Why Date Night is So Important & Some Stay-at-Home Date Night Ideas
Relationship Communication Guide
Looking for a way to kick start your relationship communication? I would love for you to download my FREE Relationship Communication Guide with relationship tips, suggestions and activities you can implement into the communication in your relationship! Click the button below to get access to my Relationship Communication Guide and start improving your relationship communication today!
Staying home doesn't mean you have to skip the date nights! There are lots of ways to make staying in special. I've got over 10 ideas for you to try out plus a FREE Relationship Communication Guide that is a perfect pre-date night activity.
Why Date Night Is Important
I am receiving a lot of questions about how to maintain a good and healthy relationship dynamic even if a lot of the usual “out of the house activities“ are still closed or unavailable at the current time.
I try to remind all of the couples that I work with that “date night“ can be whatever you make it. You don’t have to have a fancy dinner planned at your favorite restaurant followed by a movie at the local theater in order for it to count.
The goal is to spend quality time with your partner so that you maintain a good connection and underlying base friendship. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 1 million times… “A good healthy friendship is at the core of every successful relationship!“
Date Night Brainstorming Activity
I want both people to have input about the date night ideas. The responsibility of planning something should not always fall on just one person. So I have a lot of my couples do a “date night brainstorming“ activity.
First, I want you each to spend a few minutes (no more than 3 to 5 minutes) thinking about some fun date night ideas that you’d enjoy doing. Then, I want you to schedule a courageous conversation with your partner (see my Relationship Communication Guide for details on how to practice courageous conversation) to go through the lists you’ve both made.
Finally, I want you to make a master list of date night ideas. Some couples write each item on a little slip of paper and then they put all of the slips into a jar or a box. They can pull out ideas whenever they need inspiration. Other couples actually get out their calendar and write on the calendar when they’re going to do the various activities.
There is no right or wrong way to do this activity, it’s simply a way to try and improve communication as well as develop a shared understanding/idea of what each person would like to see their date night be like.
For ideal success, I do encourage couples to have one to two date nights a week, recognizing that sometimes life may get in the way of that schedule but that’s the gold standard I try to get my clients to shoot for.
Are you looking for date night ideas for staying at home that are romantic, fun, and a great way to reconnect and build on your relationship? Check out my 10+ ideas that are tried and true for my clients. I even have a special FREE Relationship Communication Guide to help get you guys back on track, on the same page, and enjoying each other again.
Date Night Ideas
To help you out as you start planning out your date night ideas, here are some suggestions of things that have worked really well for so many of my clients over the years.
Cook a meal together
Plan the whole meal together or each of you cook one side dish to go with the main course.
Lindsay’s Tip: even if you aren’t a great cook, there is no rule that says the meal has to be made from scratch. Get creative and don’t feel so bound by the typical rules of how you think things should be done. I mean, it could be hot dogs and french fries with donuts for desert. Make it fun!
Pick up take-out from a favorite restaurant
Eat it by candlelight
Make a picnic on the living room floor
You could also have an outdoor picnic and eat while watching the sunset
Have an at home dance party
Take turns picking a song to dance to and have fun!
Go for a walk together
Lindsay’s Tip: Leave your phones/screens at home and enjoy being together in nature.
Do a home project
Lindsay’s Tip: Date night is what you make of it. If you think of it as a chore, it will feel like a chore but if you do it together, you can achieve the goal, feel a sense of accomplishment and also spend quality time together.
Lindsay’s Tip: Put on some music and/or have few drinks while you’re working. ***Please don’t take this as an encouragement to drink to excess, but it’s a way to make it feel less like work and more fun. Just drink responsibly!***
Repaint your bedroom
Rearrange your living room furniture
Organize that junk closet in the basement
Clean out the garage
Clean out your cars
Wash your cars together
Refinish a piece of furniture
Work in the yard together
Pull weeds
Plant a garden
Plant flowers
Take a bubble bath together
Lindsay’s Tip: Don’t feel like this is pressure to be sexual. It is a way to build intimacy without feeling pressure for sex.
Lindsay’s Tip: If you’ve been doing one of the mentioned home projects, you may be sweaty and dirty, so this could be a fun way to keep the date going and get clean at the same time. Win-win!
Listen to an audio book or podcast together
Lindsay’s Tip: Pause it often and discuss your thoughts as you listen. This will also help you build up your communication in the relationship and it’s a way to foster new topics of conversation.
Go for a drive
Lindsay’s Tip: This is a great time to incorporate listening to a podcast, audio book or taking turns picking songs to listen to.
Lindsay’s Tip: You may also want to just spend this time talking and working on your communication. It can be easier to have conversations when there are less distractions that may be present when you’re home.
These are some ideas to get you started but I want you to make it your own. Have fun planning activities you can do together, and remember that you’re never stuck. If you try something and it isn’t a winner, don’t give up altogether. Just regroup and try something else.
Do you feel like you are out of touch with your significant other? Do you feel staying at home and around each other all day and all night hasn't brought you any closer but maybe driven you further apart? Grab your FREE Relationship Communication Guide, get to work rebuilding that communication between you two and then schedule an in home date night. I've got over 10 ideas to make it easy for you!
My FREE Relationship Communication Guide
I would love for you to download my FREE Relationship Communication Guide with tips, suggestions and activities you can implement into the communication in your relationship! In the guide, I expand on all the important points to keep in mind when engaging in communication in your relationships. Click the button below to get access to my Relationship Communication Guide and start improving your relationship communication today!
Relationship Communication Online Workshop
I have created an online Relationship Communication Workshop to help you dig into the communication struggles in your relationship and start getting things back on track. I realize that not everyone wants to go through long term therapy or the process of getting to a therapy appointment may not fit into your busy schedule. That's why I created this course. I wanted to provide you with a way to get access to the tools my clients get from me in my practice, but you can access the material from the comfort of your own home or wherever you are.
What's Included?
You will get access to a series of videos, activities and worksheets that are designed to help you dig into the various aspects of relationship communication.
We will talk about The 5 Love Languages, The 4 Tendencies, The 4 Agreements and so much more.
I'll provide you with actionable steps you can take to implement these tools into your relationships.
The Relationship Communication Online Workshop is now live online. Click the button below to get access and start improving your relationship today!
Here’s the link to get more information about the workshop. You can also find it and all my courses and variety of services on my Work with Me page. I am so excited to have you take part in this course!
1:1 Coaching Appointments Now Available
I am now offering a 1:1 coaching sessions. If you would like to set up a 1:1 coaching video session to help you through this time, you can click here.
You get to decide how many minutes you’d like to purchase worth of coaching. Then, I’ll reach out to you in order to make the determination of how you’d like to use your time. We will decide how to split up your time in 30 minute increments up to the total amount you select.
Also, notice that the more time you purchase upfront, the more you save!
You can always reach me directly through my email lindsay@lindsaywalden.com if you have any questions or if you want to know if this is a good fit for you.
Coach Crate
I cannot speak highly enough about Coach Crate. This monthly subscription service has helped me stay regular with my own self-care in so many ways, and I would love to have you join me on the Coach Crate adventure. It would make a great addition to the other work you are doing to live your best life.
May’s topic has been announced and will be all about Resilience. This box has already sold out, but you can still get in for June’s box all about Gratitude. You can sign up to begin with June’s Coach Crate by using my link, and you’ll get to start on the Coach Crate journey. You can save money on your first order by using the code FIRSTBOX at checkout! I stalk my mailbox waiting it to arrive each month, and I know you’ll love it as much as I do!
Therapy Thoughts with Lindsay Podcast
With everything going on in the world, we had to figure out how to go about recording each new podcast episode in a bit of a different format. This Thursday at 2:00pm CST the next episode will be uploaded to my Therapy Thoughts Podcast Blog and it will also available on the Apple iTunes podcast site. You can subscribe, so you will never miss an episode!
If you want to check out Episode 36 from last week, here is the link.
Episode 37 will be posted on Thursday at 2:00pm CST. I really am so grateful to all of you for your continued support as we are figuring out how to navigate things. I’m happy to report that we now have a way to upload the video feed of the podcast recording to my YouTube channel, so you will want to subscribe to see the hilariousness.
Follow Me On Social Media
You can follow me all over social media for more life and relationship tips.
I can be found on Facebook where I do many live streams as well as post during the week.
I can be followed on Instagram and in addition to posts on my fee, I am always in my stories posting help tips, tricks and ideas.
I’m on Pinterest throughout the day posting tons of life and relationship tips!
I’ve recently started using TikTok where I post helpful videos in 60 seconds or less with info you can apply to your life immediately.
