15 Date Night Ideas While at Home (for Couples with Kids)
Welcome back to Monday's blog post, friends! Today, we are going to explore some creative date night ideas while at home for married couples with kids! As parents of two young kids, (a 2 1/2 year old, and an almost 10 month old) my hubby and I have definitely had more date nights in than out. Although it's lovely cuddling up on the couch watching Hallmark movies and eating pizza, I think it’s time we all spice up our date night ideas! I hope you enjoy these date night options while at home, and let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
1. Puzzle party
You don’t have to have a reputation of being a “puzzle fanatic” for this date night to work! Putting puzzles together with your spouse can provide for a great sense of teamwork, reward, and fun once it’s all complete! The harder the puzzle, the better the experience!
Pro tip: Put your puzzle together on a big sheet of cardboard so you can slip it under the couch for safe keeping prior to finishing it!
2. Paint your own canvas
Buy two canvases, paint, paintbrushes, and either create a special painting for each other, or each recreate a beautiful painting of your choice! These paintings can go side by side above your bed, or showcased somewhere else in your home! Seeing these paintings displayed will remind you of that special night, conversations, moments, and all the fun you had doing it together!
3. Plan a vacation
Although a vacation may be months, or years down the line…grabbing a pen and paper, officially marking a date, and planning out a special trip to look forward to together is what dreams are made of! If you don’t have a vacation in the works, you can always plan the details of a day trip away together, just the two of you!
4. Game night
There’s nothing like adding a little bit of friendly competition to date night! Whether it’s a card game, board game, or something else…there’s an abundance of opportunity for flirty fun with game nights! Set up a bunch of your own guilty pleasure snacks, some nice music, and get your game on!
5. Dance party
I’ve always wanted to learn a hip hop dance routine with the hubs, haha! There are so many Youtube dance tutorials that you can learn from for some impressive moves and incredibly fun memories! Record your progress, and who knows, if you’re lucky…you may even have a DANCE BATTLE!?
6. Cooking together
As a stay at home mom, or moms in general, it can be so easy to feel like we are doing everything for everyone until we lay our head down at night. As much as I love cooking, sometimes cooking in the kitchen alone can feel isolating! Cooking dinner together is a fun way to mesh different flavors, accomplish something yummy, and enjoy your hard work with fork and knife in hand! (You can even recreate a restaurant quality dish from one of your favorite cooking shows!)
7. Chocolate fondue night
You don’t need a fondue machine to participate in this delicious treat, but you can still get the same mouth watering results! Melt the chocolate of your choice in the microwave, and cut up a nice assortment of fruit…(Bananas and strawberries with melted dark chocolate are my go to, but the possibilities are endless!) Dip the fruit with skewers, (or with forks if ain’t nobody got time for that) and enjoy!
8. Camp out in a different room in your house
As hardworking parents, we can naturally form such a mundane every night routine…but set up to spend the night in a different room in your house, and now things just got interesting! My plan would be to set up a tent with cozy blankets and pillows in the living room to cuddle up in, and set the mood for the feeling of a romantic date night away!
9. Picnic and movie
We all know there’s something cozy about cuddling up on a comfy couch with your spouse. However, changing it up to a picnic on the floor with a big soft blanket, pillows for extra comfort, and some delicious wine and cheese to pick from (I personally don’t drink alcohol, so I would substitute with a different drink of choice) really elevates the experience, and would set the night apart from the rest!
10. Adult coloring books
I don’t know about you, but I think the appeal of a movie and pizza is that sometimes after a long day of work you just want to unwind. Adult coloring books relieve stress, anxiety, give your adult brain a break, and be reminiscent of happy memories from childhood! For nights when you “might just not have it in you,” this makes for a fun and creative option! Play some calming music in the background, and get all cozy in your jammies. You can even have coloring competitions for “Who did it better?!”
11. Bookstore night
We all love a good bookstore date, so set the mood yourself in your own space at home! Play some light jazz, or music of your choice, dim the lights, light some soy scented candles, and provide magazines, or books to read together! For yummy drink options, and bookstore type aromas, you can try my delicious coffee recipes here! Take turns reading a page aloud from a devotional, thriller, or other book of your choice that you can experience and complete together!
12. Smores on the stove
As parents, we are often subject to having to stay inside at night due to sleeping children which can lead us to feeling trapped. Bringing an outdoor activity like smore making inside the house makes for such a special treat, and provides a feeling of escape! Open the windows for some fresh air, and light a “campfire” scented candle to go one step further and really set the mood!
14. Bucket list night
We all have desires and goals on our “bucket list!” These topics are often highly talked about as newlyweds, but as the married years start to pile up, it can be easy to forget to DREAM together! Take time to cuddle up with pen and paper in hand, and create a couple’s bucket list of things you’d like to accomplish together in the coming year. This will remind you both that you still have goals to accomplish with each other!
15. Recreate your first date
Depending on what your first date was, this may feel impossible to recreate at home, but you can always replicate the theme of your first date somehow for a bit of extra sentiment for where it all began!! If you struggle with how to do this, let me know in the comments below, and I will offer some ideas specific to recreating your first date!
I hope you've enjoyed reading my at home date night ideas! Let me know which at home date night idea was YOUR favorite, and if you have any other date night ideas to add, please add them in the comments below! I will be checking each of them out :) So, my lovely readers, I wish you a beautiful day and an incredible date night in!
Cool, Calm, and Collectedly Yours,
