How to Infuse New Life into Your Date Night

Date night with your spouse was tough enough before COVID, but now with COVID date nights have been pretty non-existent for many couples.

This is a problem, because dating is important. Our marriage relationship is the foundation of our family — we need to take good care of it.

I know it can be hard to think of creative things to do with hubby, so in this episode of the podcast I will share with you 10 date night ideas for out of the house and 20 date night ideas for at home.

I hope it inspires you!

P.S. The appetizer I couldn’t remember the name of in the episode was calamari. LOL!

For more inspiration, join me in my private A Life Designed community on Facebook.
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Also, I have created a free Cultivating Healthy Communication in Marriage Masterclass for you! This class is for you if you want to stop fighting with your husband and feel like you are on the same team. 

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to A Life Designed.
 
My name is Tina Haisman. I teach busy moms how to get everything done and still have time and energy for themselves. My passion is for helping women create more heart-to-heart connection with their husband and children so they can feel deeply fulfilled in those most important relationships.
 
The topic of today’s podcast is How to Infuse New Life Into Your Date Night
 
But before we get started I want to let you know I have created a free Communication in Marriage MasterClass for you. This class is for you if you have ever felt like you can’t get through to your husband. If you feel like your husband never listens to you. If you lose your cool during difficult conversations. If you’re tired of fighting with your husband.
 
In just 30 minutes, this class will help you lay the foundation for healthy communication in marriage and teach you how to handle difficult conversations so you can feel more connected and like you’re on the same team as your husband. Visit the link in the show notes to access it.
 
Also, I have a FREE private group on Facebook where you can come to get inspiration for your life. It’s called A Life Designed. It’s actually a happy place on facebook. I hope you’ll join us!
 
How to Infuse New Life Into Your Date Night!
 
Date night with your spouse was tough enough before COVID, but now with COVID date nights have been pretty non-existent for many couples.
 
I am a big advocate of date night. It’s important for a couple to continue to date each other and connect with one another and talk about something besides the business of running the family.
 
Back when my children were younger, my husband and I were really good at having a regular date night. We did them regularly. Almost every week.
 
But guess what. We did the same thing almost every time. Dinner and drinks.
 
While it’s lovely to get out of the house and let someone else cook and serve and clean up, the lack of creativity and planning in our dates took it’s toll.
 
It wasn’t until we experienced a marriage crisis that we learned about how we needed to work a little harder on our date nights – to make them more than just dinner and drinks.
 
Dates are important to couples, because they help us communicate better. They allow us some dedicated time to be alone. They show we are committed to our relationship. They create bonding experiences. They help relieve stress. And they can lead to increased intimacy both inside and outside the bedroom.
 
But, in order for all of that to happen, we have to be a little creative than dinner and drinks with our date night ideas.
 
I think we also need to be open to dates unfolding in ways that are out of the norm.
 
For example, one of the most significant dates in my mind for my husband and myself was one night back in approximately 2009. I wasn’t a great cook. I was starting to make the transition from lots of frozen meals to real home cooked meals.
 
Our kids were probably about 5 and 2. So, it was a pretty busy time of being a mom with little kids.
 
I was making Italian beef for the first time. At some point near the end of the cooking, the beef is supposed to shred. But it did not appear the beef I was making was going to shred anytime soon, and the dinner hour was nearly upon us.
 
I called my mom in a panic, thinking I had done something wrong. She said I didn’t do anything wrong, I just needed to let it cook longer. Well, this was going to be a problem. What were we going to have for dinner?
 
Paul called while he was on his way home from work, and I told him what was going on, exasperated about the dilemma.
 
He said, “Don’t you have a babysitter at the house with you right now?”
“Yes,” I said.
 
“Why don’t you ask her if she can stay longer, and you and I will go out to eat, and she can feed the kids?”
 
“Oh!” I thought. “O.K. I guess I can do that.”
 
Wow! I never would have thought of that!
 
So, the sitter agreed to stay longer and feed the kids, and Paul and I went out for a quick dinner. It wasn’t anywhere fancy. In fact it was just the local pub. But boy was it special in my heart.
 
It was special because it was unplanned. It was special because it was my husband’s idea. It was special because it was a break from the weekly dinner obligation.
 
It was special because it freed me from a problem I was having. It was special because … and this is important. It was out of the norm. It was not something we normally did – go out for dinner during the week. That was a privilege left for weekends.
 
But, my husband is a creative problem solver, and he saw this as a way to solve my problem.
 
It made such an impact on me that here I am talking about it to you almost a decade later. Crazy, huh?
 
One memorable time that we changed up our date was to meet for lunch on a weekday at a local casino. Taboo, right? It was so fun! Now, don’t get me wrong. We are NOT high rollers! We just play the penny and nickel games. But it’s fun!
 
Here are just a couple of ideas on how to shake things up:
 

1. You could have a breakfast or lunch date instead of a dinner date?
2. You could plan a date during the week instead of on the weekend!
3. You could work out together.
4. Maybe go for massages together.
5. What about a Brewery tour or wine tasting?
6. I heard of one couple who likes to go to open houses together just for inspiration and fun
7. Find something touristy to do in your town, like a museum.
8. Volunteer for your favorite charitable organization together.
9. Do something really wild and adventurous like indoor skydiving – maybe outdoor skydiving if you’re really adventurous.
10. If you love going out to eat together, try some different types of restaurants on your dates – try some foods you have never tried before. You could do a world tour and eat food from different cultures each time.

 
Having said all of that … I’d like to share that all of your dates do not have to be out of the house!!
 
Another memorable date night that I have with Paul was much more recently. We planned to go to dinner then bowling, but the bowling part didn’t work out timewise. So we phoned ahead to our house and told our children that we were coming home to finish our date at home.
 
We told them we would be in the basement and did not want to be disturbed. We grabbed a glass of wine and worked on a puzzle together. We had so much fun! He talked about that date for weeks afterward! It was so nice! No loud, noisy restaurant or bowling alley. Comfortable in our own home. It was wonderful!
 
I even framed the puzzle for him as a surprise a week or so later, so now we have that memory that will live on forever!
 
Now, I know with COVID we have all been at home more than we would prefer. So with that in mind, I thought I would share 20 at home date night ideas to help you liven things up a bit if they are feeling stale.

1. Cook something together or have a cooking competition.
2. Go stargazing out in your back yard – if it’s not the middle of winter, of course.
3. Go snowshoeing or cross country skiing in your neighborhood
4. Have a picnic in the back yard.
5. Go for a bike ride
6. Have a spa night and give each other massages
7. Look at old photos or videos from early in your relationship
8. Have a wine or beer tasting
9. Have a Casino night and play different card games.
10. Plan a meal with foods from different cultures and put the corresponding music on, too.
11. Speaking of music, you could put on some music from the time period when you were dating and have a dance party.
12. Have an old fashioned board game night or a video game night.
13. Work out together – make it a challenge.
14. Plan to get up early and watch the sunrise together with a nice cup of coffee.
15. Pretend you’re in a bed and breakfast and sleep in a different room in your house.
16. Have a karaoke competition
17. Take an online painting class
18. Have a joke telling contest
19. Take a bubble bath together
20. Plan some romantic events to happen in your bedroom – and that’s all I’m gonna say about that.

 
I’m sure you can come up with other ideas, as well!!
 
So, I hope I’ve inspired you in the love and dating department today! I encourage you, step out of the norm. And try something different and adventurous and watch your intimacy and connection increase.
 
If you could use a little help with this, reach out to me for a complimentary consultation so I can help you.
 
In the meantime. Remember! I have created a free Marriage Communication MasterClass for you. Just click on the link in the show notes to access it.
 
Don’t forget to join the Life Designed Community on Facebook!
 
Thank you! See you next week!