Rethinking Date Night

Don't hate me because I have free babysitters almost whenever I need them. That is just an added benefit of living near both my very generous parents and in-laws. Not to mention also living near other very helpful family members like my Grandmother-in-law and brother.


While having this built village makes date nights much easier and less expensive, it does not change the cost of the date night itself. Our recent choice to cut our income in favor of more time caused a huge hit to the wallet that funded these date nights. There are just no longer funds for even your basic dinner and a movie that could easily run us at least $50.


At church on Sunday (Faith Fellowship) our Pastor and his wife were absent. They were setting a wonderful example for us of taking time out for your spouse. That reminded me that we cannot let a sparse bank account keep us from making each other a priority.


We were blessed Sunday night to be able to attend a wedding. That is probably one of my favorite kind of date nights and assuming you aren't opposed to wearing something you already own and the ceremony is close to home, the only cost is a gift which you would probably want to give to the new couple whether or not your were going to the wedding. But how often do we get to go to a local wedding? Not often enough for sure.


We discovered a stay-home-with-the-kids date night recently. Sounds impossible, huh? Well, I can't classify it as a full fledged date night and we did have to break some of our personal rules to make it happen, but it was very nice. Almost very night we eat dinner as a family at the dining room table (not formal, mind you.) On the occasional weekend night we will eat in the family room and watch a movie together. On Saturday night, we set up the movie and got ready for our casual family room dinner when Chris and I decided the two of us would eat in the dining room alone (actually, with the baby, but she doesn't interrupt us yet). We broke 2 "rules" here. 1. Not eating as a family and 2. Letting the TV be the babysitter. BUT, it worked. We ate an un-interrupted meal and it was wonderful. Not something we will do often, but it was a great way to have a date night.


To come up with some other ideas for simplified date nights I try to imagine what couples in the pre-technology age did for dates and put a modern twist on them if necessary. Chris and I love studying the Bible together but have a hard time finding time. So I imagine we could pack up a picnic and head to the beach for a walk and some reading time together. If we can finagle a day-time date then we could even ride our bikes to the beach. In fact, a good date day could simply be a bike ride together. Little cost at all if you bring your own food and drinks. And there are plenty of places to ride in the Burg. Fort Desoto has a beautiful trail and you can park before the park entrance and bike into the park avoiding the new $5 toll.


Now, you will call me crazy for this one. Date night PTA meeting. We have to go to them anyway so why not make them fun. We can sit in the back of the auditorium and pretend we are in college meeting in class. As the Whines get older we will have three kids at three different schools. That will make for many PTA date nights.


Dinners out will not be something we can enjoy as often as we used to for sure. There are some great deals with Groupon, Living Social and Restaurant.com that make them a bit more manageable. Just be careful to look at the fine print so you go when your vouchers are valid.


One final idea is group date nights. The Baby Boot Camp St. Pete moms and their hubbies recently had a bowling date night. By going in a group, you get a group discount. This also gave the daddies and great opportunity to see who we've been hanging out with so much.


Unfortunately I was unable to finish this blog before picking Whine 2 up from school. Within 30 minutes of being home she smeared makeup remover all over the bathroom and herself, crushed the crackers on Whine 3's tray, almost broke the refrigerator trying to close the door with the produce drawer still open and told me the complete stories of Winter the dolphin and Rapunzel.


Now, I am definitely ready for a date night!!

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