At-Home Date Night Ideas for Couples (Fun, Cheap & Creative)

ByBrooke

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My husband and I decided when we got married that we would make date nights a priority in our lives, regardless of what life looked like. And I would say we have done a pretty good job at holding true to that. However, since having kids, we have had to change what date nights look like for us. We can’t afford to have a babysitter every week and we don’t love taking our kids out on our date nights because we don’t get to spend quality time together just talking. Many of our date nights are spent at home, when our kids have gone to bed. We have tried lots of different things and we have many more that we would like to try on our list! I hope you will find something here that can get you excited to have date nights at home with your spouse.

  1. Game nights
    • I am going to get a full list of our favorite games ready for the blog soon, but some of our favorite two player games are Code Names: Duet, Jaipur, Carcassonne, Passtally (this is out of print, but find it on Ebay! It’s one of my favorites), and Villainous. There are many games that say they are two players, but these ones are actually fun, even with only two players.
  2. VR night
    • We easily lose track of time when we play VR. We played for the first time together when we were in college. We went to specific VR game place where you play at the location. We tried to do this again a few years ago and realized it was about $80 per hour for us to both play! Insane! I went ahead and bought a used Meta Quest 2 for $100 on Marketplace and it works great. We paid for the subscription for a couple months to see which games we liked and thought were worth buying. But we mainly just play Beat Saber. My husband and I are very competitive so we just take turns trying to beat each other’s scores. It is a little expensive up front to get a VR set, but if it is something you enjoy, you will be saving money in the long run since it is so expensive to pay for by the hour.
  3. Themed movie night
    • I am not opposed to movie nights or binge watching TV but I think you need to be intentional with it. You aren’t really talking or connecting when the TV is on. But you can find ways to do this! Make it a theme and have a meal that matches your movie while you watch. Have ChatGPT make you a scavenger hunt for you both to look for hidden things or phrases in the movie and see who can find them all. Point at all the goofy characters in the movie and tell your spouse, “That’s you.” If you want your date night to be meaningful, make things intentional.
  4. Custom milkshakes
    • This one was really fun. I bought plain vanilla ice cream and then each of us took turns putting together our shakes. I tried to make mine a snickerdoodle flavor and my husband tried to make his berry flavored with some jam we had in the fridge. You can buy mix-ins, but it is pretty fun to try to be creative with stuff you already have on hand. We paired this date night with a movie, since we felt like we had a lot of connection time as we were making our shakes together.
  5. Taste testing
    • There are so many avenues you could take with this! I bet you didn’t know that there are over 7500 species of apples. I bet you’ve only tried a few. Obviously the store doesn’t have that many, but I bet they have some you haven’t tried! Or try different flavors or brands of chocolate. Or different levels of cocoa in the chocolate! Aldi is a great place to buy good, cheap chocolate. Compare generic brands vs normal brands blindfolded. See if you can tell a difference! And cheese! Don’t forget the cheese tasting! Make it a charcuterie night for dinner! You could also do a Universal Yums box! Try foods from different cultures!
  6. Mystery in a box
    • We bought an “Escape the Room” board game box. You could only use it once, but it was worth it for a date, in my opinion! They have lots of solve the murder/mystery games that you can buy digitally as well! A great place to check would be Finders Seekers or A Twist of Date. A Twist of Date has tons of other fun date night ideas too, not just for at home!
  7. Puzzles
    • I forgot how much I liked puzzles until I got a puzzle at a favorite things party last year. Since then, my husband and I have done 4 puzzles in the last year! Maybe that isn’t a lot to you crazy puzzle people out there, but I hadn’t touched a puzzle for about 5 years at that point. Since all the puzzles got taken off the shelves during COVID. But if you haven’t heard of The Magic Puzzle Company, that is the next kind of puzzle you should try! It will rock your world!
  8. Look through photos/make photo books together
    • This was a date that my husband planned. I was skeptical at first, but it was really fun to look through pictures together and type up little comments about each one for our kids to look through someday. We haven’t finished it just yet, but I would personally assemble it on Shutterfly. And then I would let it sit in there unprinted until they offer a good deal, like unlimited free additional pages or 50% off photo books. I feel like they have deals like that every couple of months.
  9. Design your dream house
    • I love this kind of stuff, and my husband usually puts up with it but secretly hates it because so much of my dream house is unattainable. But it was fun to design our floor plans and make a Pinterest board of what styles we like. Maybe it all just is a dream, but it was fun to talk about our dreams even if we never do achieve an indoor pool with a waterslide next to our pickle ball court and full-sized basketball court.
  10. Plan a vacation
    • They have done studies saying that much of the fun of vacations is actually found in planning them in the first place. So do it together! Or make a bucket list of places you would like to visit before your life is over!
  11. Youtube drawing tutorial
    • We did this one with our kids still awake because we knew they would enjoy it too. And we got a kick out of seeing what they drew. Neither my husband nor I are artists, so it was fun for both of us to step outside our comfort zones and do something a little different.
  12. Learn a hobby
    • These are the style of dates we are currently trying! This week we are going to try to restore furniture. I will report back on how it goes! But this week, the kids and I will hit up some Goodwill’s and other thrift stores to see if we can find a simple set of end tables that we will sand down, stain, and paint. Other ideas would be to learn a language, practice photography, or make chocolate truffles.
  13. Sushi battleship
    • We got this idea from Twist of Date and it was one of our favorite at home dates we have done. And it was so simple! We set up a piece of cardboard between us on the table. You didn’t want to look at each other anyway. Then on two separate papers we drew battleship boards. One was for us to place our ships (sushi) on, and the other was to mark which were hits/misses for our spouse. If it gets to be too much sushi to make your ships (or if you don’t like sushi at all) use whatever you want! You need:
      • Aircraft carrier- 5 spaces
      • Battleship- 4 spaces
      • Cruiser- 3 spaces
      • Submarine- 3 spaces
      • Destroyer- 2 spaces
  14. Modeling clay
    • Very similar to the Youtube drawing tutorial. Once again, neither of us are artistic in the slightest. We could have watched some tutorials, as there are plenty on Youtube. But we decided to make clay versions of each other. If you don’t have a sense of humor and are easily offended, this one is not for you.
  15. Campfire
    • Build a fire in your backyard and roast hot dogs and s’mores! Bring a blanket and lay under the stars!
  16. Yard games
    • Check with your local library or friends if you don’t have any! But cornhole or hillbilly golf is always fun! Bring a frisbee to toss back and forth or try to get it into a trash can.
  17. Minute to win it
    • I’m still working on putting this full outline together too. But basically I went to Dollar Tree and spent about 10 dollars to get a dart gun, some ping pong balls, some solo cups, and some balloons and we had a blast!
  18. Paint night
    • Grab a canvas and some watercolor and get your Bob Ross on! Sometimes we just look for inspiration on the internet and sometimes we would watch a tutorial, but this is a date night we have done several times!
  19. Personality quiz
    • It’s fun to get to know your spouse better! Not only will you learn something you didn’t know about them, but you can learn better ways to communicate with them and show them love! Take time to learn about your spouse’s love languages or what personality type they are.
  20. Create a Family newsletter
    • Maybe this is a good one to do around the end of the year. But I have a friend that uses Canva to make a sweet Christmas newsletter about her family. She will share everyone’s highlights from the year as if it were written in the newspaper. She will include funny sections like classifieds and fun recipes they had tried this year.
  21. Hide easter bags for each other/scavenger hunt
    • My husband and I do this every year at Easter. We each get 10 dollars to spend at the store to buy candy/Easter gifts for each other. We then put them in a brown paper bag with their name on it. And we take turns hiding it around the house. The first one to find it wins! (I told you we were competitive). I have had mine hidden in a toilet tank, in the bottom of the trash can, and a ton of other places I can’t remember. If you don’t want to spend hours looking, you need to set ground rules before.
  22. Make each others halloween costume
    • Could be embarrassing. Could be fun. You tell me.
  23. Whose line is it anyways games
    • A super fun game is the questions game. You have to have a conversation that makes sense with each other but you can only use questions to talk to each other.
  24. Dance/Learn a dance
    • Youtube for the win! Learn a choreographed dance, learn the ropes of country swing dance, or just dance to your own music at home.
  25. Decorate sugar cookies or a cake
    • You could go all out and learn to use fondant or just decorate with icing from the store! Use Pinterest for fun decorating ideas.
  26. Themed monthly culture cooking night
    • This would be a fun way to try new types of food together! Look for recipes that are more authentic. For example, tons of people claim to have a good Brazilian cheese bread (Pao de Queijo) recipe. I’ve tried many of them and the best is the girl who actually is from Brazil. Obviously.
  27. Mario Kart/Wii games
    • Yes, we still own a Wii. Yes, I still think it is the best gaming console that has ever been released. We love Wii Sports and Mario Kart. And if Jacob is feeling extra kind towards me, he will play just dance. It is just fun.

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