20 Stay-At-Home Date Ideas For Couples
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If you want a successful, fun marriage, one of the keys things you can do to keep the spark alive is to continue to date your partner, even after you are hitched. You need to prioritize yourself and set aside a date night every week to reconnect with each other and revive your feelings of love and romance. However, it is easier said than done.
Though all couples are aware of the wisdom of this advice, the execution can be difficult — especially when there are kids in the picture. Things may get crazy busy for you both, and it may be hard to fit a full date night on your schedules. Or you may be on a tight budget, and spending hundreds on a movie, dinner, or a babysitter isn’t possible. Maybe you have got a newborn, and you are just not ready to have a stranger watch her while you go out and have fun.
The key is to stop feeling like you have no options, and that date night cannot be done at all. Consider the “at-home date,” the best alternative possible. The concept is simple – if you are not able to go out, get creative, and come up with a super fun, one-on-one thing you both can do together without leaving the house. If you have little kids, your date can start the moment they go to sleep.
Here are some easy-to-plan, enjoyable, inexpensive at-home date ideas that you can try with your hubby or partner. The next time you can’t afford a night out or get a sitter, stay in, and have a romantic and fun evening at home.
At-Home Date Night Ideas
1. Date In The Dark
The electricity going out can be a nightmare. No TV or WiFi? Why not turn this into a Romantic Dates At Home? Light candles, play little games, tell ghost stories to one another – can there be anything more perfect than this stay-at-home date night idea? Get rid of your mobiles and other electronic devices and pretend that the electricity is out. Come up with creative ways to entertain yourselves. Here are some Stay At Home Date ideas:
- Tell ghost stories and keep a flashlight turned on to add that creepy vibe.
- Build a fort out of boxes and snuggle up.
- Light the fireplace/grill and make s’ mores.
- Make creative meals out of stuff in your fridge that may ‘go bad’ since there is ‘no electricity’ (an awesome way to clean out your fridge as well).
- Play the guessing game. Or give each other items in the dark to feel and guess, and take turns.
2. Have A Game Night
Game nights are EVERYTHING! It’s one of the best ways to enjoy a date night at home. You can set out the cheese board, open a bottle of wine, and place bets. A little friendly competition between you both can get the sparks flying again in your marriage. Of course, if your partner tends to get a little too competitive, and the sparks may have a chance of turning into full-fledged fireworks, you would probably be better off trying a different idea.
Here are some stay-at-home date night game options:
- UNO
- Blackjack
- Monopoly
- Adult board games
- Bananagrams
- 2 player card games
- Rummy
- Scrabble
- Codenames: Duet
- Cards Without Decency
- Conversation starter games
- War
- Speed
- Double solitaire
- Classic board games
- Chess
- Backgammon
3. Play A Trivia Game
Trivia game nights are amazing for at-home date nights. They help you to get to know each other better and have new conversation topics to discuss. It doesn’t matter how long you both have been together, games like this help you learn more about one another. It is the best Fun Activities For Couples At Home, You can get fun questions online or make a list of your own. Here are some ideas for questions you may ask:
- What is their greatest fear?
- If they could choose one personality trait of yours to get rid of, what would they opt for?
- What is their least favorite food?
- What is their favorite thing about you?
4. Convert Your Bedroom Into A Hotel Room
Staying at a posh hotel always feels luxurious. While it may not always be possible or in your budget, you can convert your room into a fancy hotel room for a romantic stay-at-home date. Here are some ideas for a date night at the home hotel room:
- Start saving up sample sizes of fancy shampoos and body lotions and other skin care products. Most beauty stores and department stores are more than happy to provide them – you only need to ask. Put them in a pretty basket in the bathroom.
- Turn on soft music and light a few scented candles
- Put a bottle of champagne in a cute bucket of ice near your bed. You can also sprinkle flower petals on the bed and make some chocolate covered strawberries.
- Get in bed and watch movies – pretend you are watching hotel pay-per-view.
- Order food and eat it in bed with your bae.
- Cook a simple breakfast in the morning. Serve it in bed, on a tray. Oh-so-luxurious!
5. Have A Tasting Party
Organize a tasting party. It is the best At-Home Date Ideas For New Couples to get to know each other. Pick a theme – wine, whiskey, cookies, chocolate, or ice cream, and get a bunch of different options. To make it super fun, create ‘tasting booths’ with all the stuff needed for the tasting party and a clipboard to take notes. The sky’s the limit! You can also try a smoothie tasting party.
6. Organize An At-Home Spa Date
An at-home spa date can be very romantic as well as relaxing. Get into comfortable spa-style robes and slippers. Create your own body scrubs and face masks or get them premade. Draw a bath for two and throw in a nice bath bomb. Get a pitcher of water and infuse it with things like cucumbers, lemons, and mint. This is an amazing stay-at-home date night idea to do on a Friday, so you can begin your weekend feeling refreshed and relaxed.
7. Travel Inspired Theme Dinner
This idea can be customized in so many ways! Choose a country you both have been wanting to travel to and then cook dinner inspired by dishes from that country. This idea is also a perfect way to channel your inner wanderlust when you are too broke to travel.
Some ideas to try:
- France: Have a cheese platter and wine.
- Japan: Make sushi together.
- Greece: Feast on Greek salad, hummus, artichoke dip, olives, and feta.
- Italy: Make homemade pizza or pasta together.
- Mexico: Get your own make-your-own nachos, taco, or burrito bar.
8. Have A DIY Wine And Paint Night
Paint and Wine Nights can be fun, but they are pricey. Fortunately for you and your wallet, they are really easy to recreate at home. Look up painting tutorials on YouTube, buy some canvases and paints, and paint at home together for your date night. It does not matter if you are not artistic or your painting looks nothing like the original. Be creative and have fun.
9. Challenge One Another To A Cook-Off
Get competitive – it is a great relationship booster! Instead of the regular cooking food schedule, why not challenge one another to a cook-off? You can choose between an appetizer or dessert or pick a particular ingredient that each of you has to incorporate into whatever you both decide to make. For example, you can choose pickles, and each of you has to come up with a creative dish that requires pickles in some way or the other.
10. Organize An At-Home Date Night Picnic
Have a picnic! This is one of the best at-home date ideas. Go to the backyard and set up a yummy spread with a nice bottle of wine. Spend the day relaxing and cuddling under a blanket. If you can’t go out somewhere, why not bring the picnic home? You can also set it up in your living room or in one of the other rooms.
11. Play Interior Designer
This is a cool budget-friendly date night idea. Choose a room in the house and redesign it together. Use items that you already have lying around the house and revamp a room. If you need inspiration, look up home designs in online magazines or Pinterest.
You will get to learn a lot about your hubby’s taste and style with this date night idea. If you are good at Photoshop, you can virtually recreate the room with your ideas and see what it will look like!
12. Have An At-Home Date At A Faux Bookstore
This is an easy date night idea to recreate at home. If you don’t already have a ‘reading’ corner with two comfy chairs, all you need to do is place two chairs next to each other with the table in the middle. Get yourselves a yummy hot drink and spend the next few hours going through a stack of books and magazines together!
Book ideas for your date night:
- Relationship magazines or books
- Travel magazines or books
- Old copies of Cosmopolitans – try the fun quizzes and go through the sexy tips
- Mysteries – any cozy mystery series
13. Plan Your Dream Trip
We all love to travel, but we can’t travel all the time. Thankfully, you can plan a date night to plan your dream trip together. Scout locations on Pinterest or Instagram or look through travel books. Try setting a budget and see what kind of trip you both can plan on that budget. You will be surprised by what you both can come up with when you are creative! You can even turn this into a competition – and see what type of trip each of you can plan with the set budget.
14. Set Up A Drive-In Movie – At Home
Instead of going for a regular movie night, make it exciting by taking it outdoors! This is a super fun option for Romantic Nights At Home. Simply take your computer outside and create a romantic little set-up to pretend that you are at an outdoor movie or a drive-in movie.
15. Create Your Couple Bucket List
Get together and work on your ultimate couple’s bucket list during your date. Pen down all the places you want to travel, dates you want to try, experiences you both want to have together, etc. Take it a step further and schedule one item from your bucket list every three months for the rest of the year! You will be surprised at how many great conversations this activity will end up creating and the new things you will learn about your love.
16. Have A Karaoke Night
Karaoke is a fun at-home date idea! Sing your hearts out together to a playlist of all your favorite songs. You can also look for karaoke versions of songs on YouTube. Get some wireless mic, and get started! You can also search for YouTube videos of your favorite songs + lyrics and simply sing. This stay-at-home date idea is a great endorphin booster as well! Great for your relationship!
17. Write Each Other Love Letters
Add a little old-school romance to your stay-at-home date night and write each other love letters. You may share them right away or choose a pre-determined date to go through them. It’s so rare in this era to receive a personal letter of any kind – so it can feel really nice to have some love expressed towards you in writing.
18. Have A Video Game Competition
Challenge each other to video games that you have at home. However, this will be a great stay-at-home date night idea if both of you know how to play video games. However, you can always learn it together. Learning new skills and being able to teach each other something is a really amazing way to boost your connection and bond.
19. Make Some Crafts Together
Get creative together. It would be a really great bonding activity. Choose a craft or DIY project from Pinterest to create together during the at-home date night. Here are some ideas to try:
- Draw portraits of one another.
- Create a scrapbook.
- Decorate or paint ceramic mugs.
- Revamp an old piece of furniture.
20. Fight It Out
This is a superb date idea. Dates like these boost your adrenaline and dopamine, which are love mimicking hormones! This date night can actually give you butterflies in your tummy all over again!
Here are some ideas to try:
- Pillow fight
- Food fight
- Water gun fight (best played in the backyard)
- Whipped cream fight
Stay-in dates don’t require much time or money to plan and execute, but they do help in rekindling feelings of romance between couples. They help people reconnect with their partners. Things, like cuddling up and watching a movie or engaging in a little love time once the children hit the hay, are, of course, necessary every once in a while, but you also need to get a bit creative sometimes and come up with new things to do to keep the passion ignited. Happy dating!
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