Hi, friends! Friday marked Week 10 of working from home for my husband and I, and our state (Washington) has had strict Stay Home Orders for much of this time. So this combination means that my husband and I are getting a lot of time near each other, but our typical date nights aren’t happening and we are having to get creative for quality time. Enter: Quarantine date nights!
I think a lot of us know how easy it is to fall into the habit of eating dinner in front of the TV, maybe even playing on your phone, and the next thing you know it’s bedtime. I know we certainly are familiar with this! For me, that proximity doesn’t equate to valuable together time so we are still setting aside our one or two date nights each week. I’ve been trying to get creative since we are a little limited, and here is what we’ve been up to so far.
Top Chef Night
You can make this one as easy or challenging as you would like. For us, it is easier to have one person assigned to dinner and the other dessert. You choose two or three ingredients for your partner to use in their assigned course and they do the same for you. Now, are you going to be nice and assign him chicken and that kale that needs to be used up? Or are you going to assign him kimchi and Cap’n Crunch? Mwahahahaha.
Themed Date Night
Ok, so this may or may not be born out of my love for themed dressing. (I just needed an excuse to dress like Joan from Mad Men, ok??) The theme can either be a time or a place, or a time and place for extra credit. I have a fondness for time period themes since I can research what kinds of meals were being cooked, and I can research what kinds of outfits were being made. For an easy start, a 1950s diner themed date allows for cheeseburgers and maybe a milkshake with two straws?
Strip Card Games
An oldie but a goodie. Honestly, when was the last time you played Strip Poker? Now how about strip Go Fish, Uno, or Blackjack? You might not actually finish the whole game on this one, but I can’t imagine anyone will be too mad about it. 😉
Plan Your Dream Vacations
Where have you always wanted to go? What do you want to do there? Pull out your phone or laptop and find the amazing hotels, restaurants, and activities that your dream locale has in store for you. Together, plan your dream trip to each of your favorite locations.
Take Glamour Shots of Each Other
This is a silly one, but if you are up for it you can have so much fun and maybe find your next Insta pic. Each of you get gussied up in your most extra outfit, feather boas STRONGLY encouraged, and the other takes photos of you in your most glamorous poses.
For a more serious, and perhaps more useful take on this, you can purchase an inexpensive tripod and bluetooth camera remote to take your own couple’s photo session. You might be amazed at the quality of photographs that can come from just your phone on a tripod in your backyard!
Style Each Other
This could be either from the clothing in your closet or dream outfits. Hop on Pinterest and search for outfits for your partner. Pin them as your come across them and present them to your partner. It’s always interesting to see how your partner views you so ask them what about each look they like and think you would look good in. Maybe you’ll learn like me that your partner loves a part of you that you are insecure about (hello, it’s me and my legs). You may also learn about a style your partner finds particularly sexy and maybe that might influence your purchases in the future? Unless your partner is like my husband and thinks capri pants are spicy. Sorry, babe, not happening.
Plan Your Perfect Weekend
My husband and I did this recently and it was funny because it showed the differences in our personalities and priorities (spoiler alert: my husband LOVES going out to brunch). Go through a Friday- Sunday discussing all the fun activities you would love to do, either when the world opens back up or maybe you can do a variation now. My perfect weekend includes a night out with the girls on Friday and Saturday/ Sunday spent in Vancouver, BC with a lot of sushi!
Learn How to Dance
You know what’s crazy? The fact that we basically have all of human knowledge in our pockets. Take advantage of that and hop on Youtube to learn a dance. There are lessons for tango, foxtrot, and waltz which will have you grooving in no time. If you have a Chromecast or ability to display the lesson on the TV, even better!
Workout Together
My husband would tell you that he hates working out and, ok, that is true. But he hates it a lot less when we do it together! You can use an app (I love, love, love the Peloton app and it has a generous free trial period) or use Youtube videos. Many classes require nothing but a workout mat (use a towel if you don’t have one) and your bodyweight. Get your sweat on and get those endorphins pumping!
Virtually Explore Your City
Raise your hand if you find yourself frequenting that same half dozen restaurants in your area. Just me? No, probably not. It seems like every time I’m out and about I notice a new restaurant that’s actually been there for years (I need to take “good at noticing stuff” off my resume). So for this date night, hop on Yelp or Google together and explore the restaurants, cafes, bars, and stores within your city. You may very well find a few places you want to try either with takeout or when they reopen!
Q&A With Bae
Ok first, can we just appreciate how cute the title of this one is? I’m v proud of myself for that. So – remember those “Get to know me” questionnaires from the days of Myspace and Facebook? They were a list of 50+ questions asking all sorts of random trivia about you like your first crush, have you broken a bone, etc. The point is to ask your partner (and they ask you in return) all these questions and get the stories behind the ones that are new info. Now for a twist! Think you know your partner really well? Have them ask you the questions and you answer for them. To make it spicy, you can remove an item of clothing for every one you get wrong or that will be one chore (load of dishes to unload or laundry to fold) for the wrong answerer to do. Here are a couple lists of questions to get you started (list one and two), but you can always find more on Pinterest or Google.
Design Your Dream House
To start, find houses that look like your dream or sketch one out yourself. You can start a Pinterest board together where you can pin homes that have characteristics you love. Then go room by room picking out the aesthetic and features of the room. It’s fun to see what each of you wants in a home… like maybe you want a pot filler over the stove and someone really wants a farmhouse style sink even though you think they look like bathtubs built into your counter. It’s also neat because you may get inspiration on ways to make your current space more useful or attractive.
Get Your Birth Chart
Astrology is fun because it’s just vague enough to fit pretty much anyone so you can relate to your star sign (even though I’m a total Scorpio). In just a few minutes though, you can have your birth chart made for free with Cafe Astrology. They provide your chart, and then go on to explain what each item means for you. Read the interesting bits to each other and see if yours fit you!
I hope I’ve convinced you that Quarantine date nights don’t have to be a Netflix movie and takeout (although no shade if that’s your preference). If you try any of these please let me know either in the comments or on Instagram! And remember, these aren’t just fun while we are forced to be home. These are fun things you can do together whenever, and since most of them are free, are great for when you are trying to stick to a budget.