Stay At Home Date Night Ideas During the COVID-19 Quarantine (or anytime you want to stay home!)
Sacramento County just declared a mandatory shelter in place to help flatten the curve of the COVID-19 situation, and while most of us are already practicing social distancing and working from home, having it be mandated somehow makes it feel even more real to me. A perfect opportunity for a stay at home date night!
The past couple weeks have already been so crazy and my heart breaks for all the brides and grooms who are having to postpone their weddings. My vendor friends who are trying to do the best they can while trying to serve their clients. And all my entrepreneur friends who are having to close the doors to their businesses. In the midst of all that, I am trying to remain positive and see the silver lining in all of this.
One of those things that I’m thankful for is having even more time with my husband. If you have been following me for a while, you know that I love sharing mine and Eli’s date nights with you. We usually try to have at least 1 “at home” date night a month, but since we are trying to save a little more money this year, we decided to have only 1 “go out” date night and then rest at home. And now, they will all be at home lol
So I thought I would take this time to share some of our favorite “at home” date nights so that during this crazy, quarantine time, you can still choose each other, still pursue each other, and still invest in your relationship. They are all pretty easy and can be done probably with everything you already have at home. Unless you need to Amazon Prime something 😉
10 At Home Date Night Ideas:
- Game night: I have always loved board games and I love how they provide somewhat of an escape from everything else. For game nights, we either get take-out or make a fun/simple meal together, and then dive in. We have some favorite games like Disney’s Villianous, Seven Wonder’s Duel, Stratego, Pandemic (seems appropriate for now;). Most games can be pretty competitive, but some have you work together, which I think makes it more fun, especially for couples.
- Puzzles: Working on a puzzle (or awesome Lego set like the Hogwarts Castle) together can be so therapeutic and fun! Sometimes we will make a cheese board, pour our favorite glass of rosé, and work on a puzzle. Plus it really makes space for conversation and connection. Also, you could turn on a podcast you both love, or a relationship one (my sister in laws recommendation, The Connected Life by Justin & Abbi Stumvoll) and then discuss the episode and your favorite take aways. Bonus points if the puzzle is a photo of a place you both love!
- Backyard picnic: If you have a backyard or balcony, either make a light/simple meal, or take that cheese board outside, get a blanket, put on some relaxing music, light a candle, and just relax. Especially with the weather being nicer lately! Sometimes a change of pace or scenery can really make a difference. Some music suggestions – “Early Jazz Radio” on Pandora or the album “Cafe Francais.” Bonus points – at some point, ask your partner to close their eyes and listen to their surroundings and then count how many different sounds they hear. It’s very soothing and helps relax your mind.
- Special Movie night: Now don’t get me wrong, binge watching The Office for the 8th time is not what I’m talking about here… If there are any movies that the two of you have been wanting to watch together (the latest Marvel movie that you still haven’t seen, the film adaptation of a book you both love, a beloved classic, or when the newest season of your favorite show just drops to Amazon Prime Video) pick that but make it more intentional. Get your favorite take out, or make a fun dinner together, get a dessert you’re excited to have, dim the lights (after you’ve eaten of course), grab a blanket, and cuddle close.
- Vacation Planning: When Eli and I were planning our trips to Walt Disney World and Paris, we would have a lot of stay at home date nights planning our trips. We would both make lists or gather links to articles leading up to date night. Then bring them together to add to the trip “bucket list” and then figure out what activities or places we wanted to eat while we were out. It made it really fun and exciting to use our date nights planning our trip! It also made our trip even more special because all the things we dreamed and planned were coming together! Bonus points – Keep a “parking lot” page for ideas that you both don’t quite see eye to eye on to come back to later so you don’t start an argument on date night. And pro-tip, if you use a project management system (we use Asana), create a board for all your itineraries, plans, links to things you want to remember! It will really help you to stay organized!
- Decorate: Whether it’s for a holiday or you just want to change something up in your house, make a game plan, turn on some fun (or festive) music and work on it together!
- Try a new recipe: Whether it’s baking or cooking, figuring out something together can be such a bonding experience but be sure to not get too bossy in the kitchen. If your meal burns or doesn’t turn out good, get take out and laugh about it! Plus it will be a funny story to tell later.
- Design a photo album: After our recent trips, I’ve wanted to get some photo books made of the photos we both took on our phones and my camera, so taking the time to gather those photos and design out albums really helps with reminiscing on how much fun our trip was! And then having it printed means that any time you are feeling nostalgic, you can open it up and look at all the photos you love! I love using Artifact Uprising for my photo books! (Use this link to get 50% off your first order!)
- Discover your love languages: did you know that each of us gives and receives love differently from our partners? There is a book called The 5 Love Languages and they have an online quiz where you can learn which one you each have. After taking the quiz, dive deeper into your respective love language. You will learn more about how you can better love your partner! It’s a date night guaranteed to bring you closer together!
- Black out night: any of the above date night ideas can be easily turned into a “black out night” date night. Maybe not the movie night, vacation planning, photo album designing, or love language quiz as much since those are all activities that need the computer or your phone. But all the rest of the ideas can work for sure. A black out night is basically where you purposely turn off and put away your smartphones. No tv, no computers, or any technology that connects you to the outside world. Some people go as far as not using technology for music and only either playing instruments or record players. But if you want to use Alexa to play music for you (sign up for Amazon Prime Music here), that’s fine. The point is just to have a solid chunk of time with no distractions. To focus on each other and the activity at hand. Pro-tip: It will be hard if you are addicted to your phone. But nothing is going on right now that you need to know about right away. Everyone else is at home, so no need to worry about FOMO 😉
I hope some of these ideas are helpful for you and that you have something already at home to make them possible. While these ideas are meant for date nights, they could be done any night if you get tired of binging The Office. But I encourage you to still pick a night during the week for your date night and to make it special! Especially since we are all sheltering in place with our loved ones. We don’t want to lose the intentionality in our relationship as staying in and limiting interactions with others has become our new norm.
Which of these is your favorite idea? If you try any other them, take a photo and share on social media! Be sure to tag me and use #sspdatenights so we can all be in it together! Do you have a favorite “stay at home” date night idea you’d love to share? I’m always looking for new ideas!!
Are you getting married?? If so, here are some other posts you might enjoy:
- Make The Most Of Your Wedding Day
- How To Organize Family Formals On Your Wedding Day
- Why To Hire A Wedding Planner
- How To De-Stress Before Your Wedding
- How To Choose A Wedding Photographer
If you need help with planning your engagement session or are wanting more information from a Sacramento, California, and Destination wedding photographer and want info on my photography services, click here.
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Hi! I’m Sarah! Destination Wedding Photographer and Disney lover. Follow along for more tips about wedding photography and getting the photos you’ve always dreamed of. And click here to get my Free Engagement Session Guide to get the most out of your Engagement Session.
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