Cost – It’s totally up to you. If you decide to just play the game then it’s free!

If you are looking for a fun little indoor activity on a chilly day, try a book hunt. You go to a local book store with someone, split up, and with a time limit you try to pick out a book that the other person might like. Then you meet up and reveal your choices to one another. We gave it a shot, and although we didn’t stick to our own rules we really enjoyed it.

SHE SAID:

One of my favorite places to shop for gifts is at a bookstore. So when Brad suggested we go on a book hunt for each other I was in.

Chapters is a lot of real estate to cover in a short time frame so I chose the top three sections I thought I might find something he enjoyed. I also tried to think of any recent conversations we had about his latest interests, curiosities, etc. I tend to be a tad indecisive, and coupling that with a time crunch spells disaster, so it’s no wonder I ended up coming back to the meeting spot with more than one book. Three to be exact.

I found the hunt for the books and the big reveal to be very exciting, but no so much the deciding what book to keep. This is why I recommend sticking to only bringing one book back to your partner. Giving yourself more time to hunt for books may help with this. Brad gave me 15 minutes, without a watch, in a store with many shopping distractions, to find an awesome gift. I recommend a good half hour, but don’t take so long that you have to put an announcement over the PA for a lost partner.

Brad’s first picks for me were massive novels, which I would have loved were it July and I had endless hours to read at the beach. However, it’s October and I need magazine type texts to flip through at my leisure.

The second attempt was very successful. Option #1 was a massive book of nothing but lists. Option #2 was a tip book on how to buy yourself more time (was that a hint?) and Option #3 (my favorite!) was a quick decorating book for people on the go. In the end, my frugal and practical side won out and I didn’t end up getting a book that Brad had picked out for me (sorry love bug!) but a book I needed for school. If nothing else, Brad has some great ideas for Christmas….

HE SAID:

After almost three and a half years of marriage we finally put all of our knowledge about each other to the test. We went to Chapters, split up, and took 15 minutes to pick out three books that we thought the other might like.

First of all I should say that we bent the rules quite a bit on this one. I think the idea is to each pick out one book, and no matter what ends up getting picked, you have to buy it. We decided not only to pick out more than one book each, but to do two rounds of picks. We also went in with a budget in mind, but that didn’t last long as I am horrible at looking at prices when I shop for Susan.

I went into this feeling quite confident that I could pick out the perfect book on the first try. Then I got knee deep in choices and realized it was going to be harder than I thought. Do I go for a novel, or more information oriented book? While Susan (of course) took the more logical route of picking from what she thought was my top three favorite sections, I went the more frantic, running up and down the aisles in a panic route. In the first round I decided to pick out some novels. I knew that she doesn’t have the time to read one right now, but I figured it would be nice to have one to look forward to reading when some free time shows up. So in the second round I think I found some better choices for her.

I have to say, I was quite surprised by the books she picked out for me. I was expecting more random choices, books that I had never heard of before. Instead she went pretty safe and picked books I had either looked at before, or books by authors that I enjoy. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the books she picked out, I was just surprised.

We decided in the end not to buy any of the books we picked out for each other for two reasons. The first was because we both threw our original budget out the window. The second was that we decided the fun was in the hunt itself plus the reveal, not in the purchasing.

I had so much fun with this one and I can’t wait to try it again. It’s kind of like Christmas with more instant gratification. With a Christmas gift you often have to wait weeks or days, if not months, before you can see the reaction of the person you bought the gift for. With this you get to see the reaction almost immediately, plus you don’t even have to buy anything to have fun. I really got a kick out of watching Susan’s reactions to the books I picked for her and wanted to keep picking more, but we ran out of time.

So what are you waiting for? Go out to a local book store with someone and try this game. It’s a lot of fun, and the cost is totally up to you.

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