Here are 5 easy date night ideas, because we know dating your spouse can be a challenge! Finding time for a date can be tricky amid the sea of kids, appointments, chores, and work. Having dates on a budget adds another level of planning. All in all, finding time, energy, and money to put into building your relationship with your spouse can seem overwhelming! Often, quality time together can get put on the back burner because so many other things (and so many little people!) require your attention. It can be easy to fall into a pattern of discussing that “someday” date that surely will make up for lack of conversation as you both fall exhausted into bed at night.
My husband and I struggled with this cycle for a long time after our daughter was born. We were constantly waiting for the perfect time when all the stars would align and we would be able to afford the time and money for a nice date. Thankfully, parenthood has made us wiser and more practical since then. Now, we have a nice rotation of “simple” date nights that we roll out when we need to feel close and connected. Here are a few of our favorites so you can start your own list!
1. Make your own sushi night
This one was especially fun because we had never made sushi before. We learned how to make sushi rice, roll our own rolls, and create various sauces. Now we spend even more time coming up with creative new rolls for each other and naming them! We have tried so many combinations, with different veggies, seafoods, eggs, and other proteins. When I am pregnant, we have to get especially creative, which adds another level of difficulty. So far I usually win more points for presentation, but my husband has created some amazingly yummy (although not visually appetizing) dishes! This date night idea definitely leaves you full.
2. “Travel” to a new country
We both love travelling, which is unfortunately expensive and a bit more challenging with small children. So sometimes we choose someplace we would like to go and make a date night out of it. I will find one or two simple recipes from that place, we’ll search Youtube for cultural music, and my husband will break out one of his many dictionaries or search the internet for some simple phrases we can learn in that language. We’ll pull out our atlas and one of our travel books and look at photos, planning our ideal vacation in that country for when we go. We end up learning a lot, trying some new food, and usually laughing over imagining each other attempting exotic cultural exhibitions!
3. Game night
This is an easy one, right? Wrong! It took us a while to find games that were actually fun for two people to play. But, we finally have some solid recommendations that we go through several times a month. Sushi Go! is a favorite of ours, especially because it doesn’t take too long to play (which is great if you are pregnant and get tired early!). We also love The Catholic Card Game, which wasn’t technically designed for two players, but we play with a ghost third player to make it more interesting. And as a tribute to my grandmother, we play cribbage, which I have loved since I was seven years old. Yes, I do have an old soul.
4. Old-fashioned movie night
Who doesn’t love a classic movie date? We keep a running list of movies we’ve heard of but haven’t seen yet, and every so often we pick one out, pop some popcorn, and cuddle up on the sofa. Very often we end up changing movies three or four times before we find one that we actually like, even with our planning. And, yes, I more often than not fall asleep on my husband’s shoulder before the end of the movie. But isn’t that just part of the charm?
5. Focus on romance
Sometimes you just want to feel like your spouse is romancing you, so every now and then we do just that. It might be giving each other foot massages with a lotion that smells nice, or it could be turning down the lights and slow dancing to our wedding song. Other times we will get dressed up as if we are going out and just enjoy dinner at our kitchen table (all the fancy without the need for high heels – yes please!). My favorite is when we have a fancy drink by candlelight and pull up a list of questions to get to know your partner better.