Home Date ideas! :)

22 May Home Date ideas! :)

Greetings from an excited but exhausted Mom!

While we had our second tot, I and my tolerant half, decided that we will not let boredom and monotony settle into our life once again; that we will find ways to be together even if for short time, just the two of us.

So, along with family movie nights or long drives with the babies, I (the researcher, the thinker one) started looking for fun options that can be availed without leaving the premises of our beloved home.

Here I am sharing some of the most loved and feasible options because, let’s face it, we all need some time for the couple in the parents.

So here goes the list:

1. Ask each other questions – make a list of 5 questions each to ask the other- e.g. What’s the strangest ice cream flavor you’ve ever tried?; if one morning you wake up as me, what would you do?; how do you want to spend your next holiday?; etc. We tried and found this one to be a conversation/s starter, believe me.
2. Work-out together – Half an hour of light cardio or yoga session before having dinner or on weekends. We can use YouTube and get going. We tried this one during the 2020 lockdown and the Dopamine and Endorphins released helped us get through the stress of the pandemic and Mount Everest of household chores.
3. Cook together – While I am yet to try this one, it ranks quite high on every dating list. I am sure it must be fun to decide on a menu and work on it together while chatting and sharing routine life.
4. Bring a few jokes to the date table and take turns to tell them, with good ones you’ll have a hearty laughter, with bad ones you will have more reasons to laugh later on.
5. Write letter/love notes for each other during the days prior to The Date and hand them over with a glass of wine after kids are asleep on the D-day. You both might get interesting topics to talk about and mementos for life. Did I hear ‘Cheesy’?; did I hear ‘after so many years of wedlock’?; but it works if one can pull it off. Not necessarily mushy love letters but a long thank you note, a memory you cherish, a secret you want to tell, a wish you want to share, a bittersweet complaint or a gesture you felt good about. Anything that makes you both look back at good times a.k.a. young times; is worth noting down. Old school idea but works every time.
6. Couple dance or just a Bollywood jig – Have a dance party that will set the mood for laughter and conversations later. Fix a playlist of both of your choice and have a ball.
7. Find out one activity each that you used to do during school days and try that again together or one’s chosen activity on a date night and keep the other’s choice for the next date night- my tolerant half used to sketch in school and I discovered this after being together for 13 years. It was a pleasant discovery and opened a plethora of conversations and gifting options. Sometimes, nostalgia and fun giggles are enough to re-ignite the friendship.
8. Take an online class together on weekend – the fact that the two of you are growing together releases Oxytocin, the bonding hormone and thus keeps you close and together.

Some of the other more common ones but still work as good are:

1. Paint –acrylic or water colors – recreational and calming.
2. Board games – Classic ones like Ludo, Chess, Carrom, Cards, Scrabble, Pictionary, Name-Place-Animal-Thing , Tic-Tac-Toe or Crossword puzzle as per your interest. Little fun is all you need between just the two of you.

(Tip) I totally, completely understand we parents are drop-dead tired by night so pre-plan and decide upon a Saturday/Sunday morning and plan a Morning Date. Have an hour to just the two of you on a weekend morning when kids sleep in extra hour/s and pick any of the above-mentioned ideas (or your own ones).

Parenting is demanding, but being just the partner for a while keeps things sane and the connection strong.

Even for couples who aren’t parents yet, these ideas can add spark and give a break from the normal.

Please share how the ideas worked for you and more so if you have any other ones. Remember, Dating never goes out of fashion!

Happy Dating!!