February 25, 2013
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When Date Night Is a Challenge
The couples in our church took the Date Night Challenge (Three dates in three weeks plus one date each month for the rest of the year). Sounds fun, right? But for some of us just getting a date night is the challenge. Especially, when we have small children.
For the Chief and I, the challenge has at different times been breastfeeding, bedtimes, no babysitter, no extra funds... You get the idea. But when faced with a challenge, we get creative and we overcome!
When we had several littles and no bigs, we'd date-in. Some of our date-ins have been:
1. Popcorn and a movie.
2. Card games.
3. Ben and Jerry's (Chief's fave ice-cream, we'd find new flavors and enjoy together).
4. Backyard star gazing.
5. Front porch swinging.
Between the hours of 9 and 11 PM, at least once a month (but probably more like once a week) the Chief or I planned/plan something we could/can do at home together. So even with littles and the inability to go out, we still had/have dates. I use the past and present tense because even though we no longer are a family of littles only we still plan these special evenings.
Cold, bleak, rainy... some nights, you just can’t be bothered leaving the house -- even for a date. Date-ins are perfect for lazy or cozy nights. Stay-home dates are a wonderful, comfortable way to spend time together and reconnect.
Do you have date nights at home? What do you do?
Comments (9)
we did not do date night. ever. we totally focused on the family. not a good idea. but, we are married 30 years and are learning to date again. we have a lot of stay at home dates too because of money or the fact that we live in the middle of nowhere! i have a list of them somewhere, but a really fun one was to look up dance instructional videos on you tube and turn the music on and try to learn a dance step (we stink at dancing). i have found a lot of good idea lists on pinterest too!--karen
@lifeontheWink - I love your date night youtube dance video idea! Sounds fun!
I live in the middle of nowhere too.
We do both. Our youngest is 7, so we're able to go out (as long as we have the funds) we enjoy date-ins as well. We'll play Rock Band on the wii, my husband plays the guitar and I'll sing. Ha! It's a lot of fun because we don't do it often, and we always get a good laugh out of it. Or he'll pick up sushi and after the kids go to bed, we'll scoot the couch up to the tv and snuggle while watching a movie.
@fourkidsonemom - Your date-in of Rock Band sounds fun! And there is nothing like snuggling up for a good movie!
We try to do a monthly date night - sometimes going out but some of my fav evenings have been staying in. We like cooking together and when we hit 10 years I started to plan repeat dates from when we were dating - indoor picnics, sandwich making contest, watching a movie at 11:00 (we would always hit this late show when dating) - That was so fun. I still have a few I'd like to repeat still.. our first movie we watched together was Titanic and we flew a kite once at the park.
@zanyzeal - That is so cool! Repeat dating has got to be the neatest!
Love date nights at home, especially this time of year. We do a lot of things that everyone has mentioned here..we are also really into music, so we spend a lot of time finding new music and working on music together. Fun post. Now I want my husband home from work.
@Elizabethmarie_1 - I know right, makes you want to have a stay-at-home date right now.
So cool that you can share in your love of music.
date nights, yes, please!! they are so hard for us to get in because of our life stage right now. so, we too 'try' to do stay at home dates. movies, supper together in peace and quiet after the kids go to bed (although this one we don't make very often because family meal time is important to us), and occasional card games, just sipping coffee together. in the summer/ warmer seasons, we spend a lot of nights out in our backyard after the kids are in bed; sipping drinks, talking around the firebowl, listening to the night sounds together...
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