June 7, 2012
Passport to Love!
by Cami
Yet again, we have had a HARD time trying to pick just one winner for our Creative Ideas Contest: Craft section. We had narrowed it down to our top 5 and then had a HARD time picking from that list. We finally settled on someone who was not only SUPER creative, but also sent in great pics, and had so much versatility in her idea. We know you will enjoy this just as much as we did. So, Rebecca, CONGRATS!!!! Here’s Rebecca explaining how to do this AMAZING Passport to Love!
Passport to Love
By: Rebecca
This gift is so simple and easy to put together- especially since it comes with free printables!!! If you have a printer, scissors, stapler, and pen– then you have everything you need! It’s the perfect gift idea if you are low on money but high on love OR if you’ve been trying to get in the habit of having regular date night.
I came up with the idea when I was trying to think of an inexpensive, but meaningful gift for my husband. I wished I could afford to just whisk him away for a relaxing, romantic getaway. He loves to travel and we’ve often talked and dreamed about all of the places we want to go together someday. Our bucket list of traveling destinations is definitely long. However, with several little ones at home and student loans to pay- this is definitely not the season of our life for becoming world travelers. So I came up with this instead.
The basic idea is that you’re going to be giving your honey a little “Passport to Love” kit. He’ll use this kit to go on a different date with you every month for the whole year. The idea is to “travel the world” together, visiting a different destination each month. You can choose to actually go out and visit different cities, sites, or attractions near you, OR you can do what I did and bring the different destinations to the comfort of your own home. (No babysitter? No problem!) With a little creativity, you can turn your living room or bedroom into another country and pretend like you’re going off on a spontaneous, whirlwind getaway.
In this kit you’ll include:
1- A card (So he knows what this is all about. Just print it out a tie it around everything)
2- A travel itinerary (So he knows which nights to reserve for you! Just print it out and fill in your departure date, time, & destination for each month)
3- A passport (So he can travel the world with you. Print it out, staple it together, and customize it with your spouse’s pic and information)
4- Passport stamps (So you can record and remember all your travels! Print them out and tape them inside his passport each month as you visit different destinations.)
5- Airline tickets (Because that’s just fun. The online generator lets you totally customize it with your spouse’s name, your chosen destination, and different airlines. You’ll want to make 12- one for each month!)
I’ve included the printable card and travel itinerary that I made as attachments. I found the other printables online already and decided not to reinvent the wheel. 
Here is where you can find them:
* Printable Passport
* Printable Passport Stamps
* Airline Ticket Generator
Once you have everything printed out and filled in, just tie it together with the card and give it to your honey for a year of lovin’ and fun! (Perfect Father’s Day gift, perhaps?) Then make sure you’re ready each month to whisk him away for a little at-home getaway.
Here are some destination ideas for inspiration:
France
- Make an easy Parisian picnic with french bread, gourmet cheese, fruit, and sparkling cider.
- Play some French cafe accordion music (you can play music online for free)
- Learn some French phrases, after all- it is the language of love.
- Watch a movie about France or that takes place in France. How about Les Mis, French Kiss, or Forget Paris
- If you really want to go all out: speak in a French accent, wear a beret, do your hair in a French twist, or paint your nails with a French manicure- hee hee.
China
- Order out Chinese food or make your own. Leave the forks in the drawer and try chopsticks.
- Make some Chinese paper lanterns
- Try your hand at writing Chinese characters
- Play some oriental music
- Watch Mulan, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, or any Jackie Chan movie.
- Eat (or make) fortune cookies (If you put them in the microwave, they soften up and you can replace the papers with your own fortunes. Just fold them back up and hold until set again.)
India
- Forget chairs. Just throw some bright colored pillows on the floor.
- Turn out the lights, add candles, and Indian music for ambiance.
- Make Indian food or order out from a local Indian restaurant. Forget the utensils, eat with your hands.
- Bejewel each other with self-adhesive jewels, or get brave and apply Henna tattoos
- Watch a Bollywood movie or learn some Bollywood dance moves from YouTube.
- How about a magic carpet ride while you watch Aladdin? (hee hee) Or you can be his Genie and grant him 3 wishes.
Italy
- Make homemade pasta or pizza.
- Play some Italian music to set the mood (Andre Bocelli?) and speak in an Italian accent for fun.
- Get out some art supplies and channel your inner Michelangelo.
- For you “foreign film” how about: The Italian Job, Life is Beautiful, Under the Tuscan Sun, Roman Holiday, or Much Ado About Nothing.
- Enjoy some gelato.
- If you really want to go all out- go for a gondola ride. (I’m thinking blow-up raft in the swimming pool -lol)
Caribbean
- Go on a Caribbean cruise! To make your room like a cruise ship, fold a towel on the bed to make a swan. (They totally have tutorials online)
- Check your local dollar store for tropical decorations like tiki pictures, drink umbrellas, or grass skirts.
- Get dressed in your bathing suit, cover-up, and sunglasses like you’re on a real cruise.
- Play some island music. Try Kokomo by the Beach Boys or Escape (The Pina Coloda Song) by Rupert Holmes.
- Make an Island-themed dinner- like Hawaiian chicken with pina colodas or strawberry daiquiris.
- Limbo!
- Watch Pirates of the Carribbean.
- You can even put blue food coloring and a beach ball in the bathtub.
Greece
- Toga Party anyone?
- Cook some authentic Greek food. How about moussaka and baklava (or keep it simple with pita pizzas)
- Listen to Greek music and dance! (And if you really want to- break some old, glass dishes that you don’t care about. Opa! tee hee.)
- Watch “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”
Jamaica
-Give your spouse a note- “Jamaican me crazy- yah mon!” (Oooh- isn’t there a Jamaican me crazy Ben & Jerry’s ice cream??)
- Cook some Jamaican food- jerk chicken or boiled banana anyone?
- Turn into a Jamaican online radio station and listen to some reggae and calypso music.
- Put on an island shirt and do some island dancing!
- Play with hacki-sacks
- Watch “Cool Runnings”
Russia
- Make some Russian food. Try Borsch or Beef Stroganoff
- Forget the vodka, take shots of rootbeer
- Play Russian roulette with a cap gun. Or dress as mobsters. hee hee.
- Listen to some Russian music online and try to dance the Preesyadka (the Russian knee-bending, kick dance)
- Watch Anastasia or The Hunt for Red October
- Watch the Russian Ballet or Opera on YouTube
Germany
(perfect for an October date)
- Host your own Oktoberfest for two- serve bratwurst with mustard and sauerkraut
- Instead of beer and ale, serve mugs of rootbeer or gingerale
- For dessert, how about apple strudel?
- Better yet- host your own ChOktoberfest and serve German chocolate!!
- Listen to German music on Pandora and watch a German movie.
Egypt
- Write each other notes in hieroglyphics- switch and decode
- Create an archaeological dig site for your spouse using a sandbox and have them search for buried treasure (a love note or gift)
- Play Egyptian music (and walk like an Egyptian.) 
- Make some Egyptian food: Chicken kebabs, lamb, fried zucchini, hummus and pita bread, or baklava
- Watch “The Mummy”
- If you want to go all out- dress up like Cleopatra and Ra (God of the Sun)
Ireland
(perfect for a March date)
- Turn your dining room into an Irish Pub (Lucky Charms for dessert? They’re magically delicious!)
- Dress in green
- Speak in an Irish accent
- Make a leprechaun trap
- Watch an Irish movie (Or how about “Leap Year?” That movie has some gorgeous scenes of Ireland.)
England
- Listen to some Beatles CDs
- Turn your dining room into an English Pub with fish and chips
- Or go more posh and serve crumpets and tea with a fancy hat
- Speak in a British accent (Jolly Good! Cheerio!)
- Watch a supporting event from the UK
- Play some croquet.
- Watch a movie that takes place in England or one with English actors. Sherlock Holmes or a good BBC movie.
Africa
- Make an African dinner (Sosaties, plantains, coconut milk, mango drinks, etc.)
- Gather all the plants in the house into one area to make an African jungle (Or just use your backyard and light tiki torches.) If you want add animals- stuffed animals.
- Play some African music in the background
- Dress us like you’re ready for a safari (think khaki shorts, binoculars, etc.)
- Make African drums or tribal masks together, or “decorate” each other with tribal face paint.
- Watch Out of Africa, I Dreamed of Africa, To Walk With Lions, or even Madagascar.
Hopefully that gets the wheels turning.
All we can say is W-O-W! Rebecca, this is awesome! Love how easy this is to put together (for those of us who aren’t so crafty) yet appealing to the eye for the craftiest of people. Thanks for sharing such a creative craft that turns into 12 dates! You just can’t beat that! Congrats again!
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OOoooohhh!! We LOVE comments! Thanks for leavin' us some "love"! P.S. If you want a pic to show up next to your comments, go get a gravatar!
This is SO creative! I can’t wait until my husband comes home so we can do this!
@Whitney- have fun putting this together! I agree this is such a cute idea!
Love these ideas! Thanks!
@sansku- glad you enjoy the ideas!
I Love this idea!! My husband and I love to travel but with 4 kids it’s very possible right now. I love the idwa of a theme each month, and I know we have restaurants in our area for many of these countries. It will help us get back to our goal of trying a new restaraunt each date! So excited!!
@Kari- sounds like a fun adventure awaits you and your hubby. Good traveling to you!
So creative! What a fun way to have a “vacation.”
@Heidi K – totally agree. Love that you don’t have to spend tons of money and still are able to have a new experience!
Do you have a site were I could print up a Canadian Passport??
Try this link: http://www.donnaward.net/PDF/Play_Passport_CA_small.pdf
Or for a country neutral passport, try: http://www.fiarcircle.com/downloads/lessons/passport.htm
Hope that helps!
Cute cute! I would add India — watch Bride and Prejudice (knockoff of Pride & Prejudice) …. have henna done before hand and get sexy with it (not just for feet and hands — surprise him with a tramp stamp for example) … if like us you’ve been some of these places break out the souveniers or taylor it to make it more authentic ….
Love this idea …
@Holly- wow, such a great addition to this date! Thanks for sharing!
This might be my favorite idea so far! Love it!
@Shelley- wow, so glad you enjoyed it!!!!
What a wonderful idea! Thanks for sharing!
@Candice- you are definitely welcome!
So cute… love all the ideas!!!
@Ashlee- glad you enjoyed it!
I LOVE this idea! So cute! I will definitely be putting this into practice…it also sparked another idea for me…thank you!
@Stephanie- I am so glad this got your creative juices running. Have fun!
I am in LOVE with this idea! How awesome! Thanks for sharing!
@Heather- I too LOVE this idea! You are very welcome!
absolutely am giddy over this idea. we are just hours from the Canadian border, so I’ll be adding Canada for a fun day trip. (one we can actually go to) even if its just for lunch
sooo excited to put this together and run with it.
thank you SO much for this winner of a date-or 12
@Ginny- wow, sounds like SO much fun to add Canada and actually be able to GO there! Awesome!
I tried the website for the passport cover and it doesn’t work. I need to think of an alternative.
@Sabrina- hmmmm, it worked on my end. Try googling passport covers and see what pops up. Sorry
.
What a fun idea! I am putting this together TODAY as a gift for our 5th anniversary. I think my love is going to think this is the best… Fun dates to look forward to all year!
@JJ- so glad that we could help with a fun anniversary gift. Hope you had fun celebrating!
REBECCA! This is absolutely darling! Love this idea! My husband talks about traveling the world… and we can do that now… with your idea! lol xoxo
I was really excited to see this as the winner, as my entry was entitled “Passport to Romance”, but then I realized it wasn’t mine.
But this was a really clever idea with many great date suggestions to go with it. Congratulations!
@Peter- so sorry to hear that your fabulous idea wasn’t the winner
. But glad to hear you think this is a great idea too! Thanks!
Fun! We already did the Italy one with my “Bella Notte” date, but that would be a great lead in to the rest!
what a great idea! Love it and can’t wait to try it – we are in England so might try a trip to the USA as well!!
Thank you ever so much!
@Vicki- so much fun to be able to add the USA as a destination. Have fun putting this together!
Fabulous thank you ever so much!!! – we are in England so might try a trip to the USA as well!!
This is so creative – Thank you so much for sharing! I’m going to put this together for a Father’s Day gift and can’t wait to plan these fun dates! I actually bought my hubby a new lunch box for work that has a little zipper pouch on it that I can use to slip little notes into – my plan to slip reminder notes and hints for our dates
@Cortney- way to personalize this as your own. Way cute ideas!
Loved this idea! Gave it to my hubby for Father’s Day. Tonight…Caribbean Cruise with some food from Rumbi and the room turned into a room on a cruise ship complete with porthole window! Thanks for the great ideas and all of the links! I asked my hubby in advance if he could travel anywhere where would he go and added that in. I also added in where he served his mission and went through his scrapbook to get ideas.
Okay, the porthole window is just genius!! Great ideas!!
What an amazing idea! I have a couple of weddings this summer and I think I just found my gift. No to mention making one for my own husband as well. Thanks a ton.
@Arie- What a great idea to give this away as a gift for newly-weds! Awesome!
I fell in LOVE with this idea! I gave it to my husband after a big salary increase and told him “now we can afford to travel the world together!” Our first date night around the world was to China! We ate Chinese food with chopsticks (something we had never tried eating with), painted the Chinese characters for “I love you” and framed them (now on our night stands), played Chinese Checkers (even though it had nothing to do with China), watched The Karate Kid (2010 version takes place in China), had a desert of rice krispie “sushi” (yes, sushi was popular in China before Japan), and my FAVORITE part was lighting a Chinese Flying Lantern and letting it go together as we kissed and made a wish. I bought our lantern off Amazon for like $6. What a magical evening! We are excited to head to the Caribbean this month to get us excited for our cruise in September! Thank you again for the amazing idea.
What a fun night!!!!! Love how you personalized it!
Great Idea!!
I live in Durban, South Africa and the city has a lot of influence of Middle East countries, India and China.
Tomorrow we going to Pakistan!!! sent him the ticket and created the passport
I found a Pakistani restaurant that i can wait to try.
Love this idea, well done Divas!!
You always have great, practical and romantic ideas.
Love your site,
YAY!!! Have so much fun in Pakistan!
Love this idea! I’m making this for my husband for our 9th anniversary next week. Thanks!
@Stacy- glad you enjoy and congrats on your 9th anniversary!