For today's Friday Favorites, I thought it would be fun to share 5 of my favorite CHEAP date night ideas!
February is all about LOVE and showing your loved ones how much you love them and how much they mean to you. We recognize Valentine's Day at our house but we don't go overboard. We generally have a home cooked meal and eat off our fancy plates. Even when Ben and I were dating we never went crazy on Valentine's Day. When I say crazy I mean plan this elaborate date night or weekend away. We generally like to have several date nights and weekends away throughout the year if possible not just for Valentine's Day.
Since the kids are older, Date Nights are much easier now because they can stay home alone. But Date Nights when they were younger were much more of a struggle but we still managed to get time alone because it has always been important for us to "date" and have time alone together. The best advice my sister ever gave me was when she told me to always remember that I was a wife before I was a mother. which when the kids were little it was hard to remember that.
With all of that being said. I wanted to share how Ben and I sneak in cheap dates nights from time to time.
O N E- Deck Date Night
We have a pretty good size back deck. You have seen lots of friends and family gathered on our back deck in all my weekend recaps post.
When the kids were younger and the weather is nice we would put them to bed and then just sit on the back deck and talk. We would listen to music, Ben would smoke a cigar, I would enjoy a few glasses of wine but the point was that we were together as a couple and got to enjoy uninterrupted time together.
Now we still enjoy deck date nights when the kids either spend the night with a friend or they have friends over because you know its not cool to hang out with mom and dad!
T W O- At Home Movie Night
For us to go to dinner and the movies, it is easily a hundred bucks....WOW! That's a good chunk of change in my opinion. Now, I just stop by the dollar store grab our favorite box of candy, pop some popcorn, grab a blanket on the comfort of my couch, cuddle with Ben and watch a movie. Of Course, your at home movie night isn't going to be the hot new box office release but with Netflix, Prime Movies, Hulu, etc. your movie night can be one of y'all's favorite movie to watch.
T H R E E- Wine Tastings.
I know everyone doesn't drink wine and it took me years to get Ben to drink wine but now that he does we enjoy going to Wine Tastings together. We have been to quite a few wineries but our favorite wine tasting is held at our local liquor store every month. We pay $10 and that includes 5-6 tastings of different wines and pretty heavy finger foods enough that we don't need to go to dinner before the tasting.
Of Course, then we have the option to buy a bottle of wine and either enjoy it there or bring it home for a deck date night.
F O U R- Day Dates
When the kids were in early elementary grades this was a great way for Ben and I to get alone time together since I stayed at home. I would meet him for lunch during his lunch break and we got about an hour to enjoy a meal together. Plus lunch out is generally cheaper than dinner out. win-win! Who am I kidding, I still meet Ben for lunch now with the kids in middle and high school.
Even if you both work out of the home and your jobs are not that far apart from each other, you can always meet to enjoy a lunch together.
Another idea (if possible) is to both take the day off while the kids are at school and just enjoy each others company.
F I V E- Exchange Babysitting with Friends.
Let's be real hiring a teenager babysitter is straight up expensive. When I was a teenager I loved my babysitting gigs but now as a paying parent. DANG! HA
Let's be real hiring a teenager babysitter is straight up expensive. When I was a teenager I loved my babysitting gigs but now as a paying parent. DANG! HA
So when the kids were younger and Ben's parents were 2 hours away and my mom was 45 minutes away utilizing grandparents free babysitting services were not always available so Stephanie and I kinda of started a "I'll watch your kids this night and you watch my kids that night" kind of trade off and it worked like magic for us. We do have kids the same age that are best friends so they always wanted to be together anyways. It worked perfectly for us!
With that being said maybe you can ask one of your kids friends parents to watch your kids while you and your spouse have a date night but be willing to return the favor because that cuts the cost of date night down considerably.
EEK! Now I'm ready for another date night 😉
Weather Ben and I get fancy like we did last weekend or hanging out in our comfy clothes, anytime I get to spend alone with him is always my FAVORITE!
Ben-I'm so glad your my date night partner!
With that being said maybe you can ask one of your kids friends parents to watch your kids while you and your spouse have a date night but be willing to return the favor because that cuts the cost of date night down considerably.
EEK! Now I'm ready for another date night 😉
Weather Ben and I get fancy like we did last weekend or hanging out in our comfy clothes, anytime I get to spend alone with him is always my FAVORITE!
Ben-I'm so glad your my date night partner!
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