15 Creative At Home Date Ideas
Connecting with your spouse is invaluable but sometimes it’s impossible to get out of the house together. These creative at home date ideas will help you keep your love going strong, even without conventional dates.
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One of the bummers about not living near family is that access to free babysitting isn’t as readily available as we wish it would be. It would be pretty awesome to be able to call up grandma and let her watch the boys for the evening. 😉 With three boys, paying a babysitter so Nate and I could go out for date nights would get pricey and, as a single income ministry family, we just can’t afford that. We are incredibly blessed by dear people in our lives who occasionally offer to watch our children for free and, because of that, we are able to go out on date nights about once a month. But, let’s be honest, once a month just isn’t enough connection time in a marriage.
Because we thinks it’s crazy important to connect on a more than once a month basis, Nate and I have become big fans of creative at home date ideas. I mean, you can only watch so much Netflix before you realize there must be more to living lives together.
Mamas, I know many of you feel me on a deep level so I wanted to share some of our favorite creative at home date ideas with you! Once you put your kiddos down for the evening you could pick from this list, draw one of these options out of a hat, or have your husband surprise you with one of these ideas. Your marriage will thank you!
Creative at Home Date Ideas
1. Have a cooking competition
There are tons of different ways to do a cooking competition. You could get the same ingredients and see what you can make simply using those ingredients. You could find three crazy ingredients and have both of you create your own dishes that uses them (Ala the show Chopped). You could get a complicated recipe and see which of you can execute it best. The options are endless and it is always a blast to be silly in the kitchen with the person you love!
2. Play a board game
I’m a pretty competitive person. I’ll own it. While we were dating Nate said we couldn’t play games anymore because my competitiveness stressed him out too much. Thankfully we’ve worked through that and I’ve toned down my competitive spirit and he’s grown a thicker skin and now we can enjoy playing games together again. After the boys are in bed it’s fun to whip out a board game and get our competitiveness on.
3. Do an art project or DIY
There are tons of fun art projects you could try to do with your spouse. Neither Nate or I are artistic but we’ve had fun doing painting pours, attempting to recreate famous artwork, and painting pottery. We have never created anything worth bragging about but we still have fun doing it! If art isn’t your thing, there are tons of other DIY projects out there for you to try! Maybe you guys want to refinish some furniture. Maybe you guys want to remodel your kitchen. These are all things that can count as date nights if you do them intentionally.
4. Eat a candlelit dinner
If you’re willing to wait until after you put your kids to bed it can be fun to have a nice candlelit dinner. Pretend you’re at a fancy restaurant on a fancy date and enjoy your meal without little people interrupting it every two seconds.
5. Work out together
I’ll admit it, Nate and I hate working out! We don’t hate being active but our version of active is going for walks, hikes, kayaking, bike riding, etc… None of which we can do during an at home date. BUT… For those of you who enjoy working out… DO IT! You’ll be boosting your endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. And happy people don’t shoot their husbands. (Five points if you can name that movie)
6. Go stargazing in the backyard
On a clear night it’s fun to go outside, sit in some lawn chairs with a glass of wine, and watch the stars. It’s wonderful the conversations you can have with someone outside in the darkness. Some of the most special talks we’ve had have been while we’ve been under the stars.
7. Date night boxes
Some times it’s too much to think about planning a creative at home date. Luckily there are services out there that can do it for you! Subscription boxes can be so much fun and can really help you and your spouse have a date neither of you would have planned on your own. Below are three great date-in-a-box subscriptions to look into!
Date Night in a Box // Unbox Love // Crated with Love
8. Give each other massages
Being a parent, simply living life, getting older… All these things add up to having all sorts of tension in your body. Take turns giving one another restorative massages… and, who know, it may lead to a little something else… 😉
9. Enjoy an at home wine or beer tasting
Nate and I love going to breweries and wineries but, once again, that involves leaving the house and finding someone to watch our children. Instead of going there, though, we think it’s fun to bring the experience to us! We get a few different bottles of wine, a few types of cider, or a few varieties of beer and have our own tasting right at home!
10. Create a themed dinner
Come up with a theme for your dinner (Italian, favorite kids food, Chinese, food you’ve never tried before, etc) and split it into courses. One of you takes the salad and dessert courses while the other one of you takes the appetizer and entree courses. Make your part of the meal that fits the theme and enjoy it all together.
11. Learn to dance
I love to dance but don’t necessarily know how so taking dance lessons with Nate has been fun in the past. Since we’re still kinda the worst at dancing, doing more learning and practice at home is fun during our at home date.
12. Play 20 Questions
Even if you’ve been married for pretty much forever there are still things I’m sure you don’t know about your spouse. Take turns asking one another questions and get to know one another better a little more with each question. You’ll be surprised by some of the answers, I’m sure!
13. Indoor camping
Set up an indoor camping area somewhere that’s not your bedroom. We don’t have a TV in our bedroom so it’s fun to indoor camp in the living room and stay up late watching TV. It’s basically like the best sleepover ever!
14. Plan your dream vacation
Talk about where it is you’d like to go and start planning it. I don’t mean imagine planning it – I mean REALLY plan it! Maybe this trip won’t happen for another ten years but figure out what you would want to do, how much it’s going to cost, and all the other things you need to know. Once you’ve got all that figured out, start saving! (Sidenote: Travel doesn’t have to be expensive! I wrote a post on how we travel on a single income budget that might help you out!)
15. Play strip poker
I mean, you’re married… It’s allowed.
Your Turn:
What do you like doing for creative at home dates?
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Belle Brita
Brita Long is the pink and sparkly personality behind the Christian feminist lifestyle blog, Belle Brita. On her blog and social media, you’ll discover more than authentic storytelling–she’s brutally honest about pursuing a fulfilling and joyful life even with Crohn’s Disease and depression.
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Nancy Burton Wolfe
Nancy is a freelance writer, editor and blogger who used to teach. She blogs about Living Center – finding balance in every day life, something she finds both elusive and fascinating. She also loves to make journals – to both share and write in. She is on Team Oxford Comma, served with creamy coffee and a butter cookie.
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