Spend time together . . . just the two of you. Yep, all the relationship experts say this is important. But sometimes when you have small children, it just isn’t all that easy. You have to dedicate time, call on family for help or hire a sitter and then pay said sitter.
Dan and I love going out on date nights. We love the spending the time together but truth be told, we get out on a date night once a month . . . maybe. Our main hitch is that when we have a sitter (usually family), there is another event to attend and those kind of things tend to fill the schedule taking a priority over time alone.
But then I saw an idea for a Date Night Jar and my wheels started spinning. The original idea comes from Sarah at Taylor Design Studio. She was throwing a bridal shower and had the guests write date night ideas on the craft sticks. (Seriously, if you haven’t headed over to like her Facebook page, you’ve got to do it. She is an interior designer with great little tips and ideas.)
And while date nights out are important, sometimes when you have kids, date nights at home are simply more feasible. And that is where this idea comes in. Here are 30 ideas for Date Nights “At Home.” Try choosing one date night idea each week. Most require no forethought or effort. But some may require a quick run to the store.The point? Be intentional. Relationships don’t improve without attention. (<-tweet this) Spending deliberate time together even if at home after the kids are in bed can be a great blessing to your marriage. Time spent together, whether talking, sharing, playing or laughing is what we’re after.
Date Nights “At Home”
1. Play a Board Game
2. Video Record the Story of How You Met & Fell in Love
3. Cook a Late Night Dinner Together
4. Rent a Red Box Movie
5. Write a Prayer List & Pray Together
6. Make Smoothies or Milkshakes
7. Share 5 Goals Over a Late Night Snack
8. Do a Puzzle Together
9. Play a Card Game
10. Have a Chip & Dip Night – Add Conversation
11. Set up a Practical Joke for the Kids
12. Make Calzones Together
13. Give Each Other a Foot Rub
14. Play a Game with High Stakes – Make a Bet!
15. Record Each Other Sharing a Recent Memory
16. Tackle a FUN Project
17. Write a Gratitude List Together
18. Have an Ice Cream Sundae Night
19. Play a Video Game Together
20. Search for Funny YouTube Videos
21. Grab Take Out & Eat By Candlelight
22. Give Each Other a Back Rub
23. Share Where You Want to be in 5 or 10 Years.
24. Play a Prank on Someone
25. Set up a Scavenger Hunt for the Kids
26. Watch a Home Video Together
27. Write a Story Together – Mad Libs Style
28. Make a Dessert Together
29. Read Something Together
30. Write Your Bucket List and Share
Have fun! What Ideas Would You Add?
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My name is Kristen. I'm a former Wedding & Event Planner blogging about fun ways to celebrate each and every day and the special occasions of life. Here you'll find inspiration for family fun, children's activities, party planning and a faith-filled life. 
Okay, this is adorable! I love this idea! Especially since I have little kids and don’t get to go “out” on dates very often. These are some wonderful ideas that sound like fun! Thanks for sharing!
~Jen @ Yummy-Healthy-Easy
http://www.yummyhealthyeasy.blogspot.com
Thanks Jen! Sounds like we’re in the same boat. Have some great date nights “at home!” 🙂
Thank you Kristen. I pinned this a while back on my “Art of Giving” Board. A good friend of mine and her husband have just found out that the adoption process, unfortunately, did not go through. They’ve been waiting for 4 years. I will be seeing her tomorrow and I new right away that this is what I wanted to do for her and her husband. Thank you again for making this available for a need such as this!
Oh Lorraine, how sad for your friends. And how thoughtful for you to love on them with a little gift for their relationship. I’m so glad to be a small part of it. Thank you!
This is a great idea. I consider it similar to having a menu plan. Rather than spending our free time figuring out what to eat, or what to do for date time once the kids are in bed, have a plan, a “menu” from which to choose so you spend more time doing rather than choosing!
That is a really good way to look at it. Thanks for sharing, Kim!
Awesome suggestion! I’m going to pin this to come back to and create at another time.
So glad you liked it, Lisa. Thanks for pinning. 🙂
This is a great idea! My husband and I make it a point to have “date night” every Friday. It’s usually at home since we have 6 kids, and usually we just end up watching a movie. Thanks for more ideas.
That’s great that you do it so regularly, Sarah. Time together is so important and boy, with six kids, I bet you are super busy. Have fun on your date nights!
This is such a GREAT idea! I loved it, can’t wait to put it together and have Date night! 🙂 Thank you so much!
Is there anyway you could post the label you used?
Hi Jessica, I’m sorry – I used my Silhouette Cameo to make it, so the file won’t work without their software. But then beyond that, my computer automatically rebooted with the unsaved file still open and I lost it! (No Auto Recovery in their software.)
I can tell you that I used Janda Stylish Script (from fonts101.com) for the fancy writing and a standard font for “At Home.” Wish I could share the printable.
rearrange a room of the house together! or tackle a cluttered, but reasonable part of the house together and clean in out (kitchen cupboards, hall closet, etc.). me and my boyfriend both like cleaning though, so that seems fun to us haha
That is too funny, Jennifer. I love to rearrange and organize but if I had Dan help me with it, he would want to throw out way too much! Thanks for the idea!
When our kids were little, we would have a junk food night. We would go to the store and each buy several of our favorite treats. We would rent a movie, come home, and put the kids to bed. Then we would pile a bunch of blankets and pillows onto the futon and watch our movie. Sometimes we would end up sleeping there 🙂
Paula, I love the idea of Junk Food Night! This is a great idea.
Other ideas
-On a cool night, sit outside together (bring the baby monitor)and drink hot chocolate while snuggled together under a blanket or quilt.
-rent or buy a tv series or movie that you remember from childhood to watch together.
-look through old pictures and reminisce
-Bake and decorate cookies together.
More great ideas, Paula! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
My hubby and I have date night ofter here at home but its always the same thing movie while we lay in bed… i want new things to do so i am making this today!!!! so excited!!!! thank you so much for the idea!
We have five kids and no privacy in our 1000 square foot house – and also no date nights. I love this idea! We DO have a greenbelt outside our house though that I intend to use as an idea. Either hide and seek at night, or maybe just a stoll, or a place to um… find each other. Thank you so much for these ideas!
How about a Nerf gun fight?
That would be fun!!
Look at your wedding pictures and talk about the behind the scenes things the other person missed! We love to look at our son’s baby pictures and fill in the baby book too!
Allison, what a nice idea!!
I love this idea!! I’m doing one for my husband and I and one for a Christmas gift =) Do you have a printoff for the “Date Nights at Home” on the front I could use?? Thanks!
Hi Jodie, I’m sorry I don’t have the printable. I used my Silhouette Cameo to make it, so the file won’t work without their software. But then beyond that, my computer automatically rebooted with the unsaved file still open and I lost it! (No Auto Recovery in their software.)
I can tell you that I used Janda Stylish Script (from fonts101.com) for the fancy writing and a standard font for “At Home.”
Hope your husband likes it!
Love it!
so cool, I can’t wait to make one of my own :0 Thanks for Sharing We have Hot Tub nights love those ~!!
Whip out some awful B movies, or the cheesy after school specials from when you were teenagers and kick it Mystery Science Theatre style, just making jokes about what you’re watching.
One of my favorite at home date nights was our mascarade ball for two. We dressed in our formal attire with masquerade masks i found for a dollar, put on a cd with our favorite songs and danced in our livingroom. Finished off with sparking
cider and brownies it was a great night.
Two words….flashlight tag!!
I pinned this a long time ago and finally made my own date night sticks today! Can’t wait to start using them with the hubby!
Love this!
Does this apply to single women who are just dating site regulars, too? It seems like a good go-to solution when you run out of ideas.
Give each other facials using items from the fridge… yogurt, mashed melon, cucumber slices, whatever you can think of:o)
This is a great idea! I’m going to do this when I get home from work tonight.
Thank you so much for these ideas! I’m including them as part of my Valentine’s gift. I ALWAYS love ideas where I don’t have to find a sitter. Thanks again!
Just saw this on Pinterest. Great Ideas! Gotta add dance in
your living room! One of my favorite spontaneous date nights!
BTW I am a graphic designer so I can make one of your little printables
for your jar if you would like. LMK chiquedesignstudios.com
Just saw this on Pinterest, and I love it! Even though we don’t have kids, money is tight, and we needed some ideas for date nights that cost little to nothing! Thanks so much for sharing!
This is a much better list than anything else I have found on the internet. Thanks for the ideas! I live in a truly, truly isolated place in Alaska where there are no doctors, only two restaurants and we are chased indoors by the cold north wind! During the winter, we definitely need things to do besides tv or all those awesome (but totally impossible for us) urban ideas people suggests… Thank you!
Strip Uno is a lot of [free] fun…every time you lose a hand, you lose a piece of clothing 😉
I’m making my jar right now!
This is a GREAT idea; thanks for sharing it with us!
Mackenzie 🙂
Hi, it’s my first time visiting your site. Thanks for all the brilliant ideas and I love ’em! Will come again. Cheers.
Thanks so much for stopping by, Vivien! Have a great day!
My husband and I have been married 12 years and have 3 littles ones ages 11, 4, and 1 and I can count on one hand how many actual dates we have had in those 12 years. :/ We always try to have in home dates. We usually play UNO ( I’m the UNO champ ) and watch a movie ha! Can’t wait to use some of your ideas, thanks for sharing!
I pinned this a while back but just got around to reading it. My husband and I do something similar to the date night jar. Here are some of my favorites…..
You tube karaoke- there are tons of songs on there!
Wine and cheese-we each choose a couple for the other to try.
Massage Night- we lay old blankets in the floor, light some candles, turn on soft music and take turns.
Thanks for sharing your ideas, Crystal! Youtube Karaoke would be hilarious!!
Great list. I was able to add a few more sticks to my collection!
I can’t seem to get the link to the Facebook page of Sarah at Taylor Design studios, I assume it has expired? Please could you put another one up, I would love to see her page 🙂
Thank you
Hi Rebecca, Thanks so much for letting me know. Since I switched from blogger to wordpress, some things are still a bit off. I just fixed it. Hope you’ll check out her page. 🙂
We had three children who all wanted a different book read at night. This jar would be so great to choose which book would be read. The kids could take a turn pulling a stick out each night. And if more choices are needed, put one book name on one side of the stick, another name on the other side. Thanks for sharing this idea….so many uses for this~
Debbie, I love your idea! Brilliant! 🙂
Just wanted you to know that you were featured in our ULTIMATE Date Idea Round-up today! http://www.thedatingdivas.com/romantic-rendezvous/101-date-idea-round-ups-the-ultimate-date-night-list/ Thanks for sharing your date ideas! XOXO, The Dating Divas
Awesome site you have here but I was curious if you knew of any message boards that cover the same topics discussed
here? I’d really love to be a part of group where I can get
comments from other knowledgeable individuals that share the same
interest. If you have any recommendations, please let me know.
Cheers!
This I such a wonderful idea! My fiancée and I don’t have any children, only two boy rabbits, but we were still in need of a date night-in idea. Thankfully, I found the link to this via Pinterest! I adapted the children-oriented ides (ie scavenger hunt for the kiddos) and added some others. Since I didn’t have popsicle sticks handy and I’m a scrapbooker/card maker, I printed them on cardstock, and then folded each 8 1/2″ line/ strip in half and paper clipped it. Thanks so much!
This is what I came up with:
Trivia Night
Dance Together in the Living Room
Play a Board Game
Video Record the Story of How You Met & Fell in Love
Cook a Late Night Dinner Together
Rent a Red Box Movie
Write a Prayer List & Pray Together
Make Smoothies or Milkshakes
Share Five Goals Over a Late Night Snack
Do a Puzzle Together
Play a Card Game
Have a Chip & Dip Night – Add Conversation
Make Calzones/Bread or Bagel Pizzas Together
Give Each Other a Foot Rub
Play a Game with High Stakes – Make a Bet!
Record Each Other Sharing a Recent Memory
Tackle a FUN Project
Write a Gratitude List Together
Have an Ice Cream Sundae Night
Play a Video Game Together
Search for Funny YouTube Videos
Grab Take Out & Eat By Candlelight
Give Each Other a Back Rub
Share Where You Want to be in Five or Ten Years.
Watch a Home Video Together
Write a Story Together – ‘Mad Libs’ Style
Nerf Gun Battle
Take a Walk Around the Development
Have a Picnic
Watch the Sunset Together
Create a Mixed Playlist/CD together
Share your favorite Childhood books, toys, and memories
Make a Dessert Together
Read Something Together
Write Your Bucket List and Share
Heather, I LOVE your list! Thanks so much for sharing it with us. Everyone needs a date night and I love how yours are paper-clipped together – more mystery!
Found your list from Pinterest. Love the Be Intentional sentiment–it’s fundamental! Been married a lotta years, but still planning on using this at DD’s bridal shower AND THEN with my ‘steady Eddie’ LOL! I would add 1-study the night sky together (there are great apps or websites about it), 2-draw or paint together, 3-read or write (nature or love) poetry, 4-learn something about Shakespearean plays or modern versions of them (actually fun to study/discuss together!) Thanks a bunch!
It sounds like most of it revolved around fatty food, where is that going to get you? What about dancing in the living room, yoga poses, or an at home boot camp? It would feel better to be active than eat junk food during late nights.
Lots of great ideas! Thanks for sharing. Here’s some we do, too.
~ Sit by the fire and chat – inside or outside fires depending on the weather.
~ Workout together
~ Look at photo albums together.
~ Talk about home improvements – dream and make a plan/timeline
Thanks so much for sharing your ideas, Amy! I especially love the dreaming/planning together. So fun and great to get on the same page. Thanks!
I finally sat down and did this (using large craft sticks…which my son is stealing as I type this…), since I didn’t have enough for all thirty, I wrote on both sides. One side has an H with a circle around it and the other has a T with a circle around it, for heads and tails. We’ll flip a coin to see which idea we do. 🙂
Wanting MORE IDEAS! 🙂
Oh Laura! I just love the idea of adding H & T!! Thanks so much for sharing. 🙂
Draw portraits of each other and see how silly, or good, they turn out!