My husband, Ben, and I decided when we got married that we wanted to have a date night every week.  Life can get crazy, but we knew that if we created good habits early on we’d be able to hold onto those as life gets more hectic.  We know that being able to spend quality time together is very important in any relationship, from a couple that’s just started dating to one that has been married for 30 years.  We enjoy being able to get away from the world for a night and just be able to focus on each other.  For us, our date night is a time to recharge and reconnect.

In honor of Valentines Day today, I wanted to share a few of our favorite date night ideas.  Sometimes we stay in, sometimes we go out, but the important thing is being able to spend time together.

1.  Ice Skating – Most cities will have an ice skating rink, and most of those will have “free skate” hours where you can just come and skate.  Don’t worry about being good, it’s fun anyway!  One of my favorite moments skating with Ben was when I was falling and totally brought him down with me.  The next thing I knew we were a tangled mess on the ice.  It was a bit cold, but hilarious!

 

2.  Progressive Dinner – Sometimes I’m in the mood for everything for dinner all at the same time.  When you have a progressive dinner, you go to a new place for each part of the meal.  For example, one restaurant for appetizers, one for your main course, one for dessert, and one for drinks!  It’s really fun to be able to go all of the places you love all in one night.  Sometimes we do the cheap version of this, and go to take-out places so we can eat at home.

 

3.  Take a personal day, and spend it together – Now, I’m not condoning playing hooky, but sometimes we all need to take a personal day.  Why not take a day with your special someone?  Make sure that it really is a day off.  Sleep in, hang out in your pajamas, watch your favorite movies, and cuddle!  No matter what, don’t do productive things like chores.  Adults need days like this too!

 

4.  Go dancing – Find your local salsa dancing club and join!  When we lived in Michigan, we found that there is a group in our town that hosts basic classes and then hours of salsa every other friday.  A friend invited us, and now there is a whole group of us that goes.  It’s a blast being able to learn together, and laugh pretty hard at our moments of failure.

 

5.  Game night – This could be both physical games and video/computer games!  I don’t always like playing against Ben, so we’ve found a handful of games that are cooperative.  My favorite video game to play is “Little Big Planet” because I get to be a cute little person, dress up in fun costumes, and then we have to work together to get through the levels.   Or, you could have a tournament of two person card and board games!

 

6.  Explore a museum – I love learning new things, and museums are an awesome place to learn together.  This can also be a really inexpensive date option because many museums are free!

 

7.  Go star-gazing – I’ve found that if you find somewhere where you can see the stars, it’ll probably be pretty peaceful.  Take a drive out into the country, find a spot, and look up.  This is a great time for reflection and just enjoying each other’s company even if no words are exchanged.  Ben and I went out in search of a forecasted metro shower a couple of summers ago.  I think we only saw two shooting stars, but it is one of my favorite memories together.

 

8.  Create something together – I am the creative part of this duo, but even Ben has fun when we can create something together that we’ll both be able to share and enjoy.  Decorate mugs for each other, paint a picture together, or make something new for your home.  Pinterest can really come in handy!  It doesn’t have to be big or complicated, just created together.

 

9.  Stay in – This can sound really lame, but sometimes all I want to do is to sit on my couch in my yoga pants and cuddle.  Rent a movie, get take-out, and just chill.  Sometimes we find ourselves chatting for hours after the movie is over, sometimes we fall asleep while it’s still playing.  Either way, we got to be together for an entire evening without outside distractions.

 

10.  Go wine tasting – I love wine!  Missouri has some amazing wineries, and we spent the majority of one of the days of our first anniversary trip just doing wine tastings.  Most of the time they are super inexpensive, you’ll learn new things about wine, and get to drink wine.  What could be better?  Also, we’ve met some pretty cool people doing wine tastings.

 

11.  Do something your partner loves to do – We all have our own activities, and hobbies separate from our significant others, but sometimes it would be nice to enjoy both!  Each of you can pick something you enjoy doing, and do it together!  Ben has taken me to the batting cages before, while I have taken him to to see a musical

 

12.  Pick something at a local farm – This is something we love to do multiple times a year!  Each fruit has a season, and we will go out to get our favorites when they are in season.  We’ve found a really awesome orchard near us that has apples and peaches, and another where we always get our pumpkins in the fall.  There is something really awesome about picking your own fruit and then being able to enjoy it for days afterwards.

 

13.  Have a picnic – Obviously this is a great summer activity, but you can even have a picnic on the floor of your living room in the winter!  If you’re outside, you can throw a football around.  If you’re inside, you can turn off all the lights and light a bunch of candles.  There are a lot of ways to make this fun no matter the season.

 

14.  Go to a farmer’s market – We have a farmer’s market a few miles from our home in Shawnee and we love it!  In the summer and fall we’ll go and get ingredients for something we have on the menu for the week, and normally something for dessert too 🙂  I love being able to wander around, and I’ve even gotten to know some of the local vendors.

 

15.  Take a class – This is actually one we’ve yet to do but have always wanted to!  Take a cooking class and learn a new dish.  Take a massage class, and be better and helping work out each other’s kinks.  Both of these are on our list of dates to do in the near future!

Have any favorite date ideas?  Please share them in the comments!!