August 12, 2011

Guest Blogger: My Insanity

by Tara

We are excited to have talented Kendra from My Insanity guest blogging today! She is one crafty lady!! You better make sure you have plenty of time on your hands when you visit her website….cuz you will be there for HOURS browsing through all of her fabulous ideas! I am super excited about this adorable group date she is sharing with us!

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I’m so excited to be an honorary Dating Diva for the day! My name is Kendra and I blog about all the crazy, crafty ideas I get over at My Insanity. Unfortunately, I’m realizing there aren’t enough of them have to do with keeping romance alive, even though, I too, am married to a hottie…

From the pre-marriage dating days

Keeping the sparks alive as Woody & Bo Peep-Halloween ’09

…so I think the Dating Divas blog is fabulous and love all of the energy and fun those ladies put into romancing their men! I have come up with a few romantic and crazy date ideas I think you will be interested in! One year. I sent my husband on a sentimental anniversary treasure hunt all over town. And today I’m sharing the Amazing Race date I helped plan for a group date for Valentine’s Day one year! I’ve gotten word that many groups all around the country (and Canada!) have teamed up to throw their own Amazing Race dating adventure after reading about mine. I hope this inspires you to get a little creative–and adventuresome with some of your date nights! I’m happy to get to share the details of what we did with you, so you can plan your own great date–whether for Valentine’s Day, or any memorable date night! I’m sure you can come up with clever ways to adapt it for your circumstances, if you and your man like a little adventure with your romance!

Collage & Photo Credit: Michelle Ballantyne

We instructed our husbands to meet at the church at the designated time. They were greeted by my sister-in-law, who acted as hostess for the race. I had given her these instructions to read to the men:

Welcome to the Amazing Race-Valentine Edition. You were each brought here by your lovely, adoring, beautiful, smart, sexy, and talented wives, who knew you’d be up for a challenging Valentines Day adventure.

I must now take any money and wallets that you have on you.

Here are your uniforms that you must wear for the entire race.

{The uniforms were t-shirts that we designed and made using iron-on paper that said “I love my wife!”}

Here are your funds for this leg of the race use them wisely.

{We each had a bag of change worth around $1, mostly in pennies, for our husbands}

Here is your video camera.

Race Rules:

1. You must wear your uniform at all times 2. You must make a video of the events and each member of the team must be in the video 3. You must have completed all clues and the following tasks in order to win:

Acquire a bouquet of flowers for your wife, without spending any money
Purchase a gift for your wife, using only the funds provided.

Good luck Boys, here’s your first clue. You may begin the race at the sound of the whistle.

{The clues were each in tear open envelopes with the race logo on the outside, much like in the TV show.}

Clue #1

Make your way with great speed,

To the store you use when you need…

To send a package in brown,

From this south side of town.

Mary will tell you what you need to do,

In order to get your very next clue.

Our friends owned a UPS store franchise, so we had asked Mary to let the guys in (after hours), take their photos–passport style, and supervise their making Valentine’s cards for us, using their pictures. We had provided her with Scrapbook paper and supplies, as well as the next clue for when they had completed their task. This is what she gave them:

Your first task in this race,

is to take a picture of your face.

Then glue it on a card,

It really isn’t all that hard.

Make a Valentines card to your wife from you,

When you’ve all done this,

Mary will give you your next clue.

When they were finished she gave them clue #2.

Clue #2

Beautiful people pass through these doors,

To seek an agent for acting and more,

One of you should already have the key,

Look for your clue where things are frosty…

One of our friends on the date, is a talent agent, so she planted the clues at her office, knowing her husband had the key. The clue was in the refrigerator.

Clue #3

The “father of our ward” may be younger than you,

But at his house you’ll find your next clue…

We sent them to the home of our bishop from church (he’s young…hence the clue). And he gave them the key to his mailbox and this clue.

Clue #4

This is the key to get your next clue,

The lock on the box may be stickier than glue.

*Return the key, before you are through!

Inside the mailbox they found:

Clue #5

Out in the country a family you’ll find,

Who love to hunt animals of every kind.

And more animals still you’ll find at their place,

Ask the lady of the house for your next task in this race

We took advantage of some friends who have horses and other animals for this clue. We asked our friend to make them do something for them before giving them the clue. We were thinking some kind of manual labor, but her husband had just returned from a hunt, and they decided to make them eat javalina tongue, instead. (Barry brags that he was the first one to down it. Some of the guys struggled with this one). When they were finished she gave them:

Clue #6

[local high school] High is the very next place,

You would go to practice if you want to run a race.

Get your heart rate up and take in the view…

Get a good workout, while you find your next clue.

We had taped this clue on one of the top bleachers.

Clue #7

Have you got your bouquet, your card, and your gifts, yet?

If not, do it now, or you’ll be quite upset

When you reach the finish-line And have to turn around.

The race isn’t finished until these things have been found.

The finish line, and your fabulous prize

Are waiting at a place familiar to your eyes.

Make your way through traffic, Obey all the signs

And step on the mat of the home whose name rhymes with Valentines!

Conveniently, our friends have a name that rhymes with Valentines. We were at their house this whole time cooking dinner and setting things up. It actually took the guys quite a while to accomplish those tasks. We took pictures while we waited. How cute are we?

After a few failed attempts at getting real flowers, my crafty husband taught all of the guys how to make roses out of paper napkins, so they each showed up with a lovely bouquet of paper roses. (I should totally have him do a tutorial!)

The hostess met them at the door:

Congratulations! You have completed the amazing Valentines Day Race!

You are the first team to arrive. (So what if they were just one big team!)

As winners of the amazing Valentines Race,

You each get the grand prize….

A dream date with your lovely, adoring, beautiful, smart, sexy, talented wives. Congratulations

We were wearing coordinating t-shirts that said: “I love my husband!” and we presented them each with bouquets made out of big hunk candy bars and any other favorite candies.

Then we treated them to a yummy flaming filet mignon dinner with beautiful chocolate heart-shaped desserts. Each wife provided the place setting for her and her husband, so we could be as sentimental and/or creative (or cheap.

) as we wanted.

I love how I look so comfortable with a pan on fire in this picture (that’s not usually the case!).

The rest of the festivities included, couples’ pictures, group lip syncs in costumes, and a slide show of all of the couples and the evolution of their relationships. It was a fun evening, full of romance, adventure, and tons of creative insanity! Here are some graphics you can print out for your own dates: (click on the images to see them at full size, then right click to save on your computer)

I’ve included the Valentine’s edition, and a regular Date Night Edition, so you can have an Amazing Race anytime!

If you end up doing a date like this, I’d love to read all about it! You can upload pictures to my Facebook wall or email me a link to your blog post! I hope you will come see me at My Insanity, for more crazy ideas about things like birthday parties, holidays, DIY home projects, crafts with kids, and much more!

Thanks Divas for the chance to share my insanity with your readers!

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How fun, huh! This reminds me of the fun Amazing Race group date a couple of the divas did last summer! I absolutely LOVE the spin Kendra put on everything and LOVE the printables she included! Thanks again, Kendra!