Date Your Spouse Without Ever Leaving The House

With Valentine's around the corner, my husband and I have been discussing how we want to celebrate it. We rarely go out but when we do my parent's babysit for us. They are both CPA's though so we have no babysitter January through mid April as they are super busy and have very little free time. Luckily, our church has date night a few times a year and it is very cheap babysitting so we are going that route this year as one is scheduled for February. This whole topic got me to thinking though about our date within our house we have every now and then. We have been slacking lately but I'm hoping to get us back on track soon.

Once our son goes to bed, we have our own frugal date at home. Our original goal was to do this once a week but I think 2-3 times a month is a better goal. So, what do we do on our dates? Here are a few of our past dates:

Movie & Popcorn: It seems so basic but it is rare that we watch a movie and even more rare if we are in the same room watching it at the same time. Thanks to Redbox, we are able to watch movies for $1 or less (free codes can often be found). I make popcorn and we snuggle on the couch to watch the movie without the distraction of a child.

Games: We are huge game fans and really miss the long nights we used to spend with friends playing games. We've found a few two person games though and have a blast playing together. Our current favorite game is Sequence.

Reading: Reading is something we both enjoy but it is rare that we take much time to read these days. We sit together in bed and enjoy our books. It doesn't exactly make for great conversation but part of the concept of date night is simply being together.

Dessert: Those of you with children will know how hard it is to eat an entire dessert by yourself. Children always want their fair share (or more). Sometimes I will save dessert until after our son's bedtime so we can enjoy a treat together. It isn't usually anything fancy, more along the lines of banana splits and root beer floats. The joy of eating without little hands helping themselves is wonderful though.

Do you have any other ideas for a date within your house? It is a wonderful, and very frugal, way to reconnect with your spouse and I encourage you to try it this week.