I've always heard...
Make sure you still date after you get married.
And we did. We would go out, maybe catch a movie or grab something to eat. If I'm being honest, our efforts were a bit lackluster. So this year for Christmas I decided to make a monthly date night gift. Christmas morning, Hubby opened the bag to find 12 sealed envelopes. In full disclosure (but don't tell him I noticed) while he was grateful, he was also a little disappointed that there wasn't actually something to enjoy in the moment. Basically, "Here's your gifts - but you don't actually get to know what they are." Maybe a good idea would be to have a date idea for the week following Christmas in addition to the 12 sealed envelopes.
It was so fun coming up with date ideas. I started in November. Looked up local events I thought we would enjoy, searched online for other ideas and then narrowed it down. Some date ideas were a small splurge while others didn't cost anything. Some dates took us out on the town, and others kept us at home (but without kids - that's important). We went to things we wouldn't have normally done. Searching for local events was a really great way to try some new things. Here's the 12 I choose:
Stand up Comedy Night
Love Match Game
Musical Theatre performance
Food Critic Night
YouTube Date
Concert in the Park
Diners, Drive-ins & Dives
Food Crawl
Scenic Drive
Taste the Rainbow Game
Chocolate Tour
Winter Bowling
The first day of each month Hubby opens the corresponding envelope. Let me just tell you - he's not an overly excitable person (but neither am I, so it works). A no-fuss, no-frills kind of guy. But I know he is loving our date nights because he remembers to open his envelope on the first day of each month, every time, without me reminding him. That says a lot.
TIP: If an activity had a specific date because I had purchased tickets to something, I wrote the date (and time if needed) on the outside of the envelope.
There are 16 coupons to choose from in the mega set or 14 sold individually.
This has been the most fun year having a date night already planned and on the calendar. Some months we have had to be flexible, which is fine. Some dates didn't go as planned, and that's life too. But knowing we are making time for each other is more meaningful than what we are doing.
My favorite date night so far?
YouTube Date - it was unexpectedly more fun than I anticipated. We learned about each other's interests, we were entertained and we laughed... a lot. It was totally a chill night and perfect. Hubby was skeptical but ended up loving it. 10/10 Would Recommend!
Hubby's favorite day night so far?
Love Match Date - this was a very intimate night away from the kids. Any night in a hotel without kiddos is always great. But to step it up even more, I planned some games that he was not expecting. (he kept the game cards to keep on hand) 10/10 Will Play Again!
Use these ideas to create your own date nights - or check out my Date Night Coupons in my shop! Either way...
Start dating again. You'll be glad you did!
*disclaimer. If anyone noticed on my image of coupons, we want to the raunchiest comedian. It was a total flop. So I guess, not every date will go as planned. 😁 isn’t that just life!
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