Ladies (and maybe a gent or two reading in my space…),

My lover and I as captured by Snap Life Photography.

I can’t tell you how important date night has been for our family. There were a couple of years between babies 1 & 2 (twins) and baby 3 where I’m pretty sure it’s a sheer miracle our marriage survived. We were constantly in survival mode and ready to sleep at the drop of a hat. We treated each other poorly and rarely had a conversation involving anything more than when a child was last changed or fed.

It was rough.

But here’s a secret I wish I had learned a little earlier: valuing your marriage over your children is actually the biggest gift you can give you children. It provides such security for our babies to know that we will lay down our lives for our spouse.

So date night… it’s important. But it doesn’t have to be expensive or even involve leaving your house. And even leaving your house doesn’t have to involve paying a babysitter: we actually swap sitting with another couple after the kids are in bed. It’s no extra work for me (besides driving) and I get to binge watch or craft without the burden of thinking about the other things I should be doing 😉

Let me help you brainstorm some good night options.

Easy Date Nights at Home

• Trampoline (or yard or front porch) Star Gazing.  There’s a Google Sky App so you can know what you’re looking at.
• Play a card game.  Black Jack counts. Extra credit for if you decide to play a strip version.  Just saying. :-p
• Play a board game. Don’t throw Stratego at your husband.  In fact, avoid strategy games.  Not that I would know anything about this.  No, I’m so above throwing board games.
• Make dessert together.  Try this recipe for Flourless Molten Lava Cakes for Two.  Besides, nothing makes a husband look sexier than seeing him load the dishwasher. Did I say that out loud?
• Popcorn and Binge Watching. You know that show you both love?  Yeah, pull it up on Netflix or Amazon Prime or check out a season from the library.  Cuddle up and watch it.
• Build one another up night. Pull out the Legos or Megablocks.  Build stuff.  But also spend time building one another up.  For each piece built, say something you’re grateful for in your spouse.

Inexpensive Date Nights Out (under $25)

• Coffee Shop. Our favorite haunt is Due South because it’s close.  But Tandem, or Methodical, or the Village Grind are super amazing too.  We usually bring Scrabble or Othello as well.
• Bowling.  Peachtree Lanes in Greer is super cheap in the evening, but I’m sure the others are too!  This really gets the sillies going in our marriage.  We’re both super competitive and basically evenly matched. Sometimes.  As long as I put a tape a banana peal on the bottom of his shoe (shh… don’t tell him)
• Ice Cream. It doesn’t really matter where you go, as long as there is chocolate, right?
• Target or Grocery or Kohl’s Run. Sometimes we go out of necessity and sometimes just to wander.  You’ll find us planning a yummy meal, or trying on clothes, or trying to convince him to buy Darth Vader zip up jammies, or laughing about that rhinoceros that I want to put on the mantle and he thinks is silly.  It’s the conversation and the hand holding that makes it special.
• Panera or Atlanta Bread. Super cheap and yummy meal with a side helping of conversation.

Also, as I’m writing this my husband is planning to name a Hissing Cockroach after me in the Bronx Zoo for Valentines Day.  Um, so feel free to unashamedly forward this post to your husband in case he has a hard head and needs a little direction toward romance.

And, no, hard headed husband reading this, it is never a good idea to name a cockroach after your love.  Even if a cockroach can survive a nuclear blast.