Taking the Adventure Challenge
The Adventure Challenge’s Couples Camera Set. Photo courtesy of The Adventure Challenge.
Hey, it’s me again! I’m here to share another personal little article, but this time, I’m putting a face to the name that’s been contributing articles over the last handful of months here on Between Our Thighs. Recently, the blog partnered up to review The Adventure Challenge’s Couples Edition date book, which I happily accepted to take on with my partner, to share the incredible things you can do with it. So as not to give too much of the surprise away, I’ve selected a handful of my favourites to share here with you.
Whether as a Valentine’s Day gift (which is right around the corner!), a birthday present, something for the holidays, or even as a “just because,” The Adventure Challenge’s Couples Edition is such an amazing way to find new, unique date ideas while simultaneously strengthening your relationship and creating meaningful memories. Read on to discover some of our favourite dates, as well as a discount code for Between Our Thighs’ readers!
Date 1: Foreign Doppelgänger
Create a comic strip with 3-6 panels that tell the story of your relationship. Draw pictures, write captions, and colour it in. Here’s the catch: all the words must be written using Chinese characters (use Google Translate for assistance). If your ass isn’t super broke, find a “customer comic strip” service online and order the comic book of your love story!
This was the first date we embarked on together, and it was such a fun experience! We started the night by ordering in sushi (ah, the joys of being in a lockdown after Boxing Day) before scratching off our chosen date, ‘Foreign Doppelgänger.’ The helpful hints showed that it would be indoors and free, which was exactly what we were looking for, for a night indoors without proper planning. After reading the instructions, we both immediately suggested, at the same time, to do Japanese characters instead of Chinese.
Then, to set the tone of our Japanese manga-inspired Adventure Challenge, we watched Kiki’s Delivery Service while eating our food. I’ll be honest: I was a bit distracted, thinking about fitting our relationship story in just three to six panels of a comic strip. By the time we cleared off the table, piled up some paper and grabbed the pencils to start our rough draft, I knew I was going to be cheating. I snuck in a seventh panel; there was no getting around it.
It was so much fun to mentally go over everything we’ve been through since we first met at work (and the first time we dated) in 2014, and then everything that has happened since we met up for the first time in January of 2020.
Date notes:
T: “Making comics together was a fun time, not to mention comically revealing our common subject matter.”
E: “We also had the same idea of writing in Japanese characters, instead of with Chinese characters.”
Date 2: Couple’s Booty
You don’t have to be a pirate to find great treasure. Create your own epic couple’s memory box! Start with a shoebox, cigar box, jewelry box, etc. Take time to decorate and personalize it. This is going to be a box that sticks with you for a long time. Fill the box with small treasures from your dates. For example, movie tickets, fortune cookie fortunes, a coin from a wishing well, a rock from a water fountain.
Once we scratched this date off, before I could even ask if he had a couple of shoeboxes around for us to decorate, he left the table we’d been sitting at and disappeared. When he returned, he had a fancy red box in his hand, the gold damask pattern overlaid making it look somewhat familiar to me. When he placed it in front of me and lifted the lid, I was stunned.
A little bit of backstory: T and I dated for less than a year back in 2014 and 2015; I was just 19 when we met at work, and the relationship was a short, emotionally charged whirlwind. We broke up weeks before Valentine’s Day, and, being the planner that I am, I had already had his Valentine’s Day gift planned months in advance. Slowly, I had been collecting and saving little mementos from all of our dates and outings together, placing them in the box in chronological order with tabbed dividers to organize everything by month. Of course, after breaking up, I wanted nothing to do with those memories, and so I gave the box to him and told him to do what he wanted with it. I had worked too hard on it to have the heart to toss my little project, but I hadn’t cared (in the moment) if he did.
However, when he pulled out the box during this Adventure Challenge date, it was the first time I had learned that he had kept the box for the half-decade where we hadn’t spoken to each other (including since we decided on making it ‘official’ this time around). It’s no secret that I’m a hopeless romantic, and seeing this almost brought me to tears.
We began rifling through the memories from over five years ago, recalling things we had done and the events we had gone to. Looking back on pictures of us with our baby faces, reading some of the (embarrassing — why would I include that?) entries I copied from my journal at the time. It was a date that took such an expected turn, making it one of the most meaningful.
Date notes:
E: “When we scratched this off, T brought out the memory box I gave him in 2015 when we had broken up, which I had assumed he had thrown out…but he kept it.”
Date 3: The Mad Hatted Poet
Each of you write 5 words onto tiny strips oof paper, for a total of 10 pieces. These can be any words you want, just don’t tell each other. Put all 10 words into a hat and draw out a total of 5. No, co-write a song, poem, rap, or short story using the 5 words. Words can be used multiple times, but they must be introduced in the order they were drawn.
After drawing our five words — mother, camera, coffee, unto, drama — we sat for about five or ten minutes trying to collaborate on a poem together. Eventually, we went for a haiku, which didn’t work out because the five words took up the vast majority of the poem, and it didn’t flow nicely. When I joked that I was clearly bad at working together on things relating to writing (which is my passion and career), we agreed to write a separate poem each, then would judge one another’s work.
T worked diligently on his, while I stressfully wrote and trashed a couple of versions (including a very structured a poem that ended up taking a dark turn even I, the creator, didn’t expect). Eventually, I wrote in free verse, and the words came quickly to me. However, it turns out that he was the more talented writer during this challenge because when I heard his poem read aloud, I knew right away that it was better than mine.
Bonus fun: we pretended we were at a poetry slam and read our poetry aloud in the most dramatic ways possible, snapping our fingers to keep beat and then in enthusiastic applause at the end of our performances.
Date notes:
T: “We decided to make it a health competition, which I won against my professional writer girlfriend. It was awesome, just like my poem, ‘Summer’s Child.’”
E: “WOW.”
Date 4: Currency Exchange
Create your own couple’s currency (similar to Monopoly money) and print it off on paper. Create a list of what your couple’s currency can buy (back rubs, cooking, chores, etc.). Then play your game of choice and incorporate your couple’s currency.
This date was so much fun! I loved coming up with the list of things we could exchange our currency for, focusing on ways to build intimacy without sex (some of my favourites include taking the reins on planning a date night, making a dessert, and a no-judgement purchase for the times we splurge on an item that might seem stupid to the other). It was also a lot of fun designing how we wanted our bills to look like, before I took to my computer to create a nicer, clean digital version to print off for use.
We decided to go with Canadian-looking bills and colours, creating a currency symbol using our initials, T and E. I’ve included a picture of those here, to the right.
We decided to start on equal terms with $500 each, meaning that the person who wants to cash in on the “‘Yes’ all day” has to save their money while conceding to doing some things for the other.
Date notes:
T: “We have created our own currency, our new nation is far off still. But our everyday menu items will be ready soon. It will be interesting to see who goes bankrupt first.”
Date 5: Speak My Language
Go online and (both of you) take the “5 Love Languages” test. Write your partner’s love languages on a piece oof paper and ask them 2-3 ways you can love them in their language. Write their answers down and then put that piece oof paper on your bathroom mirror. Collaboratively plan a date that focuses on these love languages. Complete the planned date within 1 week.
This is one of the unique date ideas that bring you closer together, as well as helps you learn how to have better conversations with (and to seduce) your long-term partner. I had always been curious about what my love language is, but had never taken the initiative to go and take the test online (although I highly recommend it now, after finally doing so myself). After scratching off this date, I instantly became interested in what his predominant love language was; it hadn’t occurred to me that maybe I was showing my love and affection in ways that I would want to experience it, not necessarily how he prefers being loved.
After completing the quiz, we found out that our top two were the same, just reversed. Mine was mostly words of affirmation (which I had assumed would be my top), as well as quality time. Interestingly, we both had a difficult time coming up with ways we wanted the other to show affection towards us. For the most part, he has no problem showing me that he loves me in a way that resonates with me. With some thought, though, I figured out additional ways that I felt would be nice — as did he! We’ll be incorporating those things into our regular interactions, as well as specifically using them to guide our big date.
Unfortunately, the next afternoon we found out that we entered a postponed lockdown due to the Coronavirus, and so we’ve decided that it’s best not to plan anything in the next week, as the instructions suggest. Instead, we’ll dedicate the better part of a day exclusively to our planned date during the staycation we’re taking for Valentine’s Day next month. It’s just one more thing for us to look forward to during the time we’ll be spending together!
Date notes:
To be updated once the big date happens in mid-February!
Again, thank you to Between Our Thighs and The Adventure Challenge for offering such an incredible way to create meaningful memories through unique date ideas (and strengthen your relationship at the same time). My partner and I had such an amazing time documenting our adventures together and will no doubt continue using that Polaroid camera to capture a moment of all future dates.
Are you ready to purchase your own Couples Edition date book from The Adventure Challenge (or any of their other versions, for that matter)? Click here and use the code BETWEENOURTHIGHS at checkout for an extra discount!
Have you ever been the only single friend in your friend group? What are your tips on how to be single and happy? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. I’ll also be monitoring the comments section of this post over the next few weeks to pop in and chat, if you have any questions!
This post is sponsored and contains affiliate links. All reviews are honest opinions of the Between Our Thighs team.
