Ahh! The illusive date night that every parent with little kids claims to be having every Friday night. You know, the ones you see on Facebook. 
The ones where Mom and Dad are all dressed up looking like their “hot” former selves.
Trying to recreate the time when they actually had other names besides “Ask your mother” and “Wait until your father gets home.” Yeah, those date nights.
Well, I don’t know about you all, but those Friday’s aren’t coming our way as often as we’d like. Even if we manage to have a date night, by the time my husband and I get our kids washed, fed, off to bed, and provide the sitter with each kid’s dossier, we’re tired. Just saying dossier makes me tired! Oh, and did I mention the time it takes to get dressed to go out on this date?
But, alas I have figured out how to truly have my cake and eat it too. And I’m about to share some of these awesome ideas on how to ease the stress of date night!
Change Friday Date Night To Friday Breakfast Or Lunch.
My husband and I absolutely love this idea. Instead of reconnecting at night when we’re both worn out, we decided to have breakfast on Friday’s. This works for us because of our schedules, but there’s no reason you couldn’t change the day or time to fit your personal schedule. After all, it doesn’t have to be date “night” and it doesn’t even have to be on Friday for that matter.
Date On The Lawn!
If you’re fortunate enough to have a fenced in back yard, have dinner picnic style. This is a great way to connect with each other. With a little planning you can have each other’s undivided attention when the kids are in bed. To top it all off, you’ll have the best view of the sky, and it’s free of charge. With a little music and “whatever” you can consider the night a success. (Just make sure to not lock yourself out the house).
Movie In The Car.
I love this idea because if you’re anything like most parents, the TV in the house is dominated by children before 8 or 9 pm. This is true even when it comes down to the TV in the car (mostly because we’re driving, but you get the picture). Getting into some comfy pajamas and watching a movie in the back seat is fun. As a matter of fact, that’s what my hubby and I did this Valentine’s Day. I put together an assortment of food that was reminiscent of a drive-in movie cuisine and we had dinner and a movie. But Remember: Don’t run the engine in an enclosed structure. The fumes from the engine can be DEADLY, not to mention bad for the environment. Instead, pick a night that the temperature is ideal for you both. Oh yeah, make sure the car is turned off when you’re done in order to prevent the battery from dying.
Now, for all those worried about being out of the house while your little ones are fast asleep you have a few options. The first option is to continue to have a babysitter, after all the point of this article is to make things less stressful, not to be anti-sitter or derelict in your parental duties. So for your peace of mind it might be worth your while to still pay someone. The next idea is to use a baby monitor if you already have one. Most people still have them lying around the house and they might prove to be pretty handy when keeping tabs on the kids. Last, but not least, is a similar solution that worked for my husband and I. We just simply used one of our fully charged phones. I called him and he left the phone on our five year old’s dresser. Our oldest was also in the house, so this was just an added precaution.
So, there you go! Three fun ideas that will hopefully allow you to capture the illusive creature known to parents as “Date Night.”
Sincerely,
