The Howling Hotel Date Night Playlist
Need a hauntingly good playlist to listen to while you try and escape the Howling Hotel? Click below to stream this month’s playlist.
Challenge One: Quill Pen Riddles
What You’ll Need: Quill Pen and Pad of Paper
What to do:
Choose one person to go first. Have that person write five notes to their partner and fold the notes up. They must then hide those five notes around the house, without their partner knowing where. Here’s the twist: included in each note must be a short riddle to find the next.
Keep the riddles short and straightforward. The easiest way to create them is to make a quick little rhyme. For example, if the next note is hidden behind your wedding photo, the riddle might be:
My love for you is picture-perfect,
Yes, you know it’s true.
To find your next hidden note,
Look where we said, “I do.”
Do this for every love note you hide. Once all your notes are hidden, give your partner their first riddle to begin their hunt. Once they find all five notes, they must do the same for you!
Let’s see who the true riddle master is!
Challenge Two: Ring the Bell
What You’ll Need: Your Hotel Bell and Pad of Paper
What to do:
Place your bell in the kitchen or someplace you visit together daily. Look for things your partner does to help you out. Once you notice something, run over to the bell, ring it, and write that thing on the pad of paper next to the bell. Try and find one thing per day.
Even if they are on the other side of the house, they’ll be able to hear your appreciation ring!
Want to stick to the riddles? Instead of writing what you are appreciative of, write three single words that represent that thing. Then, when your partner goes to the list, they must try and decipher what you appreciated, just by your clues!
Challenge Three: Finders Key-pers
What You’ll Need: Your Hotel Key
What to do:
Choose one person to go first. Have that person hide your skeleton key somewhere in the room while the other’s eyes are closed.
Once the key is hidden, you must give your partner three clues to the key’s whereabouts. That is it. Once you give your clues, set the timer for five minutes. Your partner must find the key within that timeframe. If you can find the key within the five minutes, you earn a point.
Once the timer is up, switch roles. Continue playing for five rounds. The person that earns the most points by the end of five rounds wins a date night planned by the other!
Challenge Four: Virtual Escape Room
Want to try a REAL escape room? We’ve partnered with Next-Gen Escape to offer a Virtual Escape Room experience.
This means that you and your partner can try one of their escape rooms from the comfort of your couch!
To learn more about ‘Virtual Escape Rooms’ CLICK HERE.
To book your Virtual Escape Room session, CLICK HERE.
Use the code CWLHH to get 10% off your booking.
Family Date Night Activity: Musical Pumpkins
What You’ll Need:
- A pumpkin for each family member, pumpkin carving tools
- Acrylic paint and brushes
- Glitter and glue
- A ton of “decorating” candy (things like candy corn, spice drops, M&Ms)
It’s time to carve some pumpkins! But, as you probably could tell from our list of items, we have a few twists!
To set up, create four stations at the table:
Station One: Your classic pumpkin carving station with tools and bowl for the guts.
Station Two: Keep your paint and brushes here. This will be the station to decorate your pumpkin with paint!
Station Three: The glue and glitter station. Because glitter is awesome!
Station Four: The decorative candy station. Using glue, this will be where you decorate your pumpkin with an assortment of Halloween and festive candies!
How to Play:
To start, have each family member take their pumpkin and sit at a station. If you have more than four family members, you can double up at a station.
Set the timer for two minutes. When the timer starts, each person must start decorating their pumpkin according to their station.
When the timer stops, each person must swap pumpkins with another person and go to a different station. Then, restart the timer.
Continue decorating and swapping until each member has decorated each pumpkin and has been at every station.
Once complete, you’ll have a full set of pumpkins designed and decorated by the whole family!
Why are we doing this?
This activity is an excellent representation of trust and teamwork for the family. Together, you are designing each pumpkin and using what the person before you did to the pumpkin. In the end, you’ll have worked together to create your pumpkin family!
Date Night Dessert Recipe: PSL Ghosty Cakes
Letters from the Founders:
For us, October marks the beginning of Fall, our favorite season. And yes, we love Pumpkin Spice Lattes just as much as the next person, so with this month’s recipe, we decided to combine this fall classic with some spooky ghosts to match the theme! Our PSL Ghosty Cakes are a perfect dessert for your next Halloween party or even to make with the little ones!
<3 Michelle and Tyler
Founders, Crated with Love
Ingredients:
- 1 Box of Yellow Cake Mix (and Ingredients Listed on Box)
- 1 Tub of Cream Cheese Frosting
- 2 Teaspoons of Pumpkin Pie Spice
- 1/4 Cup of Cold Brew Coffee
- White Fondant
- Tube of Black Frosting
- Mini Cupcake Liners
- Mini Cupcake Pan
Instructions:
Preheat the oven according to the instructions on your cake mix box.
In a large bowl, mix your cake ingredients along with 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice. If the box calls for water or milk, substitute 1/4 of either with 1/4 cup of cold brew coffee.
Line your mini cupcake pan and spoon your batter into each cup to fill about half of the cup. It will be tempting to fill to the top, don’t do it! This will cause the cake to overfill and will make it hard to make your ghosts.
Bake for 12 minutes. Use a toothpick to test readiness (poke a toothpick in the middle of one of the cupcakes, if it’s clean, they are done).
While the cupcakes are baking, add the remaining teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice to the tub of cream cheese frosting (and more or less for taste). You can also add a dash of ground coffee if you want a more “latte” taste. Mix well.
When cupcakes are done baking, allow to cool to room temperature. Once cool, it’ll be time to make your ghosts!
Start by using one cupcake as the base (keep the liner on). Add a thin layer of frosting on top. Take another cupcake, remove the liner, flip upside down, and place it on top of the base cupcake. Add another thin layer of frosting on top of that one.
Take a small ball of fondant (about the size of a quarter) and roll it out to a very thin layer. Drape the fondant over your cupcake and carefully create the folds of the ghost’s sheet.
Use black frosting to create each ghost’s eyes and mouth.
Continue until all your ghosts are created!
Relationship Focus: Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
Life can sometimes make us feel like we are trapped in a haunted hotel, doesn’t it? It can be filled with twists and turns, obstacles we must overcome, and conundrums we must solve.
It can be tough facing these things alone. Fortunately, you have your partner to help support you!
Like some of the riddles in your box, you may need help solving some of the problems life throws at you. And yes, some of those problems may leave you frustrated, searching for answers. That is why teamwork is so crucial in your relationship.
Here are three easy ways you can strengthen your teamwork skills as a couple:
Stay Patient
It can be frustrating at the time dealing with difficult issues. This stress can cause us to be short with our partners or to project our frustration onto them.
As a team, it’s essential to stay patient with each other during these stressful moments. It can be so easy to turn against one another, but remember, you’re in this together!
Communicate More Than You Think You Should
Want to know the secret trick to solving any escape room? Communication! We know, shocker, right?
When trying to overcome something difficult with your partner, it doesn’t help keep your thoughts. Speak them into existence! The more you talk with each other, the more knowledge you share and the more you can use what your partner knows to help you.
For example, let’s say you need two pieces of information to solve a problem (Part A and Part B). You have already figured out Part A, and your partner has figured out Part B. If you don’t communicate that you each have those pieces, you’ll never solve the problem.
So, when working through problems together, talk more than you think you should. Get everything out into the open, even if you think it’s irrelevant or unnecessary. The more you both communicate, the stronger team you’ll be.
Don’t Be Afraid to Fail
It can be easy to give up due to a fear of failure. The more difficult a problem you face with your partner, the easier it may be to “throw in the towel.” But how will you be able to solve the problem if you give up?
Don’t be afraid to fail or afraid to choose the wrong solution. Sometimes the best learning opportunities are those we receive when we fail. As long as you and your partner take those opportunities to learn and become a better team, every decision you make together can help strengthen your bond.