at home date ideas

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Inside: Discover 14 easy at-home date ideas that are perfect for parents! You can easily plan them after kids go to sleep and they will help you build a happy marriage!

at home date ideas

The thing I miss the most from the time when I wasn’t a parent is the time I spend alone with my husband.

It was great to sit next to him and just talk or watch a movie together. All those couple moments were always fun and lovely and we haven’t enjoyed so many of them since we are parents. We never had a babysitter to help us with our son, so the moments when we are alone at home are very rare.

Since we moved to California we don’t have any moments alone at home because we have no one here to babysit for us, so we learned to find other ways to still enjoy some quality couple time. Only after Bogdan goes to sleep we have some time for us, but sometimes we are so tired that we end up falling asleep on the couch.

This is why I looked for date night ideas for parents that we can do at home while our child sleeps and I found some really nice ideas!

14 at-home date ideas for parents

I gathered them here because I’m sure that there are many other parents that would enjoy a date night and they only can have it at home, so I hope that these ideas will be a perfect inspiration!

1♥ Movie night

This date night is perfect when you are tired and you don’t have the energy to do something more elaborate. We usually use Netflix for movies but there are many other alternatives to choose from. Popcorn and other snacks make movie nights even more fun!

2♥ Series marathon

Because sometimes it’s hard to find a movie that we both like we noticed that it’s better to plan a series marathon. Netflix has a lot of series to choose from, so you’ll certainly find something you like. We watched seasons from “Grey’s Anatomy” (for the second time), we recently saw all the “Breaking Bad” seasons and we now watch “House of cards”.

at home date ideasphoto credit: Evgeny Atamanenko / shutterstock.com

3♥ Photo memories

Another great idea is to look through old photo albums and to remember all those moments you spent together. We like our vacation photos the most because they always bring us happy memories and they make us want to travel again.

4♥ Massage night

A massage is great after a busy day and it’s the perfect way to relax. You just need a good massage oil and maybe some candles too, just to make the atmosphere more romantic.

5♥ Stargazing

If you have a backyard or a terrace this is a great way to spend some quality couple time. You just need a blanket and you can lie under the stars talking and laughing together.

6♥ Chocolate and wine date

If you like chocolate and wine you will enjoy this date for sure. You just need your favorite chocolate and a tasty wine and you’ll have the perfect atmosphere for a romantic date.

3♥ Chocolate and wine date If you like chocolate and wine you will enjoy this date for sure. You just need your favorite chocolate and a tasty wine and you'll have the perfect atmosphere for a romantic date.photo credit: ESB Professional / shutterstock.com

7♥ Indoor picnic

Fancy dinners at the restaurant are great, but indoor picnic can be also great! Just put a picnic blanket on the floor in the living room and you enjoy a nice picnic with your loved one! If you don’t have time to prepare food for the picnic you can order it, we usually do so because it’s much easier.

8♥ Board games night

It’s amazing how fun these games are even for grown-ups! 🙂 I plan to do a game night soon and I can’t wait to see who will win this time!

9♥ Home-spa

This date idea is a more “advanced” alternative to the massage night. It can include a lot of pampering ideas: massage, aromatic bath, spa treatments, candles and so on. I just discovered this idea and we haven’t tried it yet, but it seems really lovely!

10♥ Couple bucket list

This is another idea that I found out recently and it can be a wonderful way to spend a date night. It basically means creating together a list of couple wishes that you hope to make true soon. The bucket list can be a great inspiration for future dates and it’s a perfect way to stay connected to the loved one.

11♥ Cooking night

If you enjoy cooking this could be an ingenious idea for the next date. If you don’t have time to buy all the ingredients you can order the ingredients from one of the companies that deliver ready-to-make meals.

at home date ideasphoto credit: George Rudy / shutterstock.com

12♥ Bubble bath

This is one of my favorite ideas because I really like bubble baths! It’s easy to prepare and very relaxing, so this could be a very good date idea after a busy day!

13♥ Surprise date night

The surprise date night requires a little bit of preparation but it’s worth the effort. One of the partners is in charge of preparing a surprise for the other one, so the surprise factor will add some excitement to the night. The nice thing is that the other partner will have his turn to prepare a surprise for the next date, so this date night is creating the perfect pretext for the next one! 🙂

at home date ideasphoto credit: George Rudy / shutterstock.com

14♥ One last idea

This is one additional idea that it’s not a date at home but you can easily put it into practice after the child goes to sleep. It only works if you have one small child; the idea is simple: after the child falls asleep you put him in the stroller and cover him with a blanket, then you can go outside for a walk in the park or a nice date at a quiet cafe.

We tried this several times and it works great! The trick is to move the child to the stroller when he is in a deep sleep so that he won’t wake up in the middle of the date (we usually wait 10 minutes after he falls asleep and then we move him and go outside).

***

I know that finding time for date nights can be really difficult for parents, especially when they have small kids. But I truly believe that they are worth the effort.

I promised myself to try to find more time for my husband and to regain some of those wonderful moments we shared before we were parents. I hope these ideas will inspire you too and will help you plan a lot of great date nights!

If you have any other ideas for date nights at home, please share them here, I would be glad to find them out!

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Check out 14 easy at-home date ideas that are perfect for parents! You can easily plan them after kids go to sleep and help you build a happy marriage! --- Date ideas | Marriage tips | Family life #Marriage #FamilyLife

at home date ideas
at home date ideas

 photo credit preview photo: ESB Professional / shutterstock.com

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14 Comments

  1. Love this post! Not a mom, but we like to try to have stay-at-home date nights to ease up on the wallet. I loved your idea of board games and wine & chocolate. We have a bunch of adult board games and sink hours into them, they are so fun! Great post!

  2. Stephenie says:

    These are great date ideas…we make sure our children come first, so our time is after their bedtime. There are so many great things we could do in that time. Thank you for sharing

  3. Great idea! My husband and I used to always go stargazing. We should definitely start doing it again!

  4. Movies and TV shows are my husband’s favorite. I prefer to pick a series we both like because, honestly, the only time I watch TV is with him. Yesterday, we purchased the next season (or second half of a season 4?) of Vikings and were binge watching most of the afternoon. Love it.

  5. Such great ideas! We’re going to be spending Valentine’s Day at home this year, so some of these will be perfect for my hubby and me! I love the idea to make a couple bucket list!

    – Kaitlin
    kedgotwed.com

  6. Some brilliant, low expense ideas – some also transferable to us single girls who are having girly nights!

  7. Last one-last year our baby slept through our lunch on our anniversary-it was like times.

  8. Great date night ideas for parents! Love the idea of going through photo memories!r

  9. Adrienne A. Brown says:

    Awesome advice, these are ideas that are sure to make your spouse and you happy! Thanks for the post!

  10. Cooking + movie nights are the best! Great ideas, thanks 🙂

  11. These are great ideas! We don’t have kids but I still value these times so much. 🙂