5 At-Home Date Night Ideas

Thank you Idahoan® Steakhouse® Soups for sponsoring this post. Treat your SOUP-er significant other to a delicious meal!

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, you are probably trying to come up with the perfect date night plans. If you have young kids, you know how hard it can be to get a night away. These at-home date night ideas are perfect for helping to make sure date night happens each week, even when you don’t have a babysitter, and they are perfect for Valentine’s Day or any other night!

With 6 kids, we’ve definitely struggled to make sure that date night happens on a regular basis. Since we don’t live near family, and I’m very cautious about who watches my kids, we actually went years without getting away for date night.

We finally realized that date night had to happen, even if it wasn’t in the budget or we didn’t have a babysitter.

For us, the solution was at-home date nights. While I definitely love getting out of the house to do something fun, sometimes a night relaxing at home can be just as fun.

Before you have an at-home date night, there are a few rules:

• Put the kids to bed. It’s not really a date night if you are still taking care of kids. We do early bedtimes on nights when we have an at-home date night planned and it works out great.
• Clean your space first. I have trouble relaxing if I look around and see tasks that need to be done. The best workaround I’ve found for this is to make sure I clean whatever space we are going to be using for at-home date night earlier in the day. I’ll often put my kids to work helping. They like knowing they are helping us plan for date night.
• Make it something special. Date night does not mean sitting on the couch watching TV in your pjs, just like any other night. You have to make the night special in some way. Do something you don’t normally do. Set the stage by cleaning the house and using your nice china if you’ll be eating. Get dressed up and do your makeup before date night starts.

Doing these three things makes such a difference and really helps it to feel like date night even though you are at home. We have quite a few at-home date night ideas that we love.

These are a few of our favorites:

Dinner and a Movie

Dinner and a movie is often our go-to date night and fortunately, it’s one that is super easy to do at home too. I find that I actually prefer watching movies at home on my comfy couch, rather than being in uncomfortable seats and dealing with crowds.

We don’t see many movies in the theatre so when they are released for download, we have lots of options that we haven’t seen yet.

Dinner isn’t much fun if you have to spend hours cooking, so we’ll either do takeout or make something easy (but delicious) like Idahoan® Steakhouse® Soups with some fresh bread from a local bakery.

Idahoan® Steakhouse® Soups give you the flavorful, slow-cooked taste of restaurant-quality soup at home, in just five minutes. They come in some great varieties, including: Loaded Potato, Creamy Potato, Cheddar Broccoli and Cheddar Potato. My favorite is definitely the Creamy Potato Soup.

I love to set out a quick soup topping bar with some of our favorite add-ins like, crumbled bacon, shredded cheese, chives, sour cream and more.

Get creative. There are some great options to turn dinner and a movie into an at home date..

Game Night

Playing games together really forces you to interact, which is perfect for date night. Do this on your own or invite a few of your favorite couples over to join you. If they have kids, put a movie on in another room and give the kids strict instructions to stay put. We’ll often put an older sibling in charge and pay him a few dollars for helping. He’s excited to have a job and the kids stay entertained.

To make it special, go buy a new game to try. This is cheaper than going out to do something if you are on a budget and it really makes the night more exciting.

Cook Together

I always love trying new recipes, especially when they are a bit of a challenge. Find a recipe for something you’ve always wanted to try and spend the night cooking together.

Do you have a favorite restaurant dish that is meaningful to both of you? Try to recreate it at home. This is so fun to do, especially since it doesn’t always turn out the way you expect it to. We’ve had some major fails doing this but the fails definitely make us laugh.

If you want something a bit more practical, spend the night making freezer meals together. It’s a bit time consuming, so something that is hard to fit in to your regular schedule, but working together towards a common goal can be fun.

Participate in a Digital Exercise Class

Exercising together is always a fun option. When you can’t get away from the house, find a great digital exercise class to do together after the kids go to bed. Focus on something that isn’t too high energy, like yoga, so that it doesn’t affect your sleep. Finding a common interest and doing something active together is a great way to spend time as a couple.

Set fitness goals as a couple and work towards them during your planned date nights. You’ll both love seeing the progress you make and it will give you something to look forward to.

Have a Home Spa Night

It may be hard to get away to go to the spa but you can bring the spa to your home. Give each other foot rubs, play relaxing music and fill your drink dispenser with cucumber water. Put on facial masks (yes, even for your husband) and laugh about how silly you look.

Pull out the fluffy robes and just relaxed. Turn the lights down and spend the light talking. This is such a fun way to unwind at the end of the day. Definitely put the cell phones away and use it as an opportunity to unplug.

Date night at home does not have to be your second choice. We love having at-home date nights because it takes away the stress of worrying about the kids while we are gone and there’s one less thing to have to organize. We hope these at-home date night ideas give you some ideas to start making date night a regular thing at your house.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.