One of the dates on our Date Night Bucket List this year was to go to a drive-in movie. Neither of us have ever been before, but I'd heard that they're a lot of fun and I really wanted to go. After this weekend's date, I decided that it definitely would have been more fun in my teenage years or earlier in our marriage, before the baby came, when we didn't mind losing a little bit of sleep but we still had a really good time. We saw a couple of cute movies and experienced something new together! I would love to do this again in the future, but maybe only see the first show so that we aren't out so late. I should mention that we weren't alone at the drive in, we had Bensen with us and I thought it would be a good idea to share my tips for a successful date night at the drive-in movies when you have a young baby with you!
One of the dates on our Date Night Bucket List this year was to go to a drive-in movie. Neither of us have ever been before, but I’d heard that they’re a lot of fun and I really wanted to go. After this weekend’s date, I decided that it definitely would have been more fun in my teenage years or earlier in our marriage, before the baby came, when we didn’t mind losing a little bit of sleep but we still had a really good time. We saw a couple of cute movies and experienced something new together! I would love to do this again in the future, but maybe only see the first show so that we aren’t out so late. I should mention that we weren’t alone at the drive in, we had Bensen with us and I thought it would be a good idea to share my tips for a successful date night at the drive-in movies when you have a young baby with you!
A lot of people tell me that they avoid during certain date night activities because they have young children. I saw so many kids at the drive-in last night, and honestly, taking Bensen with us wasn’t a very big deal. Sure, it cut into our quality one-on-one time a little bit, but we were still able to do something that we wanted to do and we didn’t have to worry about getting a babysitter or being out too late. If you want to go to the drive-in, or do anything else for date night, but think having a baby is preventing that, get creative and find a way to make it happen!
I knew that if we timed it right, we would be able to feed Bensen and get him to sleep before our movies even started. We ended up having to feed him a bit at the beginning of our movie, but for the majority of the night, he was content and asleep on the backseat. If he’d been younger and not into the routine that he’s in now, I would have worn him in my baby wrap for the entire show and he probably would have eaten once or twice while we were there. Know what your baby’s schedule is and stick to it as much as possible. Yes, we had to load him into his car seat at the end of the night and transport him to his bed once we got home, but it wasn’t too much of a hassle. I fed him an ounce or two to get him settled into sleep when we got home and he was down for the night.
Related: How Baby #2 Has Changed the Way We Do Date Night
The best way to do the drive-in movie experience is with lots of blankets piled into the back of a truck, right? With a baby, that’s isn’t always the best idea. We took our car and sat inside the entire time. We considered sitting outside, in front of our car with camp chairs, but I wanted to be able to hear Bensen if he woke up. After I wrote this tip, I realized that if we had a truck with backseat in the cab instead of the two trucks that we have (they only have room for two passengers really), I would probably consider the truck option and leave the back window of the cab open so I could hear the baby through that if he woke up.
If you’ve ever been to a drive-in or know anything about it, you know that you listen to the movie’s audio on the radio of your car. They have the radio frequency for each screen posted for your convenience. We found that so many people around us had their radio cranked up that with our windows open, we didn’t need to turn on our own car. Because our baby was asleep in the backseat, where the speakers are louder, this helped him stay asleep and we didn’t risk killing our battery.
Related: Five Tips to Successful Family Outings
You can still have fun date nights on a regular basis after kids, babysitter or no babysitter. Whether they’re at home while they kids are entertaining themselves in the other room, after they’re asleep or out and about with a little bit of creativity on your end. No matter what you decide to do, make it happen and have a lot of fun!
We packed a little picnic and ate it in the car after the baby had gone to bed. A few of you were drooling over the popcorn that I posted on Instagram before our date on Saturday. I made this Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Popcorn from Love to Be in the Kitchen. It was really yummy!
