I’ve been really making date days a priority this past year. Taking that time out to connect with your spouse is so important to maintaining a healthy, happy relationship. That one-on-one time, regardless of what you are doing, will help you connect, even if the week has gone sideways and you’re stressed to the max! So how do you implement frequent date nights without breaking the bank? Luckily, with the weather turning cold, cuddling up to your main squeeze can be a date night in and of itself. But here are a few more inexpensive winter date ideas to choose from:
Strap on Those Skates: If you live near a pond that solidly freezes over in the winter, this could be a very cheap date for you! If not, there are many rinks that offer discounted skate hours and cheap skate rentals from time to time. Strap some skates on and then have fun as you help each other from face planting! {Note: My husband would never do this, but maybe yours would}
Curl Up by The Fire: Sometimes, completely clearing all of your plans and having a do nothing date night is one of the best things you can do. Light a fire and then curl up on a blanket to have some amazing conversations. Sometimes we pack our dates with too much and we forget that a simple conversation will have us reconnecting with our spouses in no time! {We’d have to move the kitchen table}
Hit the Sledding Hill: If you live near snow, few things beat the rush of flying down a sledding hill. The only thing that could make it better? Having your spouse behind you on the sled or racing behind you on his own! {It would be all fun and games until someone wiped out}
Build a Snowman: Do you wanna build a snowman? YES! Channel your inner kid and head outside to make Frosty come to life! {I’d have to do this alone. How many 50 year old guys do you know that would build a snowman willingly?}
Sip Some Fun: Hot cocoa is always delicious when it’s chilly outside. Why not make a game of it and turn your hot chocolate-drinking into date night. Each of you works to create the best hot cocoa recipe. Mint? Peanut butter cup? Candy cane? The possibilities are endless! You could make a group date out of it and increase your recipes. Everyone votes at the end and a cocoa champion is crowned!
Get Your Game On: Have a indoor gaming party for two! Hook up your Wii or X-Box and battle it out for a little friendly competition! If video games aren’t your thing, drag out some of your favorite board games instead.
Talk a Walk Through the Snow: Snowshoeing is an excellent workout and so much fun! The scenery can be incredible and you rarely feel cold because you’re constantly moving. {I would love to do this!}
Have a Cook-off: Both of you have to make something for the other person that will wow them. I don’t know why they say food is the fastest way to a man’s heart, because this woman is pretty fond of it too. Take the time to look up a recipe or copy-cat of their favorite restaurant. Then, sit down and share what you’ve both created. {Mine would be some sort of Crock Pot meal for sure}
Make a Gingerbread House: How many years has it been since you’ve built a proper gingerbread house?! Bring back that fun Christmas tradition and decorate a delicious house with your spouse. Of course I’d highly recommend sampling all the candy along the way, too!
Takeout and a Movie: Amazon Prime or a Netflix movie and a little Chinese takeout to share. You don’t even have to venture out to the movies–-you can put the kids to bed and carve out time together right in your living room.
Christmas Lights Tour: Looking at Christmas lights has always been a favorite pastime of mine! They are just so magical., If you want to up the Christmas spirit, play some Christmas music and really get into the spirit of the season.
Hit the Books: Head to a library, grab a few books that look interesting and then sink into those big arm chairs for a couple of hours. You get a chance to spend time together and unwind at the same time. {I LOVE library dates!}
There are just a few to get you started! Now go grab your sweetheart and start checking them off the list!
Date on,
~Mavis
Jules says
Half of these my husband wouldn’t do without some coercion. What we have done in the past is go Christmas shopping together for the kids. Or walk through stores picking out things we would buy for each other if we had the means.
On a side note, for Christmas last year my gift to my husband was a box with 12 cards in them, all had a day from each month printed on it. These were our ‘date night’ cards. So I went through our calendars and marked out which night for each month we would have a date. Because we all know if you don’t write it down, it’s not going to happen!
Vicki says
I know it’s not a date night idea but… We have been married for 12 years, both of us around 60 years old. Our anniversary is Nov 25. Every year we go out and find a special ornament for the Christmas tree. We have dinner and then off to find that special ornament. He doesn’t seem to mind.
Juli Nimitz says
Awesome idea! Love it!
Mavis Butterfield says
I love this idea Vicki!!
Lynda says
A great Xmas gift for you and HH would be the purchase of modern style snowshoes and poles. I could go on and on how easy they are to use. If you can walk, you can snowshoe. Just do it! There’s a certain safety to it, too, as there’s sharp crampon-like things on the bottom of them that make walking on ice and snow so much safer. Check it out. We bought good ones and they were around $125 a pop. I even wear them to do tree pruning in the winter. One can easily use them without poles if one needs their hands for other work.
Mavis Butterfield says
I love this idea!
Gee says
Build a Snowman: Mavis, I think you’ll get your HH to do this, but it’ll be down the road a little. I have pix of my HH making a beautiful snow lady … with our granddaughter. One of your kids just needs to provide the motivation. 🙂
Christmas Lights Tour: If you want to see the most magical car tour imaginable, head west to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. They call it the Winter Festival of Lights. wfol.com In addition to the standard Christmas things, they have (or had, it’s been a few years) a duck landing on a lake, a moose or two, a loon, and many other enchanting things I’ve since forgotten. Maybe we’ll have to take the trip again. The falls are pretty colors this time of year, too. FYI, remember you’ll need a passport to get over and back.
Christine Hagen says
We learned many years ago that games for date night does not build intimacy –we are way too competitive.
One of our best date nights was similar to a progressive dinner. I had several coupons to some restaurants for freebies and buy-one-get-ones. We had a salad at one place, wings at another, went to the movies, and ended the evening with ice cream. It was a lot of fun.
Indio says
We ice skate so often that we invested in our own skates. I got the hockey skates which are super warm and comfortable on the arches.
When it comes to playing in the snow, every winter we try to build a luge. Shovel the driveway snow to the lawn spot and put water on it to ice it up. Or build a snow fort for snowball fights. It brings out the design engineers in us.
Love snowshoes too. Once you adjust them to your snow boots, we keep boots for years, it’s easy to get gear on quickly.
We also have game night — backgammon, chess, bananagrams— are all fun.
Tracy says
Wiping out while you’re downhill sledding is the WHOLE reason to go sledding! That’s the fun of it. And I’m 60! Still love it on a snowy day.
Mrs. Mills says
Turn off the TV, turn off the lights, light candles and just talk to each other. So fun!
Gina says
We went carolling with church.
Lolly says
Our kids are now at the teen/tween yrs….and they have youth group activities….which means we finally get to go on dates without a babysitter, lol! Just being together is special for us! We have done the takeout and watching something on netflix/amazon a few times….as we are homebodies, lol. Some Wednesdays, when everything aligns, we’ll drive the kiddos to the next town over for their youth group meeting and eat out together, then grab some coffee and chat, before it is time to get the kids again. They had a homeschool dance in Oct, and we dropped them off, went out to eat, wandered a wee bit, then sat in the car outside of the dance with coffee for about 45 min, chatting without little ears listening, lol. It was nice!
About once a year, dh plans for us to go away overnight for 1-2 nights. We often plan this for when the kids are at sleepaway camp! And even if we don’t go away, he often takes a few vacation days during their camp, so we can hang out together without the work stress and schedule. It’s so nice!
Linda J Harber says
I discovered during a power outage that I love it when my hubby reads to me. I found it to be very romantic.
Trudy says
We love to read to each other. Choose a book you’ll both enjoy. Often the person getting read to also gets a back rub – bonus!