This year, the goal was to get back to having regular time set aside for my husband and me.
When we first got married, we made a rule that each month, the same date of the month as our wedding would be set aside as a date night to do something special together.
Once our son came along, it became a lot more challenging. At first it was because of breastfeeding; then it was a hassle to find a babysitter. Eventually the idea just petered out, and for many years we only had sporadic date nights here and there.
This year I wanted to get back to spending more time together and reconnecting. Get out of the whole “life admin” thing it felt like we were stuck in. And while we started the tradition of Monday nights together, I still wanted to take it up a notch.
Enter the 52-in-52: Date night edition.
For one of our dates, we spent the night writing a list together of 52 dates we’d like to go on. Some of them require babysitters; some of them don’t.
The plan is that we alternate each week who is responsible for organising the date. We pick from the list and plan it out.
There are a lot of sweet, romantic ones (very much like my husband) and lots of silly, crazy ones (very much me). For example, a “date decathlon” where we come up with some events and compete in them, like paper plane throwing, biscuit slide, sock basketball, etc. Something that will make us laugh.
Last night was our first date night from the list, and my husband went first. Predictably, he picked an Italian theme night. For dinner, we had:
- Hand-made blue cheese gnocchi (one of my favourite meals that he makes; he actually proposed to me after we had this one night on another date night)
- Garlic bread (not exactly Italian, but I’m always a sucker for garlic bread)
- Italian wine
- Tiramisu for dessert
We also watched The Italian Job on TV. Only a little bit of that was actually shot in Italy, but shh, the name matches the theme.
It was a really fun night. Unfortunately, it came off the back of an argument we’d had earlier that morning that I was still a bit cranky about, but it did help to break the ice and talk that through, so double win?
I’m also incredibly grateful for how much time my husband put into this date. He’d started prepping the meal a day earlier, and there’s a lot of time that goes into making the gnocchi from scratch.
He’s set the bar a bit high for me for next week, no?
How am I meant to follow that up?
Have you ever planned date nights with your partner in advance like this? What’s your most fun or memorable date?
Awww, that’s so sweet. We have a weekly cocktail hour – no screens, no books, just a cocktail and chat. It’s a great way to reconnect!
I love that idea so much. I think I wrote down cocktails one night for us too, I love the idea of trying a new recipe out. Cocktails are the best.
Oh my gosh I love this! John and I need to step it up in the date department, too. It’s just so hard with all of the life things, sometimes. Aye yi yi.
It’s so, so hard, and I know how many things you’re juggling as well. All I can suggest is start with one night a week, one hour, no tech, and just hang out.
Love this!!
My husband and I have a weekly at-home date night. We eat separate from the kids and it’s my favourite night of the week (sometimes we do it TWO nights in a row). We watch a documentary and eat in front of the TV which sounds kind of awful, but it amazing (we both work from home, so we have a lot of time together during the week).
You are right, he is a tough act to follow! Let us know what you come up with. My husband and I set aside Saturday night as our date night, and we look forward to it. I like the idea of setting a theme for date night and getting creative.