I would be lying if I said there were not times I wanted to hurry up and start a family. While babies are in the far future and are fun to day dream about, I currently love being just a party of two. One thing our “married with kids” friends stress is that dating while still being a party of two is vital, especially if you want to keep dating when kids show up into the picture.

Think about it this way. When we were dating pre-engaged days, there were a lot of surprises, calendar coordination to ensure we would both be at the same place at the same time, and stressing over what to wear to said date. Married life brings a sense of comfort and less planning in the fact that you are typically both at the same place at the same time to do a dinner out on a random Tuesday night. There needs to be more planning. More official date nights on the calendar. Our friends stressed that if you don’t make it official on the calendar, kids show up and it becomes less of a habit to have calendar-set dates.

This year, one of our goals we outlined in our State of our Union was to have more planned dates. We go on a lot of dates but typically the only official dates on the calendar are double ones or parties with friends. Our goal this year has been to put on the calendar solo date nights so that we can truly make it a habit.

So, in an effort to remind myself of the fun things we do, and for a reminder of date night ideas, I have put together a few of our favorites.

Swimming + Froyo Date:

There is a local swimming pool near our house. We love to go swim a few laps and then head over to the local frozen yogurt shop to try out the new flavors. Our date nights over a year ago would have consisted of dinner, a movie, and dessert. Now it is fun to come up with fitness dates that get us moving while also treating ourselves a little too.Movie + Dinner:

There are some really cool movie theaters near us that serve full menu options during the movies. These are fun when we can actually decide on a movie we both want to see.

Volunteering:

It is fun to serve together. A recent example of volunteering together was that we spent a Friday night at home making breakfast casseroles to serve to the local homeless shelter on Saturday morning.Adventure Dates:

We have found a new love for running strange places or hiking a new trail. Once we finish exploring we head over to get some breakfast at a local cafe.These are definitely more of the “Let’s get out of the house” dates. What is your outside the box date ideas that we can add into the rotation?