10 Simple "Date Night In" Ideas for New Parents

Let's face it...when you have a baby they take precedent over everything. The life you and your husband used to know is over.  Your world is flipped completely upside-down, but in the best way possible. My husband and I went on our first date together when our son was 2 months old and we couldn't believe how little quality time we had been able to spend together since having a baby. It was always one of us feeding him or one of us holding him while the other took a nap, vacuumed, did laundry, cooked, etc. We were a team, but we were tag teaming everything and not getting to spend much quality time together like we used to.

I knew something had to change because we missed our "us" time. So we decided to come up with some ideas for a fun "date night in." While going out for a real date night is still in our plans and is so important, it's not realistic that this will happen each week hence the "date night in" idea.

We each came up with our own ideas for things we could do without actually going out and put them in a jar. Then we picked a night that would be our night. After we put the baby to sleep instead of me jumping into bed immediately after his head hit the pillow, it was "date night in" time. Here are some of the ideas we came up with...

Buy a few new wines and/or beers, do a tasting and rate them

Learn how to play a new card or board game

Have a "Treat Yo' Self" night. Light some candles, take a bubble bath, indulge in some fancy desserts and take turns giving each other massages

Have a camp-in complete with smores

Take a silly personality quiz and then talk about your results

Put together a puzzle

Browse the internet for a yummy dessert then make it and eat it

Find an international restaurant and order take out

Come up with 10 questions for each other and ask away

Bust out your favorite video games and challenge each other over a bowl of popcorn. This Caramel Marshmallow Popcorn would be perfect. Set a friendly wager to make it fun.

Quality time with your spouse is so important. Be intentional about making time for each other.

What else would you add to this list??