1 Minute to Win It Tournament Night (At-Home Date Night Games)

Need a super fun at-home date night that’s fast and memorable? Check out how to set up your own 1 minute to win it tournament.

I set up this fast and FUN at-home date night for my husband: a One Minute to Win It Games tournament.

author and husband at table having fun, text overlay "Minute to win it date idea at home"

The Prize? One Pecan Twirl for the winner of each game.

Fun Fact: My husband and I are both major fans of this junk dessert from our childhoods. We were barely allowed to eat them then, and barely eat them now so it’s a perfect treat.

Almost all the materials were from Dollar Tree, which was a nice bonus!

One Minute to Win It Tournament (Date Night Games)

Imagine this: my husband Paul coming down the stairs, after doing Family Story Time with our little guy, to a table set up with lots of fun and food.

He was smiling, that’s for sure!

husband smiling, surprised, looking over whole dining room table covered in butcher paper with games and such

Here’s how I set these relationship games up:

I covered the table in butcher paper, and used a marker to write and draw out different areas of our date night:

Food
Prize
Score

plate full of pigs in a blanket, with lots of sauces under "Food" written in marker on butcher paper

bag of Pecan Twirls with square around it in marker, and "Prize" and smiley face

I collected a bunch of silly games from the Dollar Tree for $1.25 each and laid those out.

pile of mini games and dice with letters written on them, plus a timer on table wrapped in butcher paper

They included:

Puzzle (I recommend you get a much easier puzzle for this – this one was wayyyy too difficult to get any pieces in just 1 minute)
Mini Pickleball
Handheld Water Game
Mini Pool Game
Alphabet dice (OR, these blank, dry-erase dice), pens, and paper

AND, a made-up Relationship Scattergories game where we each rolled an Alphabet Dice, then had to write down as many words that were connected to our relationship as possible starting with that letter.

two large dice with letters of alphabet written on them, pad of paper and a pen, under "Relationship Scattergories" written in marker

Honestly, the Relationship Scattergories game that I made up like 5 minutes before the actual date? Was the most memorable one.

Like when we each tried to use one of his brothers’ names because, hey, we’ve hung out with them over the last 15 years, right?

smiling while discussing which of our answers were admissible and which weren't for relationship game

Or the memory lane trip we took as we read aloud a bullet list of times together: beach wedding, bridges, Japan, and more.

I also made something fast to eat that I knew my husband would love: pigs in a blanket with various sauces.

We kept score, and ended up with me winning 3 Pecan Twirls, and Paul winning 2. Muhahahahaha:).

husband, proud, holding up his winning handheld water game, text overlay "he crushed it! All the rings, in 60 seconds!"

author and husband smiling to camera, holding up Pecan Twirls

What can I say? We had SO much fun during this at-home date night, that my son told me the next morning “I heard you guys – you were so loud I thought you were fighting. I came out of my room and realized you were having fun!” That's how you know we were quite rowdy (in a fun way), as we don't typically make a bunch of noise when we fight!

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Amanda L Grossman

Personal Finance Writer and CEO at Frugal Confessions, LLC

Amanda L. Grossman is a writer and Certified Financial Education Instructor (CFEI®), Plutus Foundation Grant Recipient, and founder of Frugal Confessions. Over the last 13 years, her money work has helped people with how to save money and how to manage money. She's been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Kiplinger, Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report, Business Insider, LifeHacker, Real Simple Magazine, Woman's World, Woman's Day, ABC 13 Houston, Keybank, and more. Read more here or on LinkedIn.