Ok you know it is bad when I couldn't really find a picture of just Jay and I without kids for this blog post. With little kids it is just plain hard to carve out time for your spouse. What I realize is when Jay is off on a weekend I often pick group social activities over just a date night between the two of us. And when we get babysitters we like to go out with friends. So in 2019 I am making more of a point to have a "date night" at home. Jay has a weird schedule so our date nights often fall on a Tuesday night and not a Saturday but that is what works for us. I am going over some of our favorite things to do for "date night at home".
So the reason date night at home works for us is because we have always been strict about kids going to bed before us and not letting them sleep in our beds. Monroe goes to bed at 7pm and Leo goes down at 8:30 so that leaves us from 8:30-10:30 to have some time for ourselves. This is also nice for me when Jay is working nights so I get a little break from it all to enjoy a glass of wine and catch up on the bachelor!
Our Favorite WINTER Date Night Ideas
1. Conversation Cards- I got one of these for Jay a few years ago and we have loved doing our "cards". We usually open a bottle of wine turn on the fire and start asking questions. We only end up doing a few because the conversation will just flow after.
2. Goals Night- So Jay and I are big "goals" people. Everyday when he's off work I ask him what his goals are for the day (aka what does he want to get done) and I tell him my goals (priorities). But a few years ago we sat down and did our 1 year, 5 year, and 10 year goals. Then compared them, it was fun to see goals we had in common and things we were totally on different pages about.
3. Blind Taste Test- Wine, beer, cheese, you name it you can do a blind taste test. Jay's family does this with wine every year on family vacation it has become one of our favorite traditions. This year we did it with beer, we went from opening a bud light to opening some craft beers. We had to vote on which beer was our favorite and which one we thought was most expensive.
4. Board Games- We are both competitive so we get really into games. But our favorite it good ole fashion monopoly.
5. Fondue Night- Most people like doing chocolate fondue but we are big cheese fondue people. We haven't done one yet but I have 2 fondue pots so I can't wait to try this out soon.
6. Vacation Bucket List- We recently did this, we each chose 3 places in the US we wanted to go as a couple and 3 places we wanted to take our families. It was fun to compare and then come up with a list. Our top place as a couple we want to go is New York City and our top place to take the kids (one day when they are older) is Washington DC.
7. Watch Wedding Video- We do this on our anniversary ever year it is like time travel. We love doing it.
8. Cribbage- Another game... shocker! Jay and I can get really into cribbage. This is our favorite thing to do on vacation when our kids go to bed. Since we are hotel bound we usually get a good game of cribbage going. If you don't know how to play cribbage it is super easy and we usually have to read the instructions each time we play.
9. Listen to a book or podcast together
10. Workout- Ok this might seem strange but we love going on runs and working out together. The other night we were seeing who could do a somersault and back bends best. It is silly but sometimes it is a fun alternative from just sitting and talking. In the summer there are way more fun sports and activities to do but in the winter we are limited so somersaults it is.
11. Tackle a DIY Project.... maybe chose something for the garage so he's more on board with it.
12. Documentary Date - Watch a documentary together, we are watching the R. Kelly one currently... holy smokes!
So there are just some fun ideas for date night for you to do during the winter. Maybe pick your top 1 or 2 and try and do them for Valentines Day. If you are parents to little kids it is hard to leave your little ones, but there is no reason your relationship has to suffer. So bring date night to your house.
Cheers,
Jess
RSS Feed