Hot marriage tip: If you want to stay married, Date Your Spouse. It’s true the old adage that says “The couple that plays together stays together.” Time together, without kids enjoying romance is incredibly important for a strong marriage. Regular date nights will help you connect with each other, communicate about topics you can’t talk about in front of the kids, light that romantic spark and increase your intimacy both emotional and physical.
Sometimes we think that in order to spend quality time together as a married couple, we must go away for the evening or a weekend. While it is wonderful to do those things, and certainly will serve to enhance your marriage, it is not always necessary. Fun and creative date night ideas can happen at home just as easily with a bit of planning!
Schedule time to Date Your Spouse
Let’s face it. If you have a children, date night is not going to happen unless you have a plan to make it happen. Busy schedules, laundry, and household chores crowd out some of the more important things when we don’t make room in the schedule. A healthy relationship with your spouse requires quality time, and that means you need to find a babysitter, plan your next date, get it on the Google calendar, set up reminders, and make it happen.
If you are in that season of life with all little kids or can’t afford the cost of childcare, you might want to consider a creative date night at home. It will save you money and help you stay best friends. We’ve got some great date ideas to help you date your spouse at home.
Prepare for your Date Night at Home
Dress Up. Take the time to look nice for each other.
Whether you are going out or staying home, it is nice to dress up a little bit for date night and it sets the evening apart. Put on some makeup, fix your hair, and change into a more special outfit instead of mommy loungewear. Make that little extra effort a part of your date night routine.
Shop for special ingredients.
Date night at home often means special food ingredients for extraordinary meals. Although that’s not purely necessary, it’s fun to add a little something special to share with each other. Make sure you have all the ingredients you need to make that date night meal or dessert a success.
Pro Tip: My husband and I like to occasionally add a container of the Talenti Gelato Layers to our cart. You can get these in several flavors, but the Salted Caramel Truffle is our favorite. Any pint of ice cream will do. Then when we need a little bit of extra “us” time, we grab two spoons and stay up late after the kids are in bed.
Put the kids to bed early.
For this one night a week or one night a month, consider putting your kids to bed a little early so you and your spouse have more time alone. If you have older children, they can be responsible for putting little ones to bed and can make it fun. A quiet house lends itself toward better communication, and better communication lends itself toward a happy marriage.
Trade date night babysitting.
If you have grandparents or aunts/uncles nearby, you might ask them to host a special evening for your kids at their house — you could even provide a movie rental, popcorn bag, or a batch of brownies. If your siblings or best friends have kids, consider trading date night babysitting back and forth every other week to save money and give each other that gift of time with spouse.
Be flexible.
When plans fall through, don’t let it derail you. You may need to move some things around but you can still enjoy a wonderful evening together with your love. Grab some snacks, spread out a blanket in the living room, and enjoy board games or video games or a movie with your picnic. It doesn’t have to be fancy to be special.
Be determined.
Don’t give up! The need to change times, nights, or even cancel an evening out does not have to spell disaster for your date night. Being unable to go out shouldn’t keep you from enjoying yourselves. Think a bit and come up with a fun way to spend time together at home. After years of marriage, you might start to relax about guarding the sanctity of your marriage. Don’t. Staying connected to each other emotionally, mentally, sexually, and spiritually is essential if you want your marriage to go the distance.
Think outside the box.
Though my husband and I do enjoy watching movies together, it isn’t your only option for a date night in. Get creative. It is very possible to plan date night on a budget too, so don’t let that be your excuse.
- You can enjoy a picnic in the basement, while taking turns reading aloud a favorite book of poetry or a gripping novel.
- Maybe you would like to set up a dinner and dance the night away? Turn the lights down low, light a few candles, and turn on some romantic music.
- Find a comedy club recording.
- Enjoy a hobby together.
- Talk about your passions.
- Plan a road trip together and dream big.
- Enjoy holding one another, chatting about your day, and simply being alone together.
- Watch the sunset from the back patio or front porch.
- Find out when you could see shooting stars and plan a late night date in the back yard on a blanket.
- Work out together with home gym equipment or body weight exercises.
- Share favorite childhood memories.
Once you get started, you will come up so many great ways to date your spouse without ever leaving home. Even if the novelty of marriage has started to wear off, the kids are in a thousand activities, the to-do list is never ending, and everyone needs to de-stress, choose to making dating your spouse a priority. You won’t regret it.
I really enjoyed this post. My husband and I value our date nights and try to have them at least twice a month. With five kids it can get challenging. Our date nights at home include music, food and wine in our sunroom. It allows us to enjoy an evening “out”, without leaving home!