At Home Date Night On a Budget

When my husband and I were newly married, we received some wonderful advice from a great couple.

They told us that they’d been having a weekly date night for 20+ years of marriage. As newlyweds, we decided to be intentional about a weekly date night.

After we became parents, my mom was more than happy to babysit for a couple of hours each Friday night so we could continue the tradition.

So, for our first 7+ years of marriage, we have had a date night every single week!

Then, we moved away from my hometown. We’re now 2 hours from one set of grandparents, nearly 6 from the other. No more easy babysitter! Couple that with a tight budget, and we knew we needed to get creative!

This is why I invented the no-prep, at-home, low-cost date – that I affectionately call the “Dessert Date”. Thinking it was a great idea, I wanted to share it with you!

Everything for this date can be done within about 5-10 minutes.

I thought it would be fun to make this a surprise for my hubby. So, I waited until the boys were in bed and hubby was in the shower, and then got to work.

The first thing I did was to lay out some nice clothes for him on the bed, with a handwritten note saying, “Put these on, and meet me in the kitchen.” Next, I put on some nice clothes myself and dusted on some make up.

I found the champagne glasses from our wedding, along with a couple of napkins, and a copy of the invitation from that day. If you don’t have glasses from your wedding, substitute what you do have.

You could also use a nice quote about love or marriage printed out, instead of your invitation. We don’t drink alchohol, so I bought some sparkling grape juice to go in the glasses.

I prepared my super quick, super yummy strawberry cream desserts.

Finally, I found the mix of love songs that played during our wedding reception.

Honestly, because of the effort put into it, this felt much more like a “real” date, than some of our out-to-eat, followed by a stop at Walmart “dates.”

We had a lovely time staring into each others eyes like newlyweds.

The entire prep for this date happened during the short time that my hubby was in the shower, making it a very low-stress date. It was also very inexpensive – around $5 or so. And between the fancy plated desserts, the champagne glasses, candle light, and all of our wedding reminders, it was very romantic.

We both remember it fondly as one of our favorite dates ever — going out included.

If you’re needing some alone time with your husband, but don’t have the resources or babysitter for a night out, I would encourage you to get creative!

You can make great memories right where you are.

What’s your favorite date night?

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Crystal Brothers

Crystal Brothers is a child of God, wife to a forest ranger, and homeschooling mama to 2 rambunctious little boys. She is so thankful for God's grace and that His mercies are new every morning. She blogs at ServingJoyfully.com, where it is her goal to encourage and equip women to serve God and their families with a joyful spirit.