Thanks to COVID and the inconvenience of finding a babysitter and also the cost of going out to dinner or a movie, we don’t get out often. And it’s a crying shame because I sure do enjoy dating my husband. So we’ve adapted and adjusted and become experts at the stay-at-home date.

For us, the secret to a really good date at home is to do something you normally wouldn’t do. Cuddling up to binge watch Netflix or scroll through dream houses on Zillow is every day stuff. So, in my mind, that doesn’t cut it for a date night. To push away the distractions and focus on our relationship, we need something special and fun. So we’ve come up with a list of our favorite date nights.

Here are our top 5 Date Night Ideas:

Fancy Late Dinner The late is important because we wait until we’ve put the kids to bed. We like to put the little guys down about half an hour early and pretend we’re in Spain and eat a luxurious late candlelit dinner. My favorite thing to do is splurge on steak, whip up some homemade bread and dessert and bring out my great-grandmother’s china. Again, we break out of our usual routine and do something special.YouTube Massage Therapy School My husband and I both love a good massage, but with COVID restrictions and all that 2020 brought, we just couldn’t manage one from an actual licensed therapist. The good news is, you can learn just about anything on YouTube! We still have a lot to learn, but it was almost as good as the real thing.Movie Night We often watch movies. Like, really often. But we don’t typically spend the money on a new release. To make the night extra special we’ll rent something from Amazon or Redbox and pick up fancy ice cream (Talenti Gelato is my favorite) or some other indulgent treat from the grocery store. Even with the splurges we end up spending way less than a night at the movies. (And we save money on babysitting, too!)Crouch Culinary Institute I cook every day (and night and morning …) but cooking something like a giant triple chocolate cheesecake with my husband as my sous chef qualifies as a red letter night. Game Night The Crouch family loves games! We’ve had a hard time finding a board game for only two players (I’d love some recommendations if you have any!), but we enjoy modified versions of our favorites like Settlers of Catan or Dominion. We recently played Villainous during a game night, and a lot of card games work well with only two players. 

Honorable Mention: Comedy Club on the Couch- My favorite comedian right now is Nate Bargatze. He’s got a couple of great routines on Netflix right now.

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! Hope you’re able to spend time with someone you love. Let me know if you have more fun date night ideas!