Today, I've discovered that you shouldn't be intimidated by having to consume chimichangas with only a spoon as a utensil. It's not as difficult as it first seems. Second thought, I'm finding more and more that the word "impossible" is very often a false adjective. Third, aren't you so glad we don't have dandruff in our armpits?? ...Actually, I guess maybe that could be a thing... Well, I don't have it, and I don't know of anyone who struggles with such a trial. To all of you out there who have armpit dandruff, I commend you for keeping that so private that I'm not even aware of the problem! You are good friends.
Well, I know that a lot of people out there are striving to find good dating ideas to be sure and impress their attractive prospective counterparts. I thought I would divulge three of the past activities that I have done for your enjoyment and information. Feel free to take all or bits of these ideas! I have had a blast these past couple weeks!! Each of these dates required exactly four couples.
DATE ONE: THE "BLIND" DATE
So I decided that it would be very exciting/enlightening to literally have a blind date, or see who on the date was best at being blind. This was especially fun when asking a girl on the date, or to invite other guys to find girls for the date...a lot of eyebrows raise when you ask, "Hey, you wanna go on a blind date with me?" It was a beautiful experience. The date was comprised of an appetizer, a dinner, and a dessert scattered among 5 competitions to see which couple worked together best without the privilege of sight.
Appetizer: Any time that we sat down to eat, we had three couples blindfolded, and one couple (a different couple each time) not blindfolded, to be sure that no one did anything too stupid or hurt themselves or run into others or spill things in too violent of a manner. Our appetizer was a Family-Size pack of Double-Stuf Oreos. There was placed in the middle of the table a half-gallon of milk, and 3/4 of the Oreos were scattered all over the table (1/4 of the Oreos were in a bowl for the not-blindfolded couple to enjoy). There were small little bowls in front of each chair, ready to be filled with milk. Each blind person was to fill their bowl with milk, find Oreos, and dip them in that milk before eating them. We couldn't move on until all Oreos had been eaten. The not-blind couple were not allowed to touch any of the scattered Oreos. It was great fun...and my date spilled milk everywhere!
Joint Artists: For almost every competition, two couples competed against each other, then the other two competed, then the two winners competed. For this first competition, each player was given a piece of paper and a pencil. Each couple was given a simple picture to draw with a couple mandatory details. The competition was to see which couple, when blind, could draw a picture that looked most like each other's. This meant that dates had to consistently communicate with each other to discuss where exactly on the paper they would draw things and how big they would be. At the end, whichever couple's pictures looked most like each other's won! It was so hard. But my date and I made a rockin' barn on a hill. The elephants were probably the most entertaining.
Across the Universe: For this competition, we went to a very large soccer field. Each player was situated on the opposite corner of the field from their date. They spun around in a circle a couple times, then a mediator in the middle yelled "GO!" Each person was then allowed to yell their date's name once, and then move toward where they think their date's voice came from. Players were not allowed to make any noise again until each 30-second mark when the mediator yelled "GO!" after which they were allowed to yell their date's name once more. Have you ever run across a field blindfolded? It's a terrifying experience.
Dinner: We headed to Wendy's for dinner. We got there and ordered our food, but we were not allowed to pick up our food without being blindfolded (except, of course, the one essential not-blind couple). All eyes were on us as we carefully made our way to our table. The nice thing was, we couldn't see anybody staring at us, which was rather freeing. You will be amazed at how good food is when you're not distracted by everything around you. That was the best burger I've had in a really long time! However, medium Frostys seem bottomless when you are blind...go for a small.
Puzzle-Master: For this competition, we had two 33-piece puzzles (although, I suggest 24-piece puzzles). We flipped a coin to determine whether the girl or the boy in the competing couple was blindfolded. Dates sat across a table from each other, the blindfolded person with the puzzle in front of them. The date that could still see had to verbally coach their date to put the puzzle together before the other couple, without touching anything. The winner tie-breaker had the other date in the couple blindfolded. I was blind during this one...puzzle pieces NEVER feel like they are going to fit together when you are blind. It surprised me every time!
King of the Slide: We then headed to a roller rink we have called the Fun Park, because they have a great big soft play area with a lot of platforms to climb onto, with tubes and slides and stuff (like a glorified McDonald's PlayPlace). We flipped a coin to determine whether the girl or the boy was blindfolded and sent into the soft play. They raced, blind, and surrounded by little children running around, to get through the maze of platforms and tubes and slide down the big yellow slide at the top of the structure before the other player. The winner tie-breaker had the other date in the couple go through. This activity was SO disorienting. I kept bumping my shin on platforms, falling down unexpected drops, and going into dead-ends. At one point, I knew I was neck-and-neck with my opponent (he and I kept hitting each other, which apparently he hadn't been aware of in his frenzy), and all of a sudden, he was gone. All I could find was wall! I couldn't fathom where he could have gone. Then, a little child's voice emerged below me and asked "Are you racing him?" I affirmed. "He went this way!" All I could find was wall. "In this tube! Come on!" I followed the voices of the little angels all the way to the slide, and ended up winning. It was so fun.
D.I. Dress-Up: We have a hand-me-down store fueled by donations much like Goodwill called the D.I. here. The competing couples were blindfolded, and each player was led around by one of the not-blindfolded people so they wouldn't run into anyone or get hopelessly lost. They were given five minutes to wander the store and find one top garment, one bottom garment, one other garment of their choice, and an accessory for their date to wear. When they'd found all that, they were led to their date where they swapped clothing. They went into the dressing room (still blind), put on the clothes, came out, got their picture taken, went back in, and took them off without ever seeing them. We waited until the end of the date after dessert to look at all the pictures, reveal to each player what they had been wearing, and then vote on who had the best outfit. The outfits, and the looks from other shoppers, were absolutely priceless (actually, that's not true...my outfit would have cost $9).
Dessert: We went to my house to make ice cream sundaes...blindfolded. The sundaes were beautiful...and we had strawberry syrup everywhere. All in all, it was a very successful date. I will never take my ability to see the world around me for granted anymore. However, I may continue to eat my meals and desserts blind... the change in flavor is astounding.
The grand prize for this date was a pair of very rose-colored glasses for the guy, and a zebra hot/cold eye mask for the girl.
DATE TWO: "MAY I ASK YOUR HAND IN 'DATE-AGE'?"
This date was similar to the blind date, only rather than seeing which couple was best at being blind, we challenged each couple to see who was best at using (or not using) their hands. It made for a very exciting battle. Also...this time, our dinner actually became part of the five competitions!
Back-Hand Competition: When I told everyone we were going to have a back-hand competition, they were all a little on-edge. This was, of course, my desire. Tension dissipated when I explained to them that we were going to see who could balance the most objects on the back of their date's hand in a certain time period. We had a bunch of random objects, such as a piece of cardboard, a pencil, a tissue, a key, a banana, a quarter, an egg, a thank-you card, a spoon, etc. We flipped a coin to see whether the boy or girl held their hand out to balance the objects their date put on their hand. They had to keep their fingers together, and their thumb tucked under their hand. After a minute, whoever had more objects balancing on their hand won. If there was a tie, they had to walk around the table and try to catch up to and touch the other player without dropping anything off their hand. First player to touch the other won, or first person to drop an object lost.
The Handy-Man: If you've ever seen any of those skits where one person puts their hands through a pair of shorts and their hands into a pair of shoes, and then another person behind reaches around and puts their hands through the sleeves of a shirt, to make it look like the person in front is about two feet tall, that's what we did for this competition. The guy was in front, with the girl reaching through to be the arms and hands of the ridiculous-looking short person on the table. A plate was placed in front of them, along with peanut butter, jelly, honey, butter knives, mayo, mustard, turkey, and cheese out on the table. The girl being a blind pair of hands for the guy, had to make an adequate sandwich for him and then feed it to him. The first guy to make and eat a whole sandwich won. Filming is mandatory for this one, I kept falling over, I was laughing so hard. I was so worried I was going to bite my date's fingers off! We got mustard everywhere. The tie-breaker for the winners in this one was just another test to see how well the girls could be the guys' hands, by blindfolding the girls, giving them a bunch of tiles with letters on them, and seeing who could spell a particular word first with the coaching of their date.
Hand-in-Hand: Now the girls needed to eat. We had each competing couple face their date and hold each other's hands (with both hands). Their hands were then taped together, so they had no choice but to hold hands for the rest of the competition. Dates stood on either end of a table, and a plate of mashed potatoes was placed between them, along with a plastic spoon. The objective was for the guy to feed the girl the mashed potatoes without using their hands (because, of course, they couldn't), before the other couple finished. The guy grabbed the small end of the spoon with his mouth, then scooped the mashed potatoes and fed them to his date. Great jaw exercise, for sure. This was very fun, and excellent for pictures. As the winners' tie-breaker (because we weren't going to eat anymore...), we went to a playground and gave them a route to go through (still taped to their date in this manner) involving two dangerous bridges, small openings, two slides, and some monkey bars (that was exciting). Couple with the best time won.
Caught Red-Handed: This one was more named after hands than actually using the finesse of hand-work, but it was still a blast. Each date had been asked to bring something they could take pictures on (only now, I would suggest just finding four cameras beforehand to use that you have ability to connect to a computer). Each competitor was given a camera, and given five minutes to take pictures. The goal was to take as many pictures of the two people in the opposing couple while allowing the least amount of pictures of yourself to be taken. Each picture had to be taken at least 5 seconds apart (however, I believe 3 seconds would have been fine). At the end of the competitions, all the pictures were put up on the computer screen, and we counted how many times each person appeared in any of the pictures. The couple with the least amount of pictures taken of them won. This was a very exciting game of cat-and-mouse....there were a couple of times people accidentally took pictures of their date in an effort to catch the other couple. One person trapped an opponent in a corner and got quite a few pictures, but didn't realize they were taking pictures of themselves in the mirror as well. Another person accidentally flipped the camera around (on an iPhone) and started taking a ton of selfies before they realized what they were doing!
The Hand-Jive: I don't know how many of you have played any form of WarioWare (a Nintendo game)... but we played this for our final competition. We played it on the Wii, allowing for a great number of very random and fast activities to accomplish with their hands in a short amount of time. This is a brilliant group video game, definitely worth your investigation.
The grand prize for this date was a pair of fingerless gloves for the guy, and some strange mix between thumbless gloves and creepy puppets for the girl.
DATE THREE: THE SONIC DATE
Once again, a date set up very similarly to the others, with five competitions and a ridiculous dinner. This date was designed to see which couple was best at using (or not using) their ears!
Deaf Dinner: Before we began the competitions, I needed everyone to have a greater appreciation for and awareness of their ability to hear the world around them. So, each person was required to bring a pair of earmuffs (they didn't know why...). As we all arrived, they were given a pair of ear plugs to put in their ears. They then put the ear muffs on. We needed a place where we could be relatively loud without making anyone hate us, so we went to Buffalo Wild Wings. This was such a ridiculous social experiment. I'm sure our waiter left that night still wondering what was wrong with us. He would get blank stares from most of us, until the person closest to him yelled to all of us what he had said. I could semi-effectively carry on a conversation with my date, but I had absolutely no clue what was being talked about across the table. I have never been so aware of my chewing than I was there. It was the only thing I could hear successfully. After an hour of straining to hear the other people on the date, our ears became a God-send as we exited the building.
Tube Math: We went off to a playground, where there were scattered several colored sets of nine digits (1 through 9). Each couple was given a color of digits to search for...one set of which was found on one side of the playground, and the other on the other. The goal was for each person in the couple to figure out and create their own eight-digit number before the two in the other couple did. The trick was, after each couple was given their first digit (the only digit in a common location among their final answers), there was a clue on the back of the digit...for their date's next digit. They had to run to one end of a tube-communication system on the playground, wait for their date, read them their next clue, and then listen for theirs. I have never seen math done so frantically! This was a lot of fun.
Across the Universe: I reused this activity on the soccer field from the Blind Date, because it works great for hearing as well. This time, my date and I were both very speedy...and ended up running right past each other! When we were beat by the other couple, we took off our blindfolds only to see that she and I had almost entirely traded places!
Speech Jammer: The "Speech Jammer" is an invention that causes a person to hear their own voice on a very small (in milliseconds) delay. This so effectively confuses the person talking that they stutter and slur their words until they usually give up speaking entirely. I found an app for the iPod that replicates this invention pretty well. It is called the De-Articulator. We plugged in a pair of noise-cancelling headphones to my iPod (while normal headphones still work, noise cancelling headphones are much better), and each person was given a turn to speak a series of tasks as fast as they could without making mistakes. If they said the wrong word during any of the three tasks, they had to start that task over. The three tasks were: Recite the Pledge of Allegiance, sing 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,' and count to 30. This was by far the funniest activity we did in any of the dates. I was in pain after how much I had laughed at each person sounding completely wasted as they tried to perform these tasks. If you have an iPod, download this app and try to say each of these things as fast as you can, starting over if you mess up at all. It is far more difficult than you would think.
Hablo Chancho: For this competition, each person took their turn standing in the middle of the circle of competitors (whenever someone was in the middle, their date stepped out of the circle), blindfolded. They spun around in a circle, pointed to somebody, and then asked them to make the noise of an animal doing something ridiculous such as a parrot choking on a cracker, or a zebra falling down the stairs. After the person being pointed to makes that noise, the middle person is allowed to ask for one repetition if needed. They then guess who it was. If they are right, they are done. If they are wrong, they spin around and do it again. The couple that jointly took the least amount of guesses to get out of the middle won.
Rollick!: This is a very fun and already existing game out there in your local stores, though I'm sure you could write your own cards for it if so desired. This is basically a backwards form of charades, where (traditionally) one person sits while the rest of their team must collectively mime what is on the card to get the one to guess correctly. This is hilarious to watch and participate in. For this date, we had two competing couples sit while the other four unbiased people acted out the cards for them. The couple with the most correctly guessed cards won. We played four rounds. It was a blast.
The grand prize for this date was a mix CD of the favorite song (now) of each person on the date (along with today's top hit, which at the time was Roar by Katy Perry), and the favorite song of each person when they were in high school (along with the top hit when most of the competitors were in high school, which happened to be I Gotta Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas for us). This was a very coveted CD.
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And that's it! Dates can be a blast! In fact, I believe they should be! I'll keep you posted if I think of any more fun activities; I believe everyone should have experiences like this...they're just too good to pass up!
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