Thought about spicing things up with a date night subscription box? Here are our personal date box reviews for monthly date nights at home.
You might be wondering why a personal finance blog is breaking out the date night subscription box reviews.
Hear me out on this one:
- I’m a parent, and I’m always trying to figure out how to plan at-home date nights without it feeling like so much work.
- I am ALL about having money dates with your spouse (I call these mini marriage financial planning sessions “money quickies”), and one way to make these a whole lot more fun is to add a date night subscription box experience after the money talks go down.
- Date-in-a-box subscriptions look too DANG fun not to try out – especially since my husband and I committed to planning weekly date nights for each other about two years ago.
Before we dive into the fun we had “unboxing” these date night subscription boxes, I want to point out just how important date night is for a couple.
💌Benefits of the Monthly Date Night Box – Is a Date Box Worth it?
Date night boxes tie in nicely with at-home date nights for couples – they keep things interesting.
Not to mention, they’re great to have handy when you’re having those monthly money meetings with your spouse, or completing a 30-day, at-home date night challenge!
Here are some of the benefits we get from them:
- You BOTH Get to be Surprised: My husband actually brought this up the day after we had our first date box date – it’s so true! There’s no prep for either of you guys to do on date nights with a date box. All the work is done for you (how often does THAT happen now that we’re adults?)! So, don’t peek ahead of time, and you both get to be surprised – it’ll feel like someone is treating you two. Hint: For one of the date boxes, it turns out we were supposed to have done some prep work for. But in general, this worked out well.
- Serves as an Excellent Date Night Reminder: Look, I get it. We are BUSY. Especially with kids – not to mention I run my own business! When that little date box subscription comes in the mail? It’s a perfect reminder of our priority to continue dating one another.
- It’s Not Another Bill – It’s HAPPY Mail!: How many times as adults do we get to get something totally fun + surprising in the mailbox?
Date Night Subscription Box – Our Faves
Have I convinced you? Keep reading for our personal date night box subscription reviews.
Price: From $49.95/box (for a 12-month subscription) to $54.95/box (for a single box)
Time it Took Us to Complete: 32 mins.
Let me tell you – I was really intrigued when the postwoman came to my door with a smallish box that happened to weigh more than my cat (I should mention, my cat loooovvves to eat).
What awesomeness could be waiting for us?
I waited until it was my turn to plan our at-home date night.
And that evening went something like this:
- Pick Paul up from work at 5:30 p.m.
- Battle traffic to get home at 6:10 p.m.
- Paul works on feeding our little guy, getting him in PJs, and playing with him
- I work on cooking a delicious meal
- While the meal is in the oven, I run to take a quick shower
- We switch off, then Paul takes a shower
- Family story time starts at 6:45 p.m.
- The little guy was in bed at 7:02 p.m.
- Dinner served + date night begins
(Whew. I’m exhausted just reading about our weekly night routine!
Thankfully, we had this awesome date night planned already, thanks to the DateBox Club (not to mention, we finally got to reveal why the box was so heavy).
And my heart leaped for joy – DateBox Club actually sent us (among other things) a small cast-iron skillet to make tabletop s’mores!
Now, for those of you who know me, you know that I am a s’mores aficionado. So, the fact that we got to fill a cast iron skillet with provided chocolate chips and mini-marshmallows, then sit it in the oven for 7-10 minutes and eat it with yummy graham cracker sticks for the rest of our date? Well, that bought major points with me (not to mention, with my husband, who a) loves cast iron skillets, and b) was tickled to see me so delighted!).
Here’s What Our DateBox Club Box Included:
- S’more-Making Ingredients + Cast Iron Skillet to Keep: This included enough chocolate chips and mini-marshmallows to make two batches of s’mores, the skillet (can’t talk about that, enough!), and two bags of Back to Nature Graham Cracker Sticks.
- 3 Match Games: The Match Games came in this really cute, reusable, metal container (I think I’ll fill ours with paper clips moving forward!), plus 3 card games of Match. The first match game was a game of questions (if you made a match, you then got to answer the questions). For example, my husband learned that if I could come back as an animal, it would be a tiger. And I learned that the superpower he’d like is having super strength (plus the ability to heal quickly). In the second match game, things got interesting. If you made a match, then you got the reward on the card. And the third match game was a fun and slightly more challenging puzzle game.
- Dedicated Spotify Playlist, Online
All in all, we felt that the materials were very classy and loved that they are reusable moving forward (we also have another batch of s’mores ingredients, minus the graham cracker sticks, which is nice!).
We learned a few things about each other and appreciated that this date box was shorter than the other ones we’ve tried – because, let’s face it, to do a weekly date night, you kind of have to squeeze things in.
And sometimes, at the end of the day? There’s just not that much time or energy left.
Here’s what my husband has to say about DateBox Club:
“I was really not in the mood to try a new date idea. It was a long day, and both me and my spouse were getting over being sick, so I was really hoping for a chill night and early to bed. Before I knew it, we were laughing at the matching games, and loving the s’mores. It was a date saver for sure. We loved it and are planning to use the box again!”
Here are a few other DateBox Club Examples:
- In January’s DateBox, couples got to create a time capsule that will span 3 years using the “One Question a Day for You and Me” Journal Book. They also played a fun game of Pick-Me-Up Sticks, with reward cards for a twist. Then, couples baked sugar cookies together and hand-decorated them with the provided ingredients.
- In December’s DateBox, couples snacked on a holiday snack mix (hint: peppermint kisses were involved!), played a caroling charades game, and used all the craft/art materials to create homemade holiday ornaments.
Price: from $79 to $119/box
Time it Took Us to Complete: 1 hr. 15 mins.
We’re about to heat things up in here (not looking for that? Move on to the next one in this list).
Imagine your husband or wife coming home to an intimate at-home date night experience already planned out for each of you.
I’ll bet they’d be surprised!
You can get on a subscription plan (delivers every 2 months), or buy a single box (for an anniversary, Valentine’s Day, or other special event, perhaps?).
Our first box we got? Had something in it I’d been wanting for a while – flat massage stones you heat up in water and place on each other’s backs (great with the massage oil, too!). So cool.
It also contained:
- A piece of Intimate wear for me (they ask for your size)
- Massage Stones
- Moon & Star unscented massage oil
- Moon Incense Holder
- Incense
- Box of matches
- Bag of vanilla cookies
This was clearly a massage at-home date night, and included everything you’d need.
In their typical boxes, you can expect:
- One piece of tasteful intimate wear
- 4-6 romantic items designed to enhance your bedroom intimacy
- 3 sassy scenarios guiding you on how to use the items
- Themed playlist to enrich the ambiance
I LOVE how you can use several of the products over, over, and over again. That adds to its value!
Price for the Experience Box: $55.00
Time it Took Us to Complete: 1 hr.
I found this virtual chocolate tasting class, where you buy a kit and then watch a video online together to go through the history of the company and its chocolates, and to taste each type.
It was really worth it! You get over a pound of Taza chocolate treats, a tasting wheel, and a tasting card.
Such a great date night experience that helped us to still have a date night while my husband was traveling for work.
I knew he’d be gone for five whole weeks (!!), and that we’d need to find ways to connect.
SO, I split each of the chocolate pieces into two baggies with labels, and put them in a big envelope in his luggage that read “Don’t Open Until I Say”.
About three weeks into his trip, I told him we’d be having date night that night.
Over FaceTime, I shared my screen so that he could see the virtual chocolate taste-testing class. Then I instructed him to open the envelope.
Here’s us doing the class and tasting “together” (he looks so serious!).
What a fun way to connect while thousands of miles apart!
4. 💞Date Night Conversation Boxes
Price: $20.97+
Time it Took Us to Complete: 1 hr.
When was the last time you were completely lost in conversation with your spouse?
That’s the brilliance of these date night conversation boxes.
They really help the two of you take your relationship to a deeper level.
Hint: one of the ways to make this even more interesting? Is to put on blindfolds. I got the idea after watching Love is Blind, and realizing that if you can only hear one another, it takes your talking and communication to a whole new level.
You can find all my conversation starter deck reviews here.
And here are the ones I recommend:
💑Is Date Night Important for Couples?
In one word, YES, date night is important for couples.
Here are a few studies about what consistently dating your spouse or partner can do for your relationship:
- Reignites the Romantic Love: Going to dinner and a movie is fun, but you need novel experiences with your partner in order to keep your relationship or marriage from going “stale”. In fact, when you experience something new, you actually ignite the same chemicals in your brain as what you felt in the early stages of your romantic love. (hint: date night boxes DEFINITELY will get you out of your at-home date night rut – we were really surprised with the activities waiting for us!). Arthur Aron, a professor of social psychology at the State University of New York, has tested this “novelty theory” in long-time married couples, and concluded that, “…novelty alone is probably not enough to save a marriage in crisis. But for couples who have a reasonably good but slightly dull relationship, novelty may help reignite old sparks.”
- Protects Your Relationship from Divorce: The Date Night Opportunity report from the National Marriage Project found that date nights strengthen relationships in the following five ways – communication, novelty, rekindling the romantic spark, commitment, and de-stressing. They also concluded that “the more couple time that wives and husbands reported…the less likely they were to divorce in the intervening five years.”
On top of all of that, I can tell you FIRSTHAND how important having a weekly date night has been for our marriage.
We didn’t start out having weekly date nights; oddly enough, we started them only AFTER our little guy was born. And it was from a (gentle) suggestion given by The Dating Divas.
Pssst: I guess this worked out for the best anyway, because, according to The Date Night Opportunity Report, “[f]or many couples, the experience of becoming a parent can undercut or diminish the quality of married life. This is partly because parenthood is stressful and partly because children often limit their parents’ one-on-one couple time.” Talk about the importance of date night for parents!
They talked about how important it was to make weekly date night a priority with your husband, and after we heard them say it together, we decided we were all in.
The greatest thing about that? Every other week, I get to be on a date with my husband, without having to lift a finger. He picks something out for us to do together, he figures out what we’re going to eat, and sometimes, he even lines up a babysitter and surprises me with a night out on the town!
It’s been amazing.
Here’s the thing, though: that “night out on the town”? Really only happens once every 2-3 months. So, all of the rest of those weekly dates are spent at home.
We’ve been coming up with our own ideas for these at-home date nights…but when I got wind of date boxes being delivered straight to your door? I was totally sold on trying them out.
I’m a fan of game night (here are free printable games for adults), and lots of other at-home date night ideas, but I also love how these date boxes really add to date nights at home. Remember, too, these are monthly subscriptions that you can cancel anytime. So, give one a try and see what you think!
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Amanda L. Grossman is a writer and Certified Financial Education Instructor (CFEI®), Plutus Foundation Grant Recipient, and founder of Frugal Confessions. Over the last 13 years, her money work has helped people with how to save money and how to manage money.
She’s been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Kiplinger, Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report, Business Insider, LifeHacker, Real Simple Magazine, Woman’s World, Woman’s Day, ABC 13 Houston, Keybank, and more. Read more here or on LinkedIn.
