Last night we went on a date. Yay! Experts say that dating after you’re married is one of the keys to staying together. But we’ve never been very good at it. That is something we hope to improve with some new, fun ideas of things to do together.
It’s not that we don’t like spending time together, it’s just hard to schedule. And it’s easy to let it get pushed to the bottom of the “list.” While we think dates are important, we’ve never been willing to miss other things like our kids’ sports and activities. But whenever we get a chance, we try to go on a date night.
So last night we did it. We dated. We had the girls make their own dinner and we went to dinner and a movie. We went to a local restaurant with a happy hour so we could try many dishes without spending a fortune. Over a giant nacho, blackened fish tacos (yum!), and chicken quesadillas, we forgot about the world for a moment and focused on each other. You know what happened? We talked. About real life. We laughed. We learned more about what each of us was currently working on – him with his job, me with my blog/website. We caught up. We connected.
Then we saw a movie. And we held hands. I fed him frozen Junior Mints. We lifted the armrest between our seats and snuggled in close. We breathed each other in and the weight of the world out. It was good. It was fun. This dating thing has to keep happening. As often as possible.
I’ve already started researching ideas for more fun date nights. Pinterest has a lot of lists and ideas. I tweaked some to make them work for us. Here are 6 ideas that sound fun and fabulous:
1. Thrift store and ice cream.
Go to a thrift store. Each person gets $20 to buy a complete outfit for the other person. That outfit must be worn to the ice cream shop and for the remainder of the date.
2. Faux event.
Create a photo album for an event or adventure that we never really took. Maybe we will go to the zoo and make it look like an African safari, an art museum to make it look like we took a European vacation. Whatever. Just take lots of pictures and make it fun and funny.
3. Drive to the beach and arrive just in time to watch the sun set.
Pack a big blanket or sleeping bag, build a bonfire and roast some hot dogs and marshmallows.
4. Date night at home.
Make a ton of popcorn, buy “movie candies,” gather a big stack of blankets and pillows, maybe even build a fort, and binge watch something on Netflix. Note: this works best if your children are staying with relatives or friends, OR if your children are small and go to sleep early, because this one looks like so much fun that they will want to join you.
5. “Chopped” kitchen home date.
Pull 4-6 items from the refrigerator and/or pantry and use those ingredients to prepare a meal for the other person. Get creative. Maybe even vote on which dish is best.
6. Penny Date.
This was one of our favorite Date Nights of all time. You just need to roll some dice (1 or 2 depending on how much time you have) to get your starting number. We used two dice and rolled a 6 and a 5 meaning we were going to flip a coin 11 times. Bring your penny in the car and each time you get stopped at an intersection, flip the penny. Heads you turn left, and tails you turn right. When you have flipped the selected number of times, look around and see where you are and what you could do for a date night. Our Penny Date night took us first out for a long country drive, before we got to turn around and head back. When we flipped for the last time, we were in front of a tiny Thai restaurant in a small strip mall. It turned out to be some of the best Thai food we’ve ever eaten, and one of our favorite date nights ever!! **My advice for anyone trying the Penny Date – make sure you have a full tank of gas before you leave. We were in the middle of nowhere counting the miles to the nearest town and hoping we would make it to a gas station. But then again, that was part of the fun and excitement.
