Couple’s ‘Goodwill’ date night has gone viral

Noel Pauley

Coming up with fresh ideas for date night is difficult, which is why so many couples end up ordering pizza and binge-watching the latest Netflix drama. In an effort to get out of a date-night rut, one blogger’s quest to think outside the dinner-and-a-movie box led her and her husband to Goodwill—and social media fame.

Noel Pauley, who writes the blog Baby Bows and Bullets, shared a couple photos on Facebook from a creative date night she and her husband Shane had recently; one that involved a trip to Goodwill, some crazy outfits, and fake names.

“Tonight’s date night was hysterical,” Pauley, who lives in Georgia, wrote in her Facebook post. “We had $10 each in Goodwill to buy each other an outfit that had to be worn out. Once we were out we had to act like it was completely normal. To top it off we made up fake names to match our outfits! We laughed so hard all night long. We now challenge all of you to take a #goodwilldatenight and have a blast with your person!!!”

Pauley’s Facebook post went viral, garnering 139,000 likes and over 300,000 shares in just three days. Due to the popularity, Pauley wrote a blog post to accompany the Facebook photos, going into more detail about how a Goodwill date night works.

The first “rule” of the date night? Set a price limit.

“You each get $10 in Goodwill to shop for the other person and they have to wear what you pick,” she wrote. A big part of the fun is trying on as many crazy outfits as possible while staying within your budget.

goodwill photo
Flickr | JeepersMedia

The second rule, according to Pauley: “Once you leave Goodwill, it’s like fight club, no one talks about it. We had to resume date night as normal and pretend like we had no idea our outfits were off the wall.” Noel and Shane wore their crazy outfits to Longhorn Steakhouse and acted as if everything was normal.

longhorn steakhouse photo
Flickr | JeepersMedia

The third and final rule—that fake names must be used—came about when Noel walked out of the dressing room. “Shane said ‘Ethel get your choir book and come on’ and from that point on I was stuck with Ethel,” she wrote. She chose “Roger” as Shane’s alter ego, and “affectionately shortened [it] to ‘Rog'” in front of their server at the restaurant.

Pauley is delighted that her date idea went viral and hopes people give it a try, for some important reasons.

“I don’t think we have laughed this hard in a long time,” she wrote in her blog post. “Marriage is tough, parenting is tough, and honestly life is tough. But everything is better when you’re doing it with your best friend.”

If you decide to give this wild date night a try, be sure to share your photos along with the hashtag #goodwilldatenight. So much better than pizza and Netflix, right?

Life, News, Viral
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