Date Night at Home
My husband and I recently celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary and throughout our marriage we have kept up with our date night habits. Is it every week? Absolutely not, our schedules are too hectic. Sometimes we have gone a few months (not recommended) and realized that we are long overdue, but I think it is one of the healthiest things to do for our relationship and our family.
That being said, when you have a large family it is hard to get away at times so our goal this year is to do one night out and one night in each month. Now we love dinner and Netflix as much as anyone, but sometimes we need something a bit different so this month I popped in a frozen pizza for the kids and they ate and happily went upstairs to watch a movie while we prepared dinner together. We had this recipe and some roasted vegetables and it was quite good. Add a little candlelight and a brownie topped with peppermint ice cream for dessert and we were all set for the next portion of the evening.
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipe/249633/chicken-breasts-with-mushroom-cream-sauce/
After dinner, Netflix was replaced by YouTube. We have used this for date night in various ways. Watching Christian comedians like Tim Hawkins or John Crist, having paint nights to bring out our inner Bob Ross, occasionally looking for directions on how to repair something around the house, but this time I had another idea...ballroom dancing. Todd is not much of a dancer but he is willing to try. It helps that there was no one there to watch and no money involved! So we tried a few basic steps like the fox trot and waltz and since our living room is not ballroom-sized we had to improvise a bit and were laughing so hard the kids had to come and see what was happening that they were missing out on. I call that a good date!
We also enjoy playing games. It ranges from good old rummy, to Othello, Pandemic, just about anything that works well with two-players. We got a few escape room games for Christmas, mainly because I wanted to try it without spending a chunk of change, and I think these are great for date night. We played this one with the family and it was a little harder with more people because you had to wait to look at the cards or book but we still enjoyed it. There are hint cards for when you get stuck and we needed a few of those, but overall I thought it was pretty well thought out.
https://www.amazon.com/Thames-Kosmos-Exit-Abandoned-Cabin/dp/B06WP2G52Z/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1547336080&sr=8-2&keywords=exit+the+game+abandoned+cabin
After dinner, Netflix was replaced by YouTube. We have used this for date night in various ways. Watching Christian comedians like Tim Hawkins or John Crist, having paint nights to bring out our inner Bob Ross, occasionally looking for directions on how to repair something around the house, but this time I had another idea...ballroom dancing. Todd is not much of a dancer but he is willing to try. It helps that there was no one there to watch and no money involved! So we tried a few basic steps like the fox trot and waltz and since our living room is not ballroom-sized we had to improvise a bit and were laughing so hard the kids had to come and see what was happening that they were missing out on. I call that a good date!
We also enjoy playing games. It ranges from good old rummy, to Othello, Pandemic, just about anything that works well with two-players. We got a few escape room games for Christmas, mainly because I wanted to try it without spending a chunk of change, and I think these are great for date night. We played this one with the family and it was a little harder with more people because you had to wait to look at the cards or book but we still enjoyed it. There are hint cards for when you get stuck and we needed a few of those, but overall I thought it was pretty well thought out.
https://www.amazon.com/Thames-Kosmos-Exit-Abandoned-Cabin/dp/B06WP2G52Z/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1547336080&sr=8-2&keywords=exit+the+game+abandoned+cabin
These are one-and-done games. You cannot reuse them as some of the contents will be used up and destroyed in the game but I think for the price it is good for an hour or two of fun if you enjoy solving puzzles and clues.
So if you guys have suggestions for at-home dates or games you enjoy, please leave it in the comments. I am always looking for new ideas.
https://www.amazon.com/Z-Man-Games-ZM7101-Pandemic/dp/B00A2HD40E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1547337007&sr=8-1&keywords=pandemic+game
https://www.amazon.com/Othello-Classic-Game-2-Player/dp/B01MXWTYLF/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1547337123&sr=8-1&keywords=othello+game
We love two player games for date night as well. We are loving T.I.M.E StorieStories right now. We also love Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective. I like Quiddler too. We recently started the Choose Your Own Adventure games called House of Danger which has been fun. We recently got Raptor but haven't played that one yet .I'm sure we have others too. If you guys ever want to borrow one, please let me know!
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