First Date Night Trash to Treasure Challenge

Posted on by lynnsmythe
Reuse repurpose and recycling unwanted items into a first date trash to treasure challenge

Note: This blog post is a sponsored conversation written by Lynn Smythe, the Founder and Chief Blogger for The Creative Cottage lifestyle blog. The opinions, thoughts, ideas and text are all mine.

If you’ve been following The Creative Cottage, you might have read a few of my previous posts. I’ve written about some of my great first-date ideas such as volunteering your time together, virtual video dates, and enjoying a stroll at your local green market.

If you are looking for opportunities to make new friends, free dating websites are a great way to make connections and meet new people in your area. 

Shop for trash to treasure finds at yard sales, garage sales, thrift stores, and flea markets. Photo by cottonbro from Pexels.

Repurpose and Recycle Thrift Store Finds

Are you looking to Meet Tayside Singles but are worried about what to do on that important first date? No need to worry, here is a fun first date idea to enjoy with a new friend, soul mate, or future spouse. 

Enjoy a thrift store treasure hunt with your significant other. If you are looking for furniture and small home decor items to decorate your home, condo, or apartment thrift stores are a virtual treasure chest. Goodwill Industries and Habitat for Humanity are the two main charity shops near me – they practically have a store in every town. 

I love buying botanical-themed artwork to display around my home but the picture frame can leave something to be desired. I refinished the ugly gold frames using a coat or two of my favorite chalk paint followed by a coat of matte wax to protect the paint and impart a satin finish. Mid-century modern, vintage collectibles, and shabby chic are just a few trash to treasure challenge projects you can work on after a visit to your favorite thrift shops. 

That got me thinking of a fun first date idea – host a trash to treasure challenge contest with your bff, co-workers, or roommates. The basic idea is to shop your local flea markets, yard sale, and thrift stores where each participant purchases a small furniture item – like an old jewelry case, side table, or bar cart. The challenge is to set a time limit and see who can repurpose their item the best. 

Visit your local flea markets and charity shops with your roommates or bff and challenge each other to a Trash to Treasure Thrift Store Makeover. Photo by cottonbro from Pexels.

Flea Market Trash to Treasure Flip

To get an idea on how to host your own Trash to Treasure Challenge – take a look at one of my favorite HGTV shows Flea Market Flip. The show is hosted by Lara Spencer, who is also an anchor for ABC News Good Morning America. The basic premise of Flea Market Flip is two couples (mom and daughter, son and dad, roommates, BFF, etc.) are given a budget of $500 and one hour to shop at the local flea market. 

They bring their flea market finds back to the studio workshop where they have two days to transform their flea market finds into three pieces of repurposed furniture. Each team is also assigned a carpenter to help them with the more complicated details – guess the HGTV studio execs don’t want any of the home carpenters to accidentally chop off a finger during filming. 

Once the trash to treasure projects are completed, they go back to the flea market to see which team can make the most money selling off their completed repurposed treasures. The winning team is gifted with the combined profits for all items sold that day. 

If you and your friends are competing in your own trash to treasure challenge agree upon a budget, say $40 or under, and decide in advance what the prize is going to be. For example, you could treat the winning team to dinner at a favorite restaurant, or if your competitors are your roommates, the losing team could do all the dishes for the next week. Use your imagination and, most importantly, have FUN!

Find gently used and like-new items for your trash to treasure first date night at Resource Depot in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Repurpose and Reuse Existing Materials

You can also check if there are any organizations in your area that specialize in turning waste into wonder. Resource Depot in West Palm Beach, Florida is one store that comes to mind, they collect “donations from businesses and individuals and redistribute the items to teachers, artists, families, and other non-profit organizations that need them, encouraging creative, hands-on learning and innovation.”

Resource Depot has all kinds of interesting events going on including:

  • Local Artist Exhibit Space 
  • Spring Makers Market
  • Annual SWA Run Away 5K
  • Earth Day Fundraising Campaign
  • Rescued Runway Clothing Exchange

They also host field trips and summer camps for local K-12 students and hold workshops for people in the community. Their Makers Market is especially interesting as they feature craft artists and vendors that incorporate recycled and repurposed materials into their finished work.

My favorite Resource Depot service is shopping at their TreasuRE boutique. You can either buy gently used, like-new items by the piece or shop by the bin. For $5 you can buy all you can fit into a small bin or $10 for a large bin. They also have specials on class packs for volume users – what a deal!

I would love to hear all about your Trash to Treasure Challenge! Drop me a line at: lynn@thecreativecottage.net and I just may feature your story in a future blog post on The Creative Cottage.

More Great Date Night Ideas

If you enjoyed reading this online dating post, check out these other Dating & Relationships articles on The Creative Cottage lifestyle blog:

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Let’s Keep in Touch

Do you have any tips or tricks you’d like to share? Leave a comment on this post or shoot me an email: info@thecreativecottage.net and I just might feature your story in a future blog post.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe

Founder and Chief Blogger
The Creative Cottage

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