5 Tips for a Successful At-Home Date Night

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You may remember that one of my marriage goals for 2014 was to have a date night with Kev every month.  Our budget is even tighter than usual since we are focusing on some financial goals, so going out once a month isn’t an option for us right now.  To help with this, we’ve decided to implement at-home date nights.  We still plan to go out at least once a quarter, but the rest of our date nights will be at home once our kids are in bed.

We had our first official at-home date night last weekend and it was really nice.  We had some much needed time to ourselves and we didn’t have to spend a dime.  It was a win-win!  If you are looking to invest in your own marriage and save money by trying some at-home date nights, I have 5 tips that I hope will make them a success.

1.  Schedule it in advance and guard it

You are more likely to forget or “get busy” if you don’t pick an actual date and add it to your calendar.  Treat it as any other event outside of your home that you would attend, so don’t be tempted to cancel it unless an emergency arises.  As it gets closer, talk it up!  This will help you both get excited about it and ensure your spouse hasn’t forgotten.  We are all human, right?  🙂

2.  Decide what you might do in advance

After you schedule your date night, you might want to go ahead and decide what you’d like to do and delegate the prep work.  If you hold off on this, you might be scrambling at the last minute trying to pick a movie or making something to eat for dessert.  You don’t want to be “late” for date night because of poor planning.  You can certainly be spontaneous, but a little prep work doesn’t hurt either.  Click HERE for some fun ideas if you need some inspiration.

3.  Plan an easy meal

There is nothing worse than slaving away in the kitchen before a date.  And who wants to clean up all that mess when you are ready to get your date started?  Make something easy or eat leftovers so that you can straighten up your kitchen and/or load the dishwasher relatively quickly.  If you were hoping to made food part of your date, this will allow you to save more of your energy for your own meal rather than doing double duty.

4.  Give yourself a 30 min. window to unwind

This will help you unwind for a few minutes and transition from parent-mode to spouse-mode.  This also gives you some time to make sure your kids are settled and down for the night {hopefully}.  You might even consider putting your kids to be 15-30 mins. earlier than normal if you think that would help.

5.  Close laptops and silence all devices

This can be a hard one because we are so used to technology being at our fingertips.  We almost feel weird without it!  When you are tempted to pull them out to “check one thing on Google,” say NO!  This is your time to slow down and enjoy being with your spouse…and to TALK with each other.  If you are like us, significant conversation can be tough to come by, so don’t miss out on a great opportunity here.

We thoroughly enjoyed our at-home date night last weekend.  We kept it simple – I sipped on some coffee while we watched The Help.  And did I mention I was in my pajamas?  The movie was phenomenal {as was the book} and it sparked some really great conversation between Kev and I.  Now, we just need to schedule our next one!

Do any of you have at-home date nights?