Confession: With the exception of grandparents, Goose and I have only had one date in our entire marriage where we hired a babysitter. One.
Why? Well quite frankly we never really considered it a necessary expense. Instead of dinner and movie, we have often found other ways to spend time together on a regular basis so that the traditional date night almost seems unnecessary.
There, I said it: Traditional date nights are not always necessary. Now I’m sure some marriage counselor is going to come after me with some long disagreement, but my point is this–you can find lots of things to do with your husband to help strengthen your marriage without going on the traditional date or hiring a babysitter. Not to mention, it’s a lot cheaper too! No, in my opinion, you can have a great date night or great date day when you have three keys in common.
3 Keys of a Good Date Night
- Good Company
- Good Communication
- Good Connections
Cover these 3 and you have a great date night no matter where you are or what you spend so here are 20 date night ideas sure to rack up all three.
20 Date Night (or Day) Ideas That Don’t Require a Babysitter
- Do a Bible study together or read a marriage building book together while the kids are having their Sunday afternoon nap or after they are tucked in for the night.
- Go for a bike ride around the neighborhood or a trail. Have the kids bike a little ahead of you or hang out in a cart behind you so you two have time to chat as you ride side-by-side.
- Hand a walkie-talkie to the oldest and go for a few walks around the block together.
- Snuggle up and watch a good flick on the TV after the kids are asleep.
- Weed the garden together while the kids are playing in the yard.
- Get two mugs of your favorite hot drink and go sit on the back porch for a relaxing chat.
- Sit a blanket on the ground in your backyard after the kids are asleep and lay down for some romantic star gazing.
- Play a favorite board or wii game after the kids are in bed.
- Read a book together (nothing serious–something fun)…one chapter a night while snuggled under the covers.
- Do a workout video together before the kids wake up.
- Make a special dessert to enjoy together after the kids go to sleep.
- Eat breakfast together before the kids wake up.
- Play strip poker in your bedroom. 😉
- Give each other a massage after the lights go out.
- Take a bath or shower together being sure to lock the door.
- Learn to dance with instructional dancing DVDs from the local library.
- Build, paint, bake, or make something together.
- Sit at the dining room table and make your bucket list together while the kids play in their room.
- Cuddle up by the fireplace after the kids hit the hay.
- Make it a taste-test night. What you taste-test could be up to you–flavors of cheese, brands of root beer, types of chocolate….
What are your favorite stay-at-home date night ideas or marriage builders?
Got some goodies? Share them in the comments!
Take it to the next level with these resources:
- 40 Home Date Night Ideas for Valentine’s Day or Any Day
- Intentional Marriage by Crystal Brothers
- The Irresistable Husband by Jason Gratehouse
- My Hubby Lovin’ Pinterest Board which includes even more date night ideas, relationship builders and more.
This post is the 5th of 12 in the 144 Plan to a Memorable Marriage. To learn more about the 144 Plan or catch up on a missed post, check out the complete 144 Plan Training Log.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for her; (Ephesians 5:25)
Great ideas Kathy! My husband and I rarely hire a babysitter either. But we need to get back into the groove of spending some quality time together. You’ve given me some great ideas to get started with. 🙂
Debbie @ One Little Project
I love these ideas and your attitude towards dates. We also don’t have a lot of “out” dates. Most of them consist of getting a coffee and going for a drive. We have done this with children too. We put them in their jammies and go for a drive after bedtime so they can sleep while we chat.
Another couple of non-babysitter date nights that we do is play video games together and watch funny youtube videos or even watch documentaries together (they are great conversation starters).
Lol. I love it! That’s a great idea. We sort of used that on our vacation this summer. We quickly learned why many families choose to travel at night and sleep during the day while traveling. Ha! You can talk to your hubby in peace and there are no bickering children in the background tired from a long drive. 😉
Those are fun. We used to play Wii quite often together. Maybe we should get back to that. And YouTube–definitely. So fun.
Good deal! Have fun hanging out again! 😉
Great ideas. It’s got me brainstorming for next weekend: in-house date night!
Yeah! So fun. Someone asked yesterday what my hubby and I did for Valentine’s day. When I replied that we stayed home because I hate fighting the restaurant crowds on Valentine’s they were shocked. But you know, I wouldn’t have it any other way. We had so much fun just hanging out on the couch together that I wouldn’t have traded it for anything. Have fun on your date this week!
We’ve got into a bit of a rut with our date nights. Thanks for the ideas here, Kathy.
Thanks for sharing at Essential Fridays.
Blessings
Mel from Essential Thing Devotions
Featuring you at Family Fun Friday! http://www.happyandblessedhome.com/2014/02/family-fun-friday-week-58-100-date-night-ideas Thanks for all the great ideas!
Monica
Fabulous Monica! Thank you!