Treasure Your Sweetie with Ideas for Date Night

Patricia Morgan Relationship Building coupleship, fun, intimacy, Judy Arnall 0

Couple ready for date night ideas — “Love our kids but we also need OUR time!”

Date night keeps couples’ flames flickering, even sparking. Together, choose a date night that you can keep consistently or you risk letting it go by the wayside.

If you have children, hire a standing sitter for the night. Try to get a sitter who drives and pay the sitter well. If finances are a problem, join a babysitting co-op and trade. If separation anxiety is a problem, plan date nights at home when the children are asleep (see ideas below). Each partner takes a turn planning the date, executing, driving, and paying. The other partner is the guest. Then, the next week, switch roles. It’s more fun to keep your plans a secret until you are both in the car or the actual time of the date. Surprise is part of the fun! The planner should hire the sitter and feed the kids before you go out. Look your best, even for home dates. The only information the guest needs to know is what to wear and if he or she should eat before going out.

Try to plan an evening without friends, so that intimate subjects, if needed, can be addressed. Couples who bury critical conversations, in the long term, risk nothing to talk about and drifting apart. Difficult subjects require space and air time. Even if your partner did not quite nail the date night one week, be receptive and enjoy the evening as much as possible knowing that your partner put a lot of effort into making it special for you.

Here are some specific ideas for date night. Even though the ideas below are for Calgary and area, they are easily transferable to any city. If you have young children, check out the blog for information on how to start a Baby Sitting Co-op.

Date Night-Out Ideas

Live Theatre (High schools and smaller troupes have cheap or no cost nights)
A concert (Check out university and community bands)
Parks and reserves offer boating rentals
Go out for a coffee or a beer at the local pub
Movie in the park
Picnic anywhere
Dinner crawl – go to several restaurants for appetizer, salad, main and dessert.
Pub hopping downtown
Zoo, Museum, Library or Science Centre
Wine tasting events
Couple massage
Pottery painting
Classes
Friend’s house party
Go out for breakfast or meet for lunch
Comedy theatre, Pecha Kucha, or TEDx
Bike ride, either cycle or motorcycle
Drive-in or movie-in-the-park
Pick up take-out and watch the planes land at the airport
Go-carting or laser tag
Shakespeare or other plays “in the park”
Fitness: gym date, bowling, rock climbing, yoga, roller skating, golf, hiking, or simply running
Lecture (Check out libraries, universities, and bookstores)
Volunteer together such as canvassing, working at the food bank and places where you can talk and have fun
Window shop
Ride the City trains – bring a snack and have a train picnic

Date Night-In Ideas

Snuggle in bed with a movie and a picnic of wine, bread and cheese
Dinner and movie at home with a theme such as French night – have crepes and watch “La Chocolat”
Board or card game night
Dance
Bake cookies
Play video games
Read together in the bathtub, with candles, salts and wine
Grab a pillow and blanket and sleep in the car with the baby monitor on
Pick up books from the library and have a read-in around the fireplace
Sit around the fire-pit outside and make marshmallows or hot dogs
Relax in the hot tub
Be a kid again and use the trampoline (or just lie on it and watch the stars), swing set, or swimming pool.
Turn off all the lights and sit in the dark and watch the animal world outside.
Bring out photo albums or watch photos and videos on the big screen at home

Date Night-No Sitter-Available Ideas

Car ride or walk (kids will either fall asleep or be entertained by the DVD player you bring).
Go to places like Ikea, McDonalds, Airports and children’s hospitals. Grab a coffee and a bench and utilize the play places to keep your kids entertained where you can talk but keep an eye on the children.
Go to a book store and plunk the kids in the kids’ section with an assortment of books. Grab the in-house coffee and find a nearby seat.
Set the alarm early and have coffee on the porch and watch the sun come up together.
Take the kids to the playground and have a picnic for you two.
If your kids are school-aged, book two tables at a restaurant at least 10 yards apart. Sit your kids at one table, and you and your partner at another. Monitor them from afar. Pretend you are the Aunt and Uncle so you don’t worry about their behavior. This works even better with teens.
Treat them to an enticing kid movie with popcorn; then disappear, to your love haven bedroom.

Happy date night! Consider leaving some of the ideas you have for a great or unique date night!