RECIPES TABLE TALK SPARK CONNECTIONS ROLL THE DICE SNACK AND SHADOW PUPPETS LET’S BE VULNERABLE BODY ART REFLECTION & WAYS TO CONTINUE YOUR DATE NIGHT

Set the Mood Supplies needed Luminary Bag | Candle Pen

We believe setting the mood for your date is essential. Pull out your luminary bag and LED candle. Begin by using your included pen to take turns writing reasons why your partner is a good safe place for you on your luminary bag. In other words, write examples of how they make you feel safe to be vulnerable around them. Then, open up the bag and place it in the area you want your date to take place. Turn on your candle and place it inside the bag.

For this date we encourage you to dim the lights and put away ALL technology! Most importantly, put your cell phones AWAY (with the exception of our playlist playing softly in the background). Use this time to give your undivided attention to each other. If you would like to take this power outage to the next level, place your phones out of sight and complete the date with only the sounds of yourselves.

If you would like some background music, that is totally fine too!

We suggest accessing your custom Power Outage Spotify playlist at datenightinbox.com/poweroutage and then placing your phone somewhere in hearing distance but still out of sight.

Cook Your Suggested Dinner Recipes OUR SUPER TALENTED CULINARY COUPLE FROM OFF THE PEPPER HAS PROVIDED YOU WITH INNOVATIVE RECIPES THAT REQUIRE NO ELECTRICITY! GET READY TO ENJOY CUCUMBER JERK SALMON, SPRING ROLLS, AND CHEESECAKE BALLS.

Change things up and switch your typical roles in the kitchen.

Sample food along the way and have some fun with your significant other! For an added challenge, try having one partner blindfolded while the other directs them in what to do!

Husband and wife duo, Virginia and Joshua Townsend, have been in the cooking world for over ten years. They have a passion for food and the idea of using it to bring people together. Feel free to follow their journey on Instagram @ offthepepper or at offthepepper.com. Our hope is that you will be inspired through the Townsends’ passion for delicious food and will even use this recipe card again in the future.

Have fun cooking and enjoy!

Table Talk Being in the dark, or being without sight, places us in an extremely vulnerable place. It fully takes away one of our senses and puts us at a disadvantage when it comes to protecting ourselves. Similarly, being in love is all about vulnerability. When you are in a committed relationship, you often open your heart to the person in a way that you don’t with other people. You set yourself up to be vulnerable, to take risks, and to chance being hurt. It can be a scary thing to encounter but we believe some of the very best relationships are made when couples are able to trust each other enough to fully let their guards down.

We want to encourage you to be vulnerable with each other, to take risks, and to get out of your comfort zones while allowing your partner to be a safe space for you. When we allow ourselves to completely open up with our partner, we allow room for true growth in the relationship. It is a beautiful thing when you have one person who you can turn to with anything and trust with everything. It truly builds a connection like no other. Take a minute to open up to one another using these questions below. Give them thought and, most importantly, be honest with each other and yourself!

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In what areas is it easy to open up to your partner?

In what areas do you struggle to open up to your partner?

What is something your partner can do to make it easier for you to be vulnerable with them?

How do you think beauty can come from vulnerability?

Throughout this date we hope that you strive to open up to your partner, tearing down any walls you have built around yourself. Give them a chance to prove that they are capable of being your safe space. There will definitely be times in life where it is harder to open up than others, but by pushing yourself you are showing that you have faith in your partner and faith in your relationship. These moments will also be the moments that you look back on realizing they brought you closer together than ever before. Cheers to love, faith in one another, and vulnerability!

Spark Connections For your first activity you are going to complete some connection exercises. These exercises are meant to help increase intimacy and a sense of connectedness, allowing you to feel completely open with one another.

SOUL GAZING To engage in soul gazing, get into a seated position facing each other with your knees close to touching. The goal is to hold eye contact with each other for 3-5 minutes. Some ground rules - you are allowed to blink, try to refrain from talking, and acknowledge that it may feel awkward for the first 1-2 minutes if this is something you’ve never tried before. In a world full of distractions, this exercise is perfect for relighting the sparks between one another in a slowed down way.

7 BREATH FOREHEAD CONNECTION Begin this exercise by choosing a position. You can either face each other by lying down side by side or sitting upright. The key is to face each other directly and have your foreheads slightly touching. Put your chins down slightly so your noses are not quite touching (it is ok if they touch a little). Begin breathing deep, slow breaths in sync with one another. The first few breaths may feel unnatural but as you continue it should feel more natural to both of you. Feel free to stop after 7 breaths or if you are feeling adventurous continue breathing together for several minutes. This exercise is really helpful for being in the moment together and building that intimate connection.

20 QUESTIONS This final connection exercise is a set of 20 questions to answer together. We found these questions on a website called thoughtcatalog.com. These questions are designed to - you guessed it! - deepen your connection.

Knowledge is powerful and you can open the door for a meaningful understanding of each other with the right questions. Feeling understood by your partner makes it that much easier to fully open up to them. Pull out your 20 Questions Card and go over each question together. Be sure to put thought into your answers and genuinely listen to the answers of your partner.

Roll the Dice Supplies needed Roll the Dice Sheet | Dice Pen

For this activity, you and your partner will play a game to spark some playful intimacy. We want to encourage you to relax, have a good time, and let yourself come out of your comfort zone a bit with your partner as your guide. Enjoy some physical connection while living in the moment.

Locate your Roll the Dice sheet, pen, and your bag of dice. Begin by filling in each of the 4 categories with different time limits, actions, body parts, and places. We made this activity completely customizable so you can get as spicy as you want! If needed, check out our examples below for inspiration.

Examples: Time (30 seconds, 2 minutes, 10 minutes), Location (bed, kitchen, couch),

Body Part

(lips, arms, chest), and Action (tickle, massage, kiss) Once you have your sheet filled out, take turns rolling all 4 dice. Use each color of the dice to correspond to the number in that column (1 being at the top and 6 being at the bottom). Then put each number together to see what you have to do, to which body part, where you have to do it, and for how long. Ready, set, roll!

Time

Location

Body Part

Snack and Shadow Puppets

Let’s Be Vulnerable

Enjoy your S’mores Snack Mix while

It’s time to get really

taking turns using the blindfold and

vulnerable with each

feeding each other. Describe the

other! You will take

different textures and flavors. What’s

turns using the prompts

it like eating in the dark?

listed below to open up to your partner in

Next, bring back some innocent

more detail than you

childlike wonder while trying out

might have in the past.

the different animal shadow puppets

Remember your partner

below! See if your significant other

is your safe zone. Push

can guess what shadow puppet you

yourself to trust them

are creating.

fully while you dive into some potentially sensitive topics.

There are two roles for this activity. The listener and the speaker. Decide who will go first and then have the listener place on the blindfold.

Listeners - focus on your partner’s voice, listen to what they are saying, and try to really take it all in. Speakers - let yourself be vulnerable, think about what you are saying, and trust your words with your partner.

Then switch roles!

Once you are done, discuss the following questions together.

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How did this activity feel as a speaker? As a listener?

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Do you feel that you gained any new understanding of each other?

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MY AREA OF VULNERABILITY IS...

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WHEN I WAS YOUNGER I HAD THE EXPERIENCE OF...

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THIS MADE ME FEEL...

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BECAUSE OF THIS EXPERIENCE I CAME TO THINK OF MYSELF AS...

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BECAUSE OF THIS EXPERIENCE I CAME TO THINK OF OTHERS AS...

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I LEARNED THAT IF PEOPLE ___________ THEN I SHOULD...

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I LEARNED THAT IF I ___________ THEN PEOPLE WOULD...

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SOME OF THE THINGS I WOULD DO WERE...

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MORE AND MORE THIS MADE ME...

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THE BEST THINGS ABOUT THIS WAY OF COPING WERE...

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THE WORST THINGS ABOUT HOW I LEARNED TO COPE WERE...

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MY VULNERABILITY IS TRIGGERED WHEN I SEE YOU...

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IT’S AS IF YOU WERE...

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IT’S AS IF I WERE...

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IT MAKES ME FEEL...

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EVEN THOUGH I KNOW IT CAN BE UNHELPFUL, THE BEHAVIOR YOU SEE FROM ME IS...

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INSTEAD, I WISH I COULD...

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I REALIZE THAT I AM GOING TO HAVE TO...

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I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR PATIENCE AND UNDERSTANDING. YOU COULD PERHAPS HELP ME BY...

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IF THAT’S NOT ALWAYS POSSIBLE THEN PLEASE WOULD YOU... I HOPE THAT THIS WILL HELP US BY...

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THANK YOU FOR LISTENING TO HOW I FEEL.

“You don’t understand how much light you have until the lights go out” - Joan Bauer

Body Art Supplies needed Body Crayons | Blindfold Partner Cards

This final activity is intended to spice things up while learning to trust our partners when we feel most vulnerable. Select a Body Art Prompt card and keep it hidden from your partner. Glance over the prompts on your card and then decide what attire you feel would be most appropriate for this activity.

Once you’re ready, decide who is going to be drawn on first and have that person put on the included blindfold. Have the artist follow the prompts on their card. Once the artist completes all the prompts, switch roles.

When you’ve both completed the prompts on your cards, remove the blindfold and reveal what prompt each drawing is associated with and why you chose that place on their body. Feel free to end the night using the leftover crayons to continue drawing on each other however you would like.

REFLECTION TA K E A M O M EN T TO RE F L E C T O N Y O U R P O WER OUT AGE D AT E NIGHT I N EX PER I EN C E . D I S C U S S T H E S E Q U E S T IONS T OGET HER:

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Which part of the date did you enjoy the most?

Did you try something new as a part of your date? What was it like to experience it with your significant other?

Are there any aspects of the date that you would like to incorporate into your relationship in the future?

CONTINUE YOUR DATE NIGHT H ER E AR E SO M E WA Y S T O C O N T I N U E Y O U R DAT E NIGHT :

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Play charades Bring out card or board games Go on a walk together Take a bubble bath Give massages to each other

#DATENIGHTINBOX @DATENIGHTINBOX

Don’t forget to share pictures from your date with our hashtag #datenightinbox for a chance to win a FREE date.