This past Saturday, 50 couples walked along a path adorned with long-stemmed roses that led to a lakefront beach where they celebrate love at a date night orchestrated by Twanita “Twinkie” Burnett.
The Richton Park resident’s The Purrfect Datenite Experience has helped her generate more than 29,000 followers on social media as she has put her creativity to use focusing on love.
Saturday’s event, Burnett’s tenth, took place at the Gary Aquatorium. It began with a cocktail hour inside the historic structure. Couples, all dressed in white, had their photos taken beside a giant heart-shaped wreath made of white roses. They were given picnic baskets with personalized treats and gifts, among them an engraved charcuterie board.
Ladies also were given parasols and men fans. They all enjoyed a hibachi meal while seated at tables set up along the beach as a deejay spun tunes. They engaged in a competitive event, a karaoke table battle, where couples at each table chose and performed a song as a group.
Photos were taken along the lake and, following dinner, they returned inside the Aquatorium, where a live band played popular cover songs. From there they went to an after party on the second floor, where the DJ provided music to which they danced the rest of the night away.
The event, like the others held over the past few years, was a labor of love. Burnett’s business emerged and evolved from the pandemic.
“People were at home during COVID and were forced to be at home with pretty much nothing to do, so I decided to create boxes to give the couples a date night,” she said. “It was called the Purrfect Date Night in a Box.”
In each box were charger plates, dinner plates, candles, rose petals, a tablecloth, and bottle of wine, and the boxes were personalized. Some boxes included adult games, One box included a canvas with paints, so couples could paint while sipping wine, she said. There were snacks included or couples could get referrals and order chef-prepared meals.
“Each box had a different theme and whatever the theme for the box, there was something in the box that could coordinate with the theme,” she said.
One of the themes was Naughtygras. It included masks, beads and dessert. Another theme was Bonnie & Clyde, and inside the box was fake money, Bonnie and Clyde T-shirts and personalized cookies, she said. A Hennessy box included Hennessy- infused popcorn, frozen Hennessy drinks and Hennessy-covered strawberries.
In 2020 and 2021, Burnett delivered roughly 120 boxes to couples, she said.
In 2021, when the world opened back up and because everybody loved the boxes, she decided to create live events.
Her first took place Sweetest Day weekend in 2021 at a banquet hall in Sauk Village, she said.
At that first event, couples walked down a red carpet to an area where they had their pictures taken beside a 6-foot marquee with the word love.
The theme was you’re my missing piece, and couples received a puzzle of their photos.
Before the event, Burnett reached out to each individual person and asked them to share how they felt about their mate and told them not to let their mate know she had asked for that information.
When they were seated at their tables, the centerpiece was a personalized card, one side featured what one expressed about the other and vice versa.
“Oh my God, they were crying,” Burnett said. “They got deep with how they felt about each other. It was their truth to their mate.”
For entertainment, she had spoken word artists and comedians. A saxophonist performed during dinner, and afterward couples were able to enjoy a ride in a horse-drawn carriage.
At past events, entertainment has included a hip hop violinist, a magician and couples giving testimonials.
Burnett reaches out to couples ahead of time to personalize and make the evenings special, she said.
The price for Saturday’s event was $220 per couple, plus an additional $80 per couple for food and $46 per couple for an open bar, she said.
Burnett promotes her events via social media and word of mouth.
“I like to do things that are different, that bring love,” she said. “There’s so much violence around the world. My whole thing is bringing awareness to love .
She said a vibe is created where “you can literally feel love in the room. Nobody is looking uncomfortable. Everybody is open. I pride myself on making it fun. I don’t want you at a table scrolling on your phone.”
“It was awesome,” said South Side Chicago resident Arsineo Dodson, who enjoyed the beach evening Saturday with his wife, Veronica Spivery-Dodson. He owns a moving company and Spivery-Dodson works in information technology, as an applications analyst. The couple are a blended family with nine children.
“We’re both very busy,” he shared. “It’s not always easy to plan dates to this degree with our everyday lives. But each year, we know when the year starts we are going to have major date nights. This is set in stone.”
“She makes everything memorable and you never know what she’s got up her sleeve,” said Spivery-Dodson.
Sparkle Simmons and her fiancé, Jerrold Woods, purchased a Purrfect Date Night in a box during the COVID-19 pandemic and have attended several of Burnett’s events.
She said she loves that each live event is different, and she said both she and Woods look forward to them.
“He’s always on board with it,” Simmons said. “It’s like a thrill, a rush. You know it’s going to be a good evening always.
When you enter her events, you can feel the atmosphere shift. You can feel the love bounce off all the other couples. It’s genuine.”
Dolton residents Camilliya Hampton-Bell said she and her spouse also have been to multiple date nights.
“We seem to fall in love all over again every time,” she said.
Burnett said she’s able to pull off her events thanks to assistance from hostesses Pryncess Williams and Monica Jones, music provided by Dj Buckwild and the talents of emcee De’One “Darkchylde” Johnson.
Johnson and Burnett share a love of love, and work to put together events that are vibrant, fun and romantic so that couples feel special, Johnson said. She stressed dating is important.
Some times people get into relationships and they get comfortable and forget dating is one of those things that should never stop,” Johnson said.
Burnett finds her business fulfilling.
“I actually love that it helps couples to recognize why they are meant to be together,” she said. “This is something for them. I love seeing them love on one another, engaging with one another.”
Francine Knowles is a freelance columnist for the Daily Southtown.
