Out of the box date night ideas at home are a simple way to date your spouse using what you have, and where you are, without having to spend money. Typical at-home date night ideas include a movie, game night, or ordering food. These are great and we use them a lot, but sometimes throwing something in that’s out of the ordinary is a good idea. Out of the box date night ideas that are not home can include things like an escape room, a festival, or games. Here are some of our favorite out of the box date night ideas.
How often should you have date nights?
You should try to have date nights at least once a week or every other week. We think that you should be taking some time every day to be intentional with your spouse but recognize that it’s hard to take extended time.
We recommend having weekly family meetings so that you can be sure to have time to schedule these date nights regularly!
What is the purpose of date nights as a married person?
The purpose of date nights is to be closer to your spouse. It’s so easy to forget to take intentional time with the person that you love because when you’re with them every day it doesn’t always feel important.
Date night gives you time to reconnect and affirm your feelings for each other intentionally via their love languages. Also, when done regularly, it allows you to have built-in time for conflict resolution or conversations that require focus from both people.
How do we make date nights effective?
First, be intentional! Schedule it and arrange ways to make it happen including childcare, or rearranging housework or your calendar! The other way to make date night effective is to make sure your phone is off or on silent or in another room so that neither person is distracted.
Additionally, if you are a Christ-follower as we are, pray! God designed the family, the husband and wife team. He designed it, and He said it was good. This means that His enemy is more than happy to see marriages struggle and fail. Prayer is the weapon given to us to defend our family. So pray for your marriage regularly but also pray intentionally for your date night. Pray for unity, wisdom, peace, rest, and love for your spouse.
Our List of Out Of The Box Date Night Ideas At Home:
Game Night
This one may seem like it’s not out of the box but it can be, here are some ways to make it out of the box:
Write down the names of games you have and blindly draw one out of a cup to decide what to play. This can include video games if that’s what you and your spouse are into!
Pick a random room of your house to play in.
Make up some house rules that only apply to the two of you.
Have snack food that is designated game night snack food.
Have a reward or prize for the winner.
Check out our 2 person game recommendations!
Fancy Dinner
Fancy dinners can sometimes become a burden for one-half of a couple. To help decrease this, plan the fancy dinner and courses together and assign courses to each person. If you need meal ideas, check out our favorites here!
Decide if you will purchase food out or if it will be primarily homemade food.
Only bring one course out to the table at a time and only bring out the next course when both people are done eating.
Pick a fancy or special drink that you both enjoy. (It doesn’t have to be alcoholic)
Have music playing in the background
Light candles
Buy nicer-looking but disposable serviceware so no one has to clean up.
Plan to put your phones somewhere else so that you can’t be distracted.
Dress nicely or dress comfy (but plan it!)
Creative Together:
Plan a date night to each work on your respective creative hobbies. This could be painting, woodcarving, sewing, crocheting, instruments, etc. This should not be something though that requires headphones or one spouse to have to isolate to do the work. If the work needs to be done in a specific room, can the other spouse have a nice spot set up for them to do their hobby? If you want to be creative, but don’t have a specific idea, try painting or drawing a picture of each other or pick an item for both to paint and see who can paint better.
Have quiet background music
Have all of the supplies you need for both people’s project
Make or have a special snack or meal
Dream Date:
These are some of my favorite types of at-home date night ideas. This is when you sit with your spouse and talk about and make a dream together. This doesn’t necessarily have to be realistic, but it should be something that you’re both able to contribute to. Ideas include:
Design your dream house
Design your dream garden
Plan the perfect vacation
Spend a lottery win
Dream about the perfect job
We hope that some of these out-of-the-box date night ideas inspired you. Let us know in the comments below which ones you will try or which ones you already do!
