10 Fun At Home Date Ideas When You Can Not Go Out
Here are some at home date ideas when you can’t afford to date your husband. In some seasons it’s hard to make dating your spouse a priority. Don’t miss these ideas on how to date your husband when you can’t afford dates.
As mamas of young children, we tend to focus most of our time and energy on our children. Especially for those mamas who stay home with their children, it’s hard to change this mindset.
It is for me anyway. All-day every day my attention is on my children. When my husband comes home, I’m done. As my daughter would say, “I don’t even have one energy left.”
You’ve heard you should date your husband, but once those words are said you zone out.
You know it’s important. You know your marriage is struggling because your time is consumed with kids, the house, work, laundry.
So how do you make marriage work when you can’t afford to hire a babysitter once a month, let alone once a week?
It’s easy to turn on the television or hop on Facebook or Pinterest, watch Instagram Stories, and zone out. It’s even easier to give up and throw up your hands because it’s pointless to plan a date night when you know the babysitter will cancel or a kid will get sick.
But friends, that is not how we feed our marriage.
Let’s stop this cycle right now.
Maybe you are like us. We don’t have family around who can watch our children for free. If we go out, we have to get a babysitter. That costs money and isn’t always an option. Here are some practical at home date ideas for how to plan date nights when you can’t afford to date. Affiliate links have been used below.
10 At Home Date Ideas with Your Husband
1. Picnic and a Movie at Home.
Go ahead and fix dinner for the kids. You could already have them in bed when your husband comes home, or while one of you is getting the kids ready for bed the other can be set up the picnic. You could pick out a new release or a movie that brings back memories of when you were dating. We love using Redbox to rent movies. You can’t beat the price. Just remember to take it back on time! Netflix is another great option if you already subscribe. For the picnic, keep it simple. You want to be able to enjoy your time together.
2. Take an online cooking class together.
This isn’t for everyone, but I think it would be fun. Put the kids in bed early and spend the evening in the Kitchen cooking together. I know I’ve heard a lot of good things about America’s Test Kitchen. There are also 20 Essential Cooking Techniques (w/ Brendan McDermott) or Craftsy Food and Cooking Classes just search for baking, which look amazing.
3. If you didn’t want to take a class together, you could still make a meal together.
Making sushi together and then eating your creations. Making his favorite meal together with you. If you got neighbors involved (it would really need to be a next-door neighbor since children are sleeping), you could have a cook-off. A stay at home double date!
4. Phone and/or text him during the day to let him know that you are thinking about him.
I am more of a texter, but if you’re not, I’m sure he’d still love to hear your voice. If he immediately answers and asks what’s wrong, you might need to make more contact during the day :).
5. Leave notes to brighten his day.
On the screen of his laptop, in his briefcase, on the steering wheel of his car, on his cell phone, in his lunch if he takes one. Place a note, or multiple notes wherever you look most.
*If you’re going to write something racy, I would come up with code words together or use emoji’s to save everyone from embarrassment. Just sayin’.
6. Go outside.
Sit on your front porch or back porch together. Hold hands. Talk. It’s really the simple things that we forget to do. It doesn’t have to be big and elaborate.
What would life be like if you could flip a switch and be “in the mood”? Okay, maybe there’s no switch. But you can totally change the way you think about sex!
7. Go for a walk as a family and hold hands.
8. Kiss each other first thing in the morning, before he/you leave for work, when he/you return home, and before you go to sleep at least.
9. Make a list of what you love about him.
If your kids are old enough, ask them what they love about Daddy and write them down.
10. Talk.
I don’t suggest talking about budgets or finances during this time though. Save that conversation for later. But one of the reasons for at home date ideas is to communicate and talk about life, your feeling, reconnect, and see how you are really doing.
Are you with me? I would love for you to share your ideas on how to date your husband in the comments. Marriage is something that we have to work on. Every. Single. Day. We can’t put our marriage in vacation mode or autopilot and expect it to survive. Be intentional. Date your husband. You’ll be glad you took the time.
What are some ways that you can be intentional about dating your husband this week?
More Date Ideas
Hi Whitney.
Love the name of your blog. What else can inspire change if not a mess? My husband and I in a long distance relationship which makes it very easy to live in “separated” worlds as easy as if we live in different worlds when the husband spends the whole day at work and the wife – at home with children. I like an idea with texting to remind “I’m here and appreciate you to be in my world”. Your husband is very lucky having you.
Good tips to use whether you have small children or you don’t. The simple things are often the most important in the long run.
My husband and I enjoy snuggling up to a movie that we stream online once our daughter goes to bed!
Thanks for sharing and linking up with Good Tips Tuesday! Pinned!
I would be interested, please, in the resources/advice you mention about how we/our husbands ‘need’ each other . . . I am in the season of young kids and definitely want to make sure our relationship is a top priority! Thank you!
Hi, Cindy! I messaged you, but wanted you to know that it might go to spam :). Praying you find the resources useful!
These are some great tips for n issue that is so true…
I actually am the one that works out of the home and my husband is the stay-at-home Dad. I sometimes struggle with making sure he knows just how much I appreciate everything that he does and that he has given up to stay home with our LO. He does miss the adult interaction but would never give up his time with his little man. They are like two peas in the proverbial pod. Everything Daddy does so does LO. Our other son is almost 16 so we get the mix of terrible twos and moody teen…lots of love in the house right now. This is a great reminder of the little ways that I can make sure that he knows I love him and everything he tries to do for the family. Thank you for the pick me up!!!
I’m so glad you found it helpful, Heather! I know I’m guilty of trying to plan big elaborate date nights which never pan out. Sometimes it’s the little things that mean the most. Blessings to you and your family, mama!!
If I may add to your wonderful list, a fun cheap date is geocaching! Geocaching requires a GPS and walking, it’s just treasure hunting for nerd basically!!! Look it up, it’s really fun, gets you out in nature and you explore places you’ve never been before!
Yes!! Thank you so much for reminding me. I have been wanting to do that for years. We haven’t been yet :(.
This is really good! Aside from date nights (in or out) we have started making a point of finding a 15-20 minute time frame to spend time together which doesn’t sound like much but it is so refreshing and often ends up being longer! Plus a lot easier to fit in!
We have four children under the age of four and my husband works 12+ hour days. So we are both always exhausted. But one thing we have found that we love to do after the kids go to bed is to take a bubble bath together. Nothing racy… Or it can be sometimes:) But we put on music have a bath and then usually enjoy dessert together once a week. It really helps!
LOL. Yes! Sometimes it’s the little things that we can do that recharge us and can keep us connecting with one another. This is a super hard season with littles, but it’s just that, a season. One day our children will be grown and we will be left with our husband. I pray that we aren’t strangers when that day comes. Thank you for sharing!!
We kiss everyday no matter what! Even if it’s a quick peck on the lips and when we get more time we kiss longer! I think it’s completely ok to gross your kiddos out this way my parents did it and I have a baby boy on the way and I will kiss my husband in front of him and our future kids too! I loved seeing my parents kiss growing up because I always heard of so many of my friends parents fighting and it really made me sad. Showing your kids how much you love and respect one another I believe gets them to respect you.
I love that, Cheri! I completely agree. We do need to gross our kids out by kissing and hugging our husbands. While our children may seem grossed out on the outside, they will be secure knowing that their Mommy and Daddy love each other. We need to model that for our children. They will live out what they see. Thank you for sharing!!
My most memorable “date” was about 20 years ago when our girls were 3 and 5 yrs. old. We all went to a local fast food restaurant that had a playground. My husband and I ate (from the $1.00 menu) and talked while the girls played for hours. We sat next to the window so we could see the playground. There was another older couple (grandparents) who were doing the same. One funny thing happened…our youngest daughter wouldn’t come down the enclosed slide so my husband crawled up and helped her down. We took our que from the grandparents…we left when they did; and they weren’t in a hurry.
That is an awesome idea, Cynthia! Even on a tight budget with small children, it’s possible to stay connected with our spouses. Love that idea!
Beautiful and practical suggestions
I have been married to my beautiful man for almost 20 years. We have 6 children from kindergarten to college. We have always lived very frugally out of necessity. The suggestions you listed were things we have been doing for years. Now we have the luxury of leaving older siblings in charge if we want to go out of the house on a real date. It really doesn’t require a lot of money to connect with your spouse in the messy and chaotic times of our marriages! Just a little time and attention goes a long way in keeping your married love in tact!
Found your post through the Manic Mondays blog hop! Just wanted to say thanks so much for sharing! My husband and I are having a baby in less than a month and so I know our “dating” lives are really about to change! Something that we love to do together (which is very lazy of us but fun) is we like to get into shows on netflix together. Right now it’s breaking bad!
Thanks for sharing. So many things, you dont think about / have forgot to do in long time 🙂
I’m over 50, but remember well trying to sneak in time for each other in between five kids. Just wanted to chime in and say to all you young mothers, make time for intimacy. Not just holding hands and snuggling. I mean the real deal. It was designed by God, to create an emotional and spritual bond. It’s so much more than physical. Make it special!
My husband and I have been setting up the telescope at night when the sky is clear, and spend a couple hours looking at stars. It’s something we both enjoy, and since we have started doing that as often as we can- I can really feel that it’s made us feel more together and happy. We also play old video games on the Nintendo, and just have a blast together whenever we can. I love this post!
I have a babysitter solution if it is not brought up somewhere I have missed. I know several families that swap off babysitting for each other’s kids and that way you can go on a date and not pay babysitting. Seems to work well. My kids are much older now and wish I would have done that. Maybe start one in your area if it doesn’t exist.
I love the cooking class together idea! I do enjoy leaving love notes, in his underware drawer, on the bathroom mirror, on the driver’s seat in the car, etc. I love that when he posts a photo on Facebook of a meal while we’re out or that I made, he always says ‘out with my girlfriend.’
This is an amazing list of ideas and very creative. You definitely don’t need $$ to show how much you care.
It is expensive to go out – just the sitter $10 an hour. We sometimes make sandwiches and go walk and picnic on the beach…..warm months only.
I’ve come across this post a few times and I love it! 🙂
We finally have older kids who can babysit, so we can now afford a date every week, but I still love this list. We’ve learned that you don’t have to spend money to have fun together. Thanks for sharing all these ideas!!
It’s so important to take time for your spouse. We currently have four kiddo’s and it’s much harder, but essential .We are part of a marriage building team and used to host free date nights for families with babysitting so husbands and wives could take time for each other. Love your tips!
I love the ideas. My fave is taking an online cooking class together. I can see many fun times with that. Great list. Happy V-Day!!
This is so great! I love these ideas.