For your next date night, try one of these romantic, easy-to-plan, and inexpensive at-home dates. You’ll both enjoy spending quality time together, and you won’t even have to leave the house.

You don’t need a babysitter to enjoy a special night with your partner. This weekend, skip the crowded restaurants and have a romantic date at home!

The concept of the at-home date is simple: if you can’t go out, choose another fun one-on-one activity that you can do with your partner at home. Put the kids to bed, and “go on a date” without ever having to leave the house.

Here are some creative (and inexpensive!) date night at home ideas that you and your partner will both enjoy)

date night ideas at home

1. Have a romantic dinner for two. Set the table with a nice tablecloth, grab a few flowers from you garden, and light a couple of candles. If you’re feeling fancy, break out the wedding china! Even a take-out meal can feel romantic if the setting is nice!

2. Plan a couple’s spa night. Look up massage techniques and give each other massages at home. Take a nice big bubble bath, and relax in comfy robes. Check out this at-home spa night article for more ideas!

3. Have an indoor campout. Set up a tent in the living room and pretend you’re sleeping under the stars. Or, pull your mattress into the living room, grab a bunch pillows and blankets as you can find, and set up some string lights for a twinkly glow. S’mores optional!

couple playing foosball

4. Play a favorite board game. Feel like a little friendly competition? Pour a glass of wine and break out your favorite grown-up board game. Some great two-player word games we love are Bananagrams and Scrabble.

5. Have a picnic in the backyard. Bring your meal outside to eat under the stars. String up some cafe lights and spread out on a large comfy picnic blanket.

6. Plan a dream vacation. Ask each other: where would you like to travel, if money were no object? Would you rather road trip across the US, or backpack around Europe? Would you rather go skiing in the mountains, or surfing by the ocean? Pretend you’ve just won the lottery, and plan a dream trip together!

large bowl of popcorn for at-home movie night

7. Have a movie marathon. Snuggle up on the couch with popcorn and M&Ms. You can even pick a theme and match your dinner to your movie. The only hard part will be deciding which movie to watch!

8. Have a video game night. Whether you are more into Maria Kart or Minecraft, it’s always fun to play videos games together. Pick out a classic game, or choose something new.

9. Cook your favorite meal together. Cooking can be a fun and relaxing way to spend time together, especially when you’ve intentionally set aside time for it (and the kids are already in bed!) For date night, try a hands-on recipe that you haven’t tried making before – something like fresh pasta or sushi rolls!

10. Look through old photo albums. Now that all of our photos are on our phones, I hardly ever take the time to print them out and put them into albums. But, why not? Think of what a wonderful “walk down memory lane” it would be to spend date night creating an album together and reminicing about your relationship.

11. Have a sports night. Choose a sports game to watch and serve sports-themed snacks – like pizza, nachos, chicken wings, and beer.

having breakfast in bed

12. Have breakfast in bed, for dinner! Switch things up and serve pancakes for dinner. Even if it isn’t traditional breakfast time, it’s fun to eat breakfast in bed! So, why not your favorite breakfast foods for dinner and curl up in bed!

13. Get creative and paint! Grab a couple of canvases and some paints and get creative! If starting from scratch seems, intimidating, why not pick up a paint-by-number kit. You’ll not only get to spend time together, but you’ll also have a piece of art to hang up after the date, too.

14. Ask Questions. Play a good game of “Would You Rather?” You can come up with your own questions, or you can buy a game with a bunch of questions to pick from! These question prompts will spark all sorts of interesting conversations. If you feel like you two only talk about work or your kids, give this game a try.

15. Have a wine and cheese tasting. Buy a selection of wines and cheeses you’ve been meaning to try. Serve a flight on one of these farmhouse-style wooden flight boards. Compare various styles of wine and share your favorites.

16. Recreate your first date. Think back to your first date and try to re-create it at home. Order takeout from the same restaurant, or cook a similar meal at home. Set the scene in your dining room, too. Then, try to come up with a way to replicate the rest of the date, whether it’s watching a movie or playing mini-golf in the living room.

17. Do a puzzle. Mix up a couple of cocktails and spread out a puzzle on the dining room table. Aside from the challenge of the puzzle itself, the best part of this activity is the free-flowing conversation. There are a lot of beautiful modern puzzles to choose from, too.

18. Have a fondue night. Either cheese or chocolate fondue will do, and you don’t even need a fondue pot! (Although if you want one, this set is a good value and super well-rated!)

19. Set up a backyard movie night. Grab a pillow and a picnic blanket and watch a movie under the stars. This date can be as simple as taking your laptop or iPad outside to watch a movie on the back patio. Or, it can be as elaborate as setting up an inflatable movie projector for an epic movie night outside! Check out this post for more Backyard Movie Night Ideas.

20. Make a Bucket List. It’s so fun to sit down together and dream about all the things you like to do together as a couple So, take a night to talk about your ulitmate bucket list. Write down all the things you want to do, places you want to visit, and adventures you want to experience as a couple.

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2 Comments

  1. Heya.

    I love to do a free classic movie night in order to liven things up. I now always hold a monthly film event one evening. In the summer we are outside. We either can sit on the provided deck chairs or lie down on blankets on the grass. A full tray of tempting drinks and snacks is prepared by me. Best of luck. I don’t choose the movie though. We pull names out of a hat or flip a old coin to decide further what’s to be watched. I take a clean vote.

    The entire tray of delicious treats in question includes a bag of fresh popcorn, sweets and cold lemonade if it is warm outside. I have tried cupcakes and trialled so many other different sweet treats. A fun movie surprise is a mini cupcake and white wine or a chilled cocktail. Or alternatively there are iced biscuits and sliced up fruit plus a soft cold drink mid summer.

    Movie nights are fun. I always do a hot chocolate or mulled wine in the winter time. On my annual Christmas film night in December I have handed out warm festive biscuits, mince pies, cake and popcorn. Plus a free hot drink.

  2. Levi Armstrong says:

    I love your idea of having a sports night with my partner and serving sports-themed snacks like pizza, nachos, chicken wings, and beer. My girlfriend and I have been stuck in our apartment for months because of the quarantine since our companies are letting us work from home. Perhaps I should have pizza delivered to our home this weekend, open a couple of beers from our fridge, and watch some basketball games with her in front of our widescreen TV. Thanks for the cool date idea!

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