My husband, Daniel, and I have really gotten out of touch with date night. Typical as it might sound but after we were finally blessed with our little boy we just had hit and miss date nights and we mostly just do fun family nights now. Before both of our littles came we had many years alone and we had some super fun and creative date nights together. So we have decided that now is the time to take date night back. π Even if it means at home for now by putting the kids to bed early. Cross our fingers our plan works because I think kids know when they are being put down early. π
About five years ago I wrote up date night ideas for the whole alphabet. I thought it’d be a fun blog post and well five years later and I think it’s finally time to share with the world my ideas. wanted to share the ideas how I first planned them, so you can adjust as needed for your personal liking.
A-Z Date Night Ideas
A- Affirmations– Talk about some things that are hard for each of you or ways that you feel like you are being hard on yourself. Then each of you create an affirmation to help you work on that. Being open and honest and sharing your heart with one another is a special way you become closer to each other. You could do this over dinner.
“Affirmations are positive statements that can help you to challenge and overcome self-sabotaging and negative thoughts.”
B- Bake off– Each of you bake the others favorite treat! Then snuggle up on the couch and enjoy them together.
C- Care Packages- Create a care package for a loved one near or far! Maybe some one who could use a pick me up, someone who lives alone, or just to brighten someone’s day!
D- Date me- I don’t know about you but reminiscing on the old days of dating with Daniel is so fun to do! We love to pretend like we are back in those blissful simple days! Recreate one of your favorite dates. Have your husband come pick you up at your door and go from there. π
E- Explore- One of our favorite things to do is explore new places! We love to find a small town or big city and go exploring on a Saturday afternoon. It’s thrilling and you never know what hidden gems you’ll find, maybe even in your very own back yard.
F- Finger Painting- Make or purchase finger paints and create a masterpiece! You could even do editable finger paints! I’ll let you take it from there. π
G-Giggle- Do something to make you laugh! It could be renting a funny movie, watching silly videos online, doing something crazy and out of your comfort zone, or hey maybe even check out a clean comedy club.
H- Hot! Hot! Hot! How about a night of hot tubbing together? Don’t have a hot tub, how about a hot bath or shower.
I-Ice Cream Night- Make homemade ice cream together! Or make ice cream sundaes! One thing I did in my early teen years, with my church youth group, was making ice cream sculptures! I still remember doing it all these years later and having lots of fun. You each get your own gallon of vanilla ice cream and sculpt away at the block. You’ll probably want hot chocolate after it’s over. π
J- Join- Join another couple for a night out and have some fun interaction with friends! *During the pandemic, you could do a zoom date together. Play a game, have a talent show, or just chat while eating dessert.
K- Kindness- Plan to do random acts of kindness together for other people you know or that live in your community! Pick up trash, donate clothing, work at a soup kitchen, or make some treats.
L- Love- Take the night to reminisce over the great memories you have together! Write each other love notes expressing your love and gratitude for one another.
M- Mountains- Head to the mountains for a romantic picnic and some gorgeous scenery!
N- Night in- Build a fort, make popcorn, play games or watch a movie, tell each other stories, and have a sleepover in your living room! In our early years of marriage we made a real tp in our living room and would sit in it and watch movies. We also loved to move our mattress in to the living room for a sleepover on Christmas Eve night.
O- Out- Get out of the house! That’s it. Go do whatever you want together but the goal is to make memories together outside your house. Go ice skating, out to dinner, walk the streets of your town, go for a drive, do a scavenger hunt at your mall, get dessert.. Anything! Just go out together!
P- Postage- have a postage date. Write one another love letters and put them in the mail for the other to receive! You could even put together a small gift to mail as well. Because I mean come on? Who doesn’t love to get a fun surprise in the mail?
Q- Quarters- Spend an hour going out and putting quarters in gum ball machines or kids rides in malls. Don’t want to hit up the mall, just leave quarters around random places as a fun surprise for those who find them.
R- Romantic- Go stargazing, eat at a fancy restaurant, recreate one of your first dates, share a candlelit dinner at home, or learn some new massage techniques and give one another massages.
S-Sacrifice- In marriage there are a lot of opportunities to sacrifice so that your spouse feels loved. It’s a special thing you get to do. Take turns thinking of an activity and do something you don’t particularly love but you know your spouse does!
T- Travel- Daniel and I have had a lot of fun “traveling” to different countries and learning about the cultures and things that are unique about that country. For dinner we eat the food from that place. After which we then learn interesting facts about the place we are “visiting, listen to music from there, or we’ve even learned a dance. You may not have enough money to travel the world but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun from your own home exploring the world we live in!
U- Umbrella date- Get on your rain boots, grab your umbrella (and your date of course) and head out in the rain for a stroll hand in hand. The rain is so calming and I just love it! Maybe it has to do with growing up in Seattle but there is something refreshing about listening to the rain fall and the smell that comes after a fresh shower.
V- Victory- How about watching or playing a sport together. For dinner or a snack you could pick some fan favorite foods to enjoy.
W- Water fight- Head to the pool, play in the sprinklers, have a squirt gun fight! Just get wet.
X- eXtra- Put aside some extra money to go on a more expensive date together! Get creative and make it happen. Even if it takes all year to save up for it, it’ll be so fun and even more worth the wait after the hard work you put in to make it happen.
Y- You- Spend two different nights celebrating both of you! Each of you can create a little special night to celebrate who the other person is! π
Z- Ziploc- Buy some ziploc bags and fill them with memories you have through out the year. Then you can make them into something special by the end of the year. You’ll have a great time looking back at the wonderful year you shared dating your spouse.
Have fun with these! Make them personal and don’t put too much pressure on yourself as you plan but make the goal to just have some fun together. About two dates per month with a couple months having 3 dates and you have yourself a full year of date night ideas to enjoy.
Share with me in the comments when you do a fun date night from my list! I would love to hear!