What I Learned in Oklahoma: The Date Night Jar

Brandon King is Oklahoma Today’s spring intern. Read his previous “What I Learned in Oklahoma” entries here:

Distantly Social

More Than Exotic

The Essentials

Too Stubborn To Fail

Festival Season

This Ain’t Tatooine

Even with social distancing, Brandon King finds things to do with his fiancée in their Date Jar. Photo by Brandon King.

A few years ago, my fiancée and I created the Date Night Jar.

Instead of relegating ourselves to the same old song and dance—no dancing is preferable, as my dancing skills are comparable to Elvis Presley being electrocuted with fifty-thousand volts—we chose to write down suggestions for dates when we wanted to be adventurous. Some of the contents include an art walk through the Paseo, the UCO Jazz Lab, hiking through the Chickasaw National Recreation Area, and visiting some of Oklahoma’s locally-owned breweries. Some were simple, others were riskier. For example, dinner at Sushi Neko and local tattoos is one slip I’ve personally been dying to draw.

More often than not, we would opt out for a relaxing night together with a home-cooked meal and time spent with our dogs Patty, Petey, and Otis. The mentality at the time was, “We’ll get to those things when we get to them.” You know, hindsight has a way of making our decisions feel irrelevant.

But as I was digging through these suggestions last weekend, I stumbled on quite a few we can still participate in safely. Even as some businesses begin re-opening, many Oklahomans are still wary to embrace the world outside of their homes—a feeling I share. The world feels more uncertain than it ever has in recent memory, so the concept of a date night might feel out-of-touch or even childish. Personally, I think it’s what we need right now.

Whether it’s date night or a treat yourself sort of day, there are a plethora of fun and safe options to unwind. After all, even a simple Slinky enjoys a trip down the stairs once in a while, so why shouldn’t you? I’ll admit some of these options may seem unorthodox, but Oklahomans are generally some of the finest in adapting to troubling circumstances.

Here are few suggestions to get you started:

1. Buy six different local beers and make your own beer flight. Not only can you try new flavors, but you can make a mental note to visit the brewery you loved the most once everything is open.
2. Try an Oklahoma-themed karaoke night. Get your partner, or even Zoom call your friends, and sing along to Oklahoma’s finest musicians at home.
3. Purchase tickets to an online Oklahoma comedy club show. It supports Oklahoma’s burgeoning comedy scene. Bricktown Comedy Club has a few virtual stand-up shows coming soon.
4. Have a picnic for three or less on the outskirts of town. Take in the scenery and appreciate nature as it was intended: not surrounded by a bunch of people. Bonus points if you take a picture and send it to us at Brandon.King@TravelOK.com.

Maybe you’ll try making your own Date Jar. Over here, we’re adding to ours each day as a reminder to the future us to make even better memories once this has passed.