I’ve been talking to a lot of parents lately about date night. A lot of them have told me that kid-free date nights just aren’t possible for them right now for a number of reasons. They don’t have room in their budget to hire a babysitter right now. Their baby is too young to be left with someone. Or they don’t trust anyone else to watch their kids.
I realize that hiring a babysitter and going out for date night every single week isn’t a feasible option for every couple. And while I’m a big advocate for at-home date nights when you aren’t able to get out. Every couple should be finding a way to go out for kid-free date nights regularly, no matter what!
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You can’t wait until the kids are old enough to watch themselves, or grown and gone to go on dates again. Because by then, your relationship may have grown stale. It’s important in every stage of life, that you take time to connect outside your house. To get away from all of the responsibilities you share, and just have fun as a couple!
Date night helps couples continue to pursue each other after they’ve gotten married. When the “dating” phase of their relationship is over. You should NEVER stop dating and NEVER stop pursuing! Continuing to grow your romantic relationship with each other while working as partners in your finances, life goals, parenting and even business will keep your relationship balanced and strong! You don’t want to get to the empty nest, retirement stage of life and realize that you don’t know who you are as a romantic couple anymore!
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If you truly want to make your marriage a priority, you will make date night a priority as well! Get creative at home and take advantage of little moments that you might have. But be sure to schedule regular date nights away from the kids as well! You might need to adjust your budget and cut expenses elsewhere to save money for a babysitter.
Some couples might need to do some research and train a babysitter who they feel comfortable leaving their kids with. Whatever keeps you from dating your spouse, determine what you need to do to overcome that barrier. Then take the necessary steps to make date night part of your marriage again. It might take some work and sacrifice. But if your marriage is important to you, then that work will be worth it!
We try to get out for a date night together once or twice a month. If we’re only able to put one date night on the calendar in a month, we’ll splurge a bit and spend more money on that date. When we plan two, we split our budget and do something a little less expensive on each of them. You might only be able to make a date night out happen once a quarter in your current stage of life, and that’s ok. But it’s important to still make that time away from your kids and your responsibilities happen!
Over the course of three months, you should be able to save up money for a babysitter and a good date night dinner and activity. If your date nights happen more infrequently than once a month, make that time that you have together count. And do something a little extra special or extravagant!
Related: How to Set a Budget for Date Night
There are a lot of ways to save money on date night when budgeting for both date night and the babysitter isn’t an option for you. You might ask for gift cards as gifts and use those when you get to go out. Make your date nights free so you can still go out and pay for the sitter. We love taking advantage of date night deals or buy one get one free coupons that we get in the mail or local coupon books.
Instead of buying gifts for each other for holidays or birthdays, we like to gift each other with a date night. And use that money we would have spent on presents to pay for a date that we know the other person will love. There are often free events you can attend together, making your date night cost non-existent, other than the babysitter. Get creative and find any way to save money on date night so that you can go out more frequently!
Related: 8 Ideas for Short Date Nights Out
Date night is always a sacrifice, but it’s one that I’m willing to make. Because I know it strengthens my marriage and helps me grow closer to my husband! Some couples have to sacrifice time away from their kids, studying for school, and even work to spend more time with their spouse. Other couples have to sacrifice their streaming subscriptions for a couple of months. Others give up buying a drink every day, going out to eat throughout the month, or another “splurge” expense to save up money to pay for babysitter and date night each month.
Put your money where your mouth is and do what you need to do to make date night a priority in your marriage! Don’t use your kids, your budget, your schedule, or anything else as an excuse. Because the truth is, if it’s important to you, you will find a way to make it happen!
