My little bro is so sweet. Today he called me at work wanting me to help him plan a something special for his one year anniversary with his girlfriend. This is a BIG deal. This is his first relationship that's lasted this long. They are both 23, VERY high maintenence and a bit immature (their relationship is pretty much the same as one would be as Juniors in High School) SO, we are shocked they lasted this long what with all the high school-ish drama. But they made it and want to celebrate!
They don't have too much $, but he wanted to try to take her somewhere for the weekend (The weekend of January 19th) We live in the Chicagoland area so anywhere there or surrounding, like Wisconsin (Lake Geneva is very nice) would be fine.
So, I just wanted to try to get some ideas for him. Something fun to do during the weekend, going away or not, that they can do or he can do for her that doesn't cost more then say, $200. Also, they both live at home with the P's so doing something at either ones house wouldn't be very romantic.
They could check out Hotels.com for cheaer hotel prices and stay in the city for the night. My friends recently got the Sofitel hotel for $100 for the night. They could walk around the city, go to Navy Pier and walk around, it's lit up really pretty at winter. They could go ice skating for a $7 skate rental fee at Millinium Park.
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I'm thinking balls are to men what purses are to women. It's just a little bag, but we feel naked in public without it.
Carrie Bradshaw
the bf and i love to go to Door County, New Buffalo, and Traverse City for weekend getaways. They usually have buy one get one night free deals in the winter. They all have wine trails (Traverse City has the best wines). I know N.B. and T.C. have casinos near by. N.B. has outlets on the way, so that would be fun to do some shopping, plus it's only about 90 minutes from the city. D.C. and T.C. are more like five hours away from the city, but i think they have a bit more to do. The other nice thing is that a lot of the resorts have fireplaces and hot tubs in the room....There's nothing better than drinking champagne in the hot tub watching a movie with a fire going in the background.
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"i tell you one lesson I learned
If you want to be something in life, You ain't gonna get it unless, You give a little bit of sacrifice, Oohh, sometimes before you smile you got to cry.." -The Roots
Since they both live with the parents, I think getting a room somewhere would be nice and romantic.
* Galena isn't too far to drive * Madison - I had good, very affordable Turkish food there, then walked around, had homemade ice cream and hung at the local bar at night for cheap drinks :) * St. Louis - longer drive but they could go on the arch and stay downtown relatively inexpensively * House on the Rock - they have packages for 2 that include entrance to the house and one night's accommodations for $125 or so.
Lake Geneva is nice too but as I recall it was more expensive (maybe it was just the resort where we stayed, not sure)
HTH!
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http://v247.tumblr.com One cannot perceive beauty, but with a serene mind -Thoreau
Thanks for all the ideas!! I think they are going to go with Collettes suggestion of skating at Millenium Park and dinner after! I found them a hotel room right by the park for $73!! Then they are going to shop Michigan Ave. the next day!! Thanks again for your help everyone! I myself am going to be looking into the buy one get one night free getaways for DH and I in Door County or T.C.!! That sounds very romantic! So thanks Vanessa and Shopgirl82!!