Date Night At Home Ideas

I love a good date night. My parents always had “date night” on Saturdays– we’d stay home with the babysitter and I think it really set a good example for couples to take the time to get out of the normal routine. Even though Mike and I are spending more time together than ever, we’re still making an effort to do fun things as dates. It’s actually kind of fun to do this because it’s forcing us to get creative and to think outside of the box. We pretty quickly established a routine where we do a “fancier” takeout on Friday night. But we’re trying to mix it up even more for the weekend and impromptu days. Some nights we both just want to go into different rooms to have some personal time, some nights we want to just sit on the couch and watch something easy, but we still like a date night a couple of nights a week.

COOKING

This is a big one for us because Mike LOVES to cook. Most nights Mike (happily) does all the cooking, but for a date night we would do it together. There are so many online resources right now to come up ideas for a meal. Maybe you pick a meal that you always get when you go out, or try to do something you tasted while on a past trip together… or pick something random or new. Definitely check to see what you have available in your pantry and fridge already though, ha! We pull up a Youtube channel on our TV to watch how to do specific skills, or to follow a meal in its entirety, and cook along with the show.

If you’re more competitive, maybe one of you cooks dessert and the other cooks dinner with an ingredient or two that the other person picked out.

Cooking can definitely become a chore, especially when you have no option but to cook, but this is a good way to mix it up and have some fun! (Don’t forget to set the table, dim the lights, and light some candles!)

DANCE

Maybe this is lame but I kind of think it’s romantic! I bought Mike a record player for Christmas and we love to put on a record and dance around the house. I used to hate to dance– I’m very…. stiff 😂 But over the years I’ve warmed up to the idea and now I enjoy it! We each have albums we like more than others so we kind of take turns playing what we like. Obviously you don’t need a record player– just pop a Spotify playlist on to your speaker or drop your iPhone into a bowl for a makeshift speaker.

SPA

Mike would definitely laugh at the idea of doing face masks…. even though he’d still “humor me” and secretly enjoy it. Pull out the lotions and potions you have hidden away in drawers and set up an at-home spa. This would be a really great one if your partner’s love language is physical touch too 😉

GAMES

So this is, unsurprisingly, my favorite form of date night. I love love love game nights. We have a good number of games on hand though we typically end up playing Scrabble. And there are tons of card games you can play with two people too (Speed, Gin, Rummy, etc.). Also as I’m typing this I’m remembering that I bought a Wii player last year that I never hooked up…. my parents never let us play video games and I was always jealous of friends who had a Wii; maybe this will have to be our next date night activity!!

One thing we plan on doing with other couples is to set up a virtual game of Catan and have a computer going with Zoom so we can play together. (We miss our double dates!)

MOVIE

One of the standard date nights. Movies. Definitely self-explanatory. Instead of just pulling up a movie on Netflix though, I vote to lean into the whole at home experience. Pop the popcorn, get all the blankets (I like bringing down heavy quilts or the full duvet), all the pillows. We don’t have a television in our room so one night we set up the laptop in bed to watch a movie together and it felt weirdly rebellious and fun 😂

THE MORNING DATE

While this is “date night” ideas, one thing to keep in mind is that you don’t have to be limited to just nights. Especially if you’re both working from home you might have more freedom to mix things up during the day than you would before. No commute in the morning? Do a luxurious breakfast-in-bed date. Miss your weekend brunches? Mimic that experience at home. Even though it isn’t necessarily romantic, I’ve been loving that Mike and I can have lunch together every day.