How to Have a GREAT "Date Night" (without breaking the bank!)

Still happily married...after twenty-eight years!

During our time out together recently, we spent some time reading a book together, Communication: Key to Your Marriage, by H. Norm Wright.  In it, I saw this tremendous quote:

“Commitment is more than maintaining; it is more than continuing to stick it out with a poor choice of a spouse.  Commitment is investing – working to make the relationship grow.”

Communication: Key to Your Marriage

When we talk about Stewarding Our Marriages, we need to consider the principles of INTENSITY and VARIETY.  Intensity is allowing the romance to flare up on occasions, or even helping it to flare up, and variety is the spice of life!  A regular (or even an irregular) Date Night helps to bring some INTENSITY and VARIETY to the marriage.

Here are some ideas on how to have a great “Date Night:”

1.        PLAN FOR IT!  One of the first and foremost ways to have a great Date Night is to Plan for It!  First, plan on having fun, and second, plan the event!  It takes some extra work, but it is really worth it.

a.       Plan for the right baby sitter.  If you have the right childcare, you can relax and have a good time.  Swap evenings with a friend, or hire a young lady from church whom you trust. 

b.      Plan the right time.   Actually, for us, it’s really hard to have “just the right time,” so we just TAKE the time.  Either way, it is still time invested well.

2.       EAT TOGETHER!   The saying goes that “it is impossible to argue over a very good meal” is very true!  You don’t have to eat expensively, either.  Just a cute picnic dinner at a lake would provide enough variety (not to mention romance!) to make it fun!  Take a bit of time to do some research to find a place to eat together.

3.       PLAN TO KEEP THE CONVERSATION LIGHT!  Try not to bring up any “business,” if possible.  If you really need to talk about finances or baby Johnny’s ear infections, try to keep it brief, then go on to fun stuff.

a.       One of our favorite things to talk about it memories.  When we were younger, we had less of them (of course) but now that we are older, there are many more things to remember. 

b.      Think about pet topics your spouse likes to talk about!  Maybe he enjoys talking about diesel mechanics, or maybe he likes to talk about marine life.  Perhaps he’s into `a game of some sort.  These topics may be boring to you, but listening shows you care.

4.       HAVE FUN!  There are a million things to do that don’t cost a lot of money. 

a.       Take a walk at a park.

My Beloved and I out for a stroll around the church property!

b.      Go window shopping.  This is one of our favorite things to do.  We get to see what’s out there, and we enjoy going away from the store with empty hands, feeling the money still in our pockets.

c.       Go to the airport and watch planes take off and land.

d.      Take a drive!  One of the things we enjoy doing is exploring.  We see something in the distance, or even a building we’d like to see that’s not too far away, and we go look for it.

e.      Geocaching!  I’ve not tried it myself, although I’ve always wanted to.  If you have a GPS, you can look online to find the coordinates of hidden treasures, and then input the coordinates on your GPS, and go on a treasure hunt!  Remember, though, you must always leave another treasure in its place, so the next guy can have fun looking for it.

f.     Unplanned romance!  Remember, there’s nothing wrong with a little romance in the car, since you’re married! ;)

Let’s take a little extra time to plan a memorable excursion with our spouse!  If any of you have any more ideas, please share them; we’d love to hear what other thoughts you may come up with.