Datevitation Giveaway & Smart Phone Date

This is a guest post by Alex Karpman, founder of Datevitation.com, the web’s first custom love coupon platform where you can create a one-of-a-kind gift book full of fun things to do with your sweetie, or send electronic love coupons via email or facebook.

We are so excited to have the opportunity to guest post on this wonderful blog. While our signature product at Datevitation are custom love coupons, my fiancee Olga and I are dedicating a ton of energy to our video blog, where we offer free step-by-step video guides to date ideas and romantic gestures that we hope you can use to help keep your relationship fresh and exciting. We hope to someday offer the quality and breadth of posts that Cher has created here at Love Actually.

Today, I thought I’d share with you what I have discovered to be a fantastic resource for great date ideas... the Apple App store. I guess it shouldn't be all that surprising because, as the saying goes, there is an app for everything! While technology isn’t typically viewed as very romantic, it turns out that there are many applications that provide the perfect springboard for a great date. For example, in the video below, Olga and I show you how we spent an afternoon

together at the beach snapping fun photos with our iPhone camera, and then used a few photography applications to turn those pictures into something truly special and unique. We had a blast taking the photos, and even more fun playing around with the different filters and effects. If you are not an iPhone user, don’t fret. There are applications in the Android App Store that can accomplish virtually the same effects.

While your Smartphone’s app store can be a great source for date ideas, it can be a daunting task to research and select appropriate apps. Indeed, as of the time of this publication, there are over 500,000 apps in the Apple app store! We decided to do the hard work for you, and created a free video series on 7 fantastic dates you can have using your Smartphone from dining out to movie night to working out together. You can get the video series for free on our homepage at Datevitation.com.

As mentioned above, one of our products is our e-Date platform -- where you can send custom love coupons electronically via email or facebook. We charge $12 per year for an e-Date membership (which allows you to send unlimited love coupons), but we have created a completely free e-Date for the Love Actually community relating to the Smartphone date that is the subject of the video above. We encourage you to use our e-Date to invite your special someone on this wonderful date!

You can find the free e-date HERE!

We hope you’ll visit us on our blog for more great date ideas and be sure to check out our books! We’re happy to offer free shipping on our books this week only to Love Actually readers. Just enter the code -- loveactually - at the checkout page, and you’ll be discounted the $3.50 that we normally charge for shipping if you order by May 27.

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How FUN! Thanks, Alex for some fun inspiration and a great freebie! Alex wanted to leave you with a chance at a terrific giveaway from Datevitation.....a free Datevitation gift book. Seriously, these books are REALLY cool and so easy to make online! So, get yourself entered!

To Qualify:

1. Be a Follower of Love Actually Blog ----------> 2. Comment with your thoughts on the video and/or suggestions of SmartPhone applications that you think could be the basis of a great date

Extra Entry: - Post a Facebook status about this giveaway and leave one extra comment saying you did.

Random Giveaway ends on  5/29/2012 at midnight EST.

YouTube Date Night

Meet Camille & Jacob Whiting.

They love their Friday Night Date Nights. and...even better, they love sharing their ideas on their blog, Friday We're In Love. They created a collection of hilarious YouTube video clips to share with YOU for your next stay-at-home date night.

The collection is free, clean, and funny! 

They also provided some awesome suggestions for dinner and a movie treat! 

Check out their blog post HERE and the YouTube Channel HERE.
{Thanks for sharing, Camille!}

Awewahoo! Hawaiian Themed Date Night at Home

warning: If you tend to blush at the thought of anything of the romantic risque sort, then turn around, my friends. It's not too late to hit the "back" button. This idea is meant, as with many of my other ideas to bring a little spice and romance to the everyday married life. This idea, from an anonymous follower, has been adapted for use on this blog.


I sent hubby out of the house for an hour or so to create a little bit of Hawaii right at home. I'll give you those details in a bit...

When he got home, I was dressed in my best Hawaiian get-up (a flower lei from the dollar store, Hawaiian flower wrap, and a Hawaiian flower clip in my hair... no coconut bra for me. (but that's an idea for you!)

I presented him with his flower lei and a boarding pass for Awewahoo Airlines (get it...Oahu? Awewahoo..? Funny thing. When he first read it, he said "A-we-hoo!" seriously?) and showed him to his seat. Take a look at the boarding pas below... and you'll see why you'll have to create that scene for yourself...   *ahem*

Then, the plane landed and I presented him with his Island Welcome Card:

Oh, and in case you're wondering:
Ho'i Hou Ke Aloha means "Let us fall in love all over again"


 Here's how I pulled the rest of the date off:

The Island's Natural Hot Springs:
(aka: the tub)  Remember those plastic scene setters from this date?  I used those again...but I tinted the water blue-green with food coloring and had a pineapple sipper cup on the ledge filled with punch (see pic below). I found that at Dollar Tree. We were supposed to be "deep in the jungle" so I dimmed the lighting. On my iphone, I had Pandora playing the Hawaiian genre station...

Warm Sands Beach
 (aka: my living room) I took a tan sheet and laid it out to create the "sandy beach". I overlapped it with a blue fuzzy blanket to create the shore line. Again, low lighting since it was an evening on the beach... with music playing from Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole and ocean sounds from my iphone (free app). This is where we enjoyed some "delectable Hawaiian BBQ" of Grilled Teriyaki Chicken Skewers, Cilantro-Lime Rice, and Thick-Baked Bacon Sticks. Our drink was a homemade punch (with white grape juice, raspberry seltzer water, and fresh raspberries).

(okay, I KNOW that is hardly hawaiian at all... but, it was the easiest thing to cook with what I already had in the house!) If you really want to be authentic, try this recipe for Kalua Pork (that I got from friends of ours that live in Hawaii):

ooh, it's delish!


Message in a Bottle 
After dinner, we participated in this island tradition...

This was actually a lot of fun... we were allowed to use our phones in case RhymeZhone came in handy, or whatever... we read our messages to each other before rolling them up into the bottle and shipping it off to sea. :)

 A great theme to get you started on your message:
I "shore" do love you...Who needs Hawaii when loving you is "paradise"? 


Massage on the Beach
Every beach-goer needs sunscreen rubbed on their backs... so, offer a little shoulder and back massage right there on the beach! ....followed by dessert... no, really. dessert. I served peach cobbler. :)

And, I think you can figure out the rest on your own! Be creative and take a look at your local Dollar Store/Craft Store/Variety Store. Hawaiian/Luau things are a dime a dozen right now...

Of course, if you like the date elements I created, they're yours. You'll just have to write it the key elements for the airline ticket. Download HERE

Aloha!