Finding time to prioritize your marriage can be hard when you have little children so here are some of my favorite date ideas you can do right from you living room!
Why dating your spouse is important:
So, you're hear looking for date ideas and I have those for you but first I want to talk a little bit why dating your spouse even after having children is so important. A healthy home and healthy children start with a strong and healthy marriage. If you want what is best for them, you need to make your marriage a priority. When your children see you and your husband loving each other and serving each other it gives them peace and stability. So, in making your marriage a priority you are blessing your children too.
Don't feel like leaving them with a grandparent or babysitter for a few hours every once in a while, is hurting them or not worth the effort because it absolutely is worth every minute of it for them and for you.
This is just a brief overview of why this is important and if you are interested in hearing more go check out the Heaven in Your Home podcast by Francie Winslow because this is what her whole ministry is about. Now into the dates!
Free date ideas:
1) Game night
My husband and I love to play games together, lately we have been on a Yahtzee kick, but we have played lots of others too. We also love Uno, skip-bo, this jumbling tower gamer were playing to the right here, Stratego, I have also heard a lot of other couples recommend games like rummy, rummy cube. Another game we have played together if called Palace, if I can find the instructions, I'll link them because this is a prison card game, we used to play a lot in high school at the lunch table that is a lot of fun too.
2) Read something together
Some great ideas here include a devotional, a book on sex, Song of songs/Solomon, poetry, jokes from either the internet or a joke book, etc.
3) Go on a picnic
This one is pretty self-explanatory but pack up your lunch, dinner or even just some snacks and go to a park, we have the canal in our back yard so we can go there, or even in your own yard.
4) Ask each other questions
I don't mean "hi honey how was your day?" I mean deep questions, if you're like myself and are really bad at coming up with things like that here is a free guide: 136 Questions to Ask in a Relationship. If you are able to spend a couple bucks dear young married couple also has 3 really good question card decks you can get here, Girl defined also just released their questions in a card deck too if that is more your style which you can purchase Here.
5) Go to the Library
You can do either go to read books, pick out a book, or a lot of libraries have free classes and events that are fun to just do something different together. Our library frequent has things like classes with a master gardener or a handy man which could be fun, or those things interest you.
6) Go on a walk
My husband hates walking but I love it and sometimes I can talk him into going one with me and I always really enjoy it, they're even better if you can slow down and not rush and people watch, or really enjoy and take in God's creation.
7) Bake or cook something and then eat it
I love baking but it's also a lot of fun to do with your husband while your baby or toddler is napping or in bed for the night, and who doesn't love a warm cookie or fresh brownie straight from the oven. My husband prefers cooking, regardless both are really great ideas that don't require you to leave your home and you need to eat anyway why not make it a fun date.
8) Give each other massages
This is free and if you have no idea how to do a good job on this YouTube has lots of pg. videos on this. just look up a couple and try out what you learned, most of giving a good massage has to do with what your partner enjoys anyway.
9) Have Sex
Need I say more? Maybe try some new positions, and since this is a date take it extra slow, enjoy the fore play and exploring each others bodies to discover what each of you enjoys most (hint: this can change for a woman depending on a lot of things - pregnancy, breastfeeding, the part of her cycle she is in so it will be changing all the time, that's what makes it fun)
10) Candlelight dinner at home
I love to do this, there have been several times where I wanted to make it extra special so I put my toddler to bed a little early and set the table like we were paying $100 a plate and would plan a fancier dinner, other times I have set up our living room with all the candles, Christmas lights etc. and decorated out coffee table and set it for 2, put some romantic music on the T.V. sometimes picked a video with a fireplace as the background. This is also a great opportunity to do some makeup, do your hair, spray on some perfume, maybe shave your legs, get all dressed up as if you're going out and make it extra special in that way too. Over the years I have acquired some things to make this a little more upscale like cloth napkins and nicer dishes, but you don't have to spend any money or very much money on these things. some simple ways to elevate your table settings are those Dollar Tree chargers, thrift some nicer dishes if you don't have any and play with layers, don't be afraid to have your saucer or placemat on bottom, then your dinner plate, a salad plate and then either a soup bowl or your silverware wrapped in your napkin. If you really want to be extra, have your water glass and then another glass with some sparkling grape juice (or regular grape juice because we don't drink alcohol and my husband doesn't like sparkling) or wine in another glass or wine glass.
11) Listen to a podcast
Again, my favorite is the Heaven in Your Home Podcast, but I've also heard really great things about the Dear young married couple podcast, I linked it at the end for you if you want to check it out.
Inexpensive date ideas:
1) Roller blading or skating
We bought our own they're actually not that expensive and roller blade on our street because it's a side street that isn't too busy, were not very good but that makes it even more fun.
2) Lunch as a small local diner or coffee shop
I love eating at places like this, not just because out whole family of three can usually eat for $30 or less but also, I love to support small businesses. We have several places like this in our town and a couple of them are ran by Christians which makes them even more exciting to go into. Perks for if they take cash only because usually, they have even lower prices.
3) Go window shopping at your local small businesses
Window shopping is great because you can check out what you have around you to get to know it you might want to shop there in the future but it's also nice to have a few bucks on hand in case you find something you really love or need.
4) Make something together
My husband is very handy, and I have learned a thing or two from him too, the cost of this date will definitely depend on what you're building or creating but if can be pretty inexpensive, we built a shelf for next to out bed and that was only a couple bucks, but we have also built more expensive things like our raised garden beds. This may surprise some of you, but we have also done sewing projects together too, fixing clothes, making diaper inserts and things like that I even talked him into helping me sew a dress I was working on. Whatever your creative hobby, bring your spouse into it and do it together it can be so much fun.
5) Garden
I put this in the inexpensive category because you will need a few supplies like seeds and in the least a little garden trowel and depending on what you're planting you will either need some pots or tilled soil to put the seeds in, but this is something my husband and I love doing together and it gives us food which in the end saves us money on our grocery bill so it evens out in the long run.
I hope these Ideas are helpful to you. I love them because these are all dates my husband, and I can either bring our toddler with us on and still enjoy ourselves or do from home while she is asleep. Leave a comment if you do any of these or if there are other ideas that I may not have thought of.
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