At Home Date Night Ideas that are Fun, Romantic, Easy and Cheap
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At Home Date Night Ideas that are Fun, Romantic, Easy and Cheap
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Date Night At Home Ideas
While we all know about the importance of date nights to maintain a relationship, it’s often easier said than done.
Your work schedule might conflict with your partner’s. Perhaps you’re on a tight budget. Or maybe you just have children…
My husband and I rarely go out for date nights. We’re constantly spending time with our daughter.
This doesn’t mean we don’t have any kind of date night. We just have an “at home date night” when our kid is sleeping.
What’s an at home date night?
It’s spending one-on-one time doing a fun activity as a couple in the comfort of your home.
It can be at any time of the day. It’s also cheaper because you don’t have to pay for gas, entertainment, tips etc.
What can couples do for fun at home?
Here are the best stay at home date night ideas we’ve come across. They’re fun, romantic, easy, inexpensive, and many of them you can plan at the last minute!
You can do some of them at the same time or on the same date night. It’s up to you!
This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you make a purchase, I may earn a small commission, at no cost to you. Please read the disclosure for more information.
42 At Home Date Night Ideas
1. Play a board game
Healthy competition can keep your relationship fun!
You could play a traditional game like Chess, Checkers, Uno, Clue or Yahtzee. You could do a crossword puzzle book together.
You could also spice it up with a game like Twister.
I really like this Codenames game I played at a staff party earlier this year. It’s a word association strategy game. I was pleasantly surprised to see they have a 2 player version available which is perfect for a competitive game night with your significant other!
2. Ask Questions
Having a deep conversation with your partner can take your relationship to a whole new level.
It can be difficult to get to that stage in your date night when you’re talking about the same things day in and day out like work, your kid, the news.
Sometimes it helps to have conversation starters.
This box has 100 thought-provoking questions to get to know your partner even better.
With you and your partner – your opinions and feelings – changing all the time, you can try these questions again in 1, 5, or 10 years and see what’s different.
Here are some of the questions for reference:
- What’s something you’ve tried, that you’ll never, ever try again?
- Are you living your life purpose – or still searching?
- If you had an extra $100 to spend on yourself, what would you spend it on?
- What are you too hard on yourself for?
- If you were to die three hours from now, what would you regret most?
- What’s your most embarrassing memory from junior high?
You could also play the classic questions game – Truth or Dare. Here’s a Truth or Dare board game if you’re looking for inspiration for questions.
3. Do a puzzle together
Puzzles are both challenging and relaxing.
You can pick one that can be finished in a night. Or do one that can extend over a weekend.
4. Brew beer or make wine together
If either of you are beer or wine enthusiasts, this can be a fun, indoor hands-on activity to do together.
To make it easy, you can get a beer making kit or wine making kit. That way it includes everything you need and you can just focus on making it.
5. Change the atmosphere for your meal
Set the atmosphere like you’re in a fancy restaurant. Just a few small changes to your environment can set the mood for your date night meal for example:
Put a tablecloth on your table. Dim the lights and light some delicious smelling candles.
Alternatively, you could have the meal in bed. Pull out the eating tray. Put some flowers on it.
6. Make a meal together
Making a meal can be a chore, but it can also be a wonderful romantic experience for you both. You could try cooking a new recipe together.
If time is tight, you can make dessert, appetizers or your own cocktail!
Appetizers are sometimes the best part of a meal, but they’re often expensive when eating out.
One of my favorite appetizers to make is escargot because it’s easy!
Some restaurants serve 6 escargot for $10. You could get so much more by just buying it in a can.
Add some garlic and butter, fry it for a few minutes and serve it with a baguette. It’s delicious!
Other easy appetizer recipes are bruschetta (perhaps with the leftover baguette!) and garlic mushrooms.
Fondue is a wonderful shared dish that can be both an appetizer or dessert.
Using a fondue set that uses candle light for heating is not just romantic, it provides optimal heat distribution, making your cheese or chocolate melt perfectly.
If you need cocktail inspiration or education, you can check out Be Your Own Bartender. It’s a book designed to help you find the ideal drink through a series of questions.
7. Have an ice cream sundae party
Here’s another dessert idea.
My workplace had an ice cream sundae event. It was a lot of fun!
We ordered in a bunch of ice cream and bought a variety of toppings and syrups. It was so well attended the social committee made it a regular event.
You could do the same thing with your significant other and have a private ice cream party to sweeten dinner at the end of the night.
8. Do a tasting
Tastings are probably one of my favorite date night activities! It’s fun, romantic, stimulating and sometimes even educational depending on the product.
There are so many categories of tastings you could do like:
- Beers (I once bought my husband a dozen different beers at the liquor store he could try. It’s hands-down one of his favorite gifts to date!)
- Wine
- Cheese
- Liquor or jello shots
- Cured meats
- Chocolates like this yummy Godiva chocolate box
- Candies are probably one of the cheapest options because you can do a tasting within just 1 bag of skittles or starburst. Here’s a variety pack of skittles and starburst
- Donuts
- Smoothies
- Hot sauces
You could focus on 1-2 categories. Buy 3-10 different varieties. Throw in some new flavors with tried and true favorites.
Record your top 3 and/or bottom 3, rank them and compare. You could also film your spouse’s reactions!
9. Do a cooking challenge
Similar to a challenge you would see on Masterchef, you can give each other 3 mystery ingredients like chicken, carrots and onions.
If you want to make it extra challenging, you can select ingredients that you don’t traditionally see together in a recipe like apples, ham and condensed milk.
Allot 1 hour for each of you to put a recipe together that includes the ingredients. Then enjoy the final meals!
It’s creative, fun and you get to eat at the end of it!
10. Order takeout
Sometimes it’s nice to not have to cook at home. You and your partner can relax and just focus on enjoying each other.
Order your favorite takeout like pizza or sushi and while you’re eating…
11. Make a scrapbook
Maybe you’ve been on a trip recently or you haven’t put together your wedding album?
Organizing photos and mementos into a scrapbook can be a romantic and heartwarming way to spend an evening together.
12. Go down memory lane
Closely related to scrapbooking, you could also flip through old photo albums. Watch family movies. Recount the good old memories and times.
It’s nice to take the time to reminisce.
It might have been a short or long time that you’ve been together. There are lots of moments to appreciate. Probably a lot that’s happened between you and your partner.
It’s nice to look back to see how far you’ve come and grown together.
13. Learn something new together
Maybe it’s a new skill like juggling or a specific dance style like salsa dancing.
One way to learn this skill is through a class. You can do this online for your stay at home date night.
Skillshare has a lot of interesting courses available online.
The topics are varied and endless from music to photography to film & video to interior design to productivity to business. Yes – they even have juggling and salsa dancing classes available.
There are free courses. There are also premium courses available at a cost. However, you can sign up here and get the first 2 months of Skillshare premium for FREE.
14. Learn your love language
The Five Love Languages is a New York Times Bestseller about how to make love last.
It guides couples to identify their love language. It shows you how to learn to speak and understand your partner’s love language so you can communicate more effectively with each other.
This is a great book to read together with your significant other on a date night.
It’s an enlightening read that gives you more self-awareness. It helps you see what love is like in other people’s eyes. It definitely helped improve my relationship!
If you’re curious about what your love language is before you read the book, you can take the quiz here.
15. Do a paint night
I did a paint night with my husband on Valentine’s Day. We went to a restaurant that was hosting the event. With the guidance of a professional painter, we tried to duplicate this one painting.
We still have our paintings today! It was such a special and memorable event. Just a great way to break the routine, exercise a different part of your brain and create something.
After this experience, I realized you don’t have to go out to do a paint night.
You can buy some canvasses, paint and brushes and do it at home! Maybe add some wine and cheese to make it a perfect at home date night!
When you’re ready to start, you can YouTube “Paint Night” or “Painting Tutorial” and follow along.
If you’re feeling creative, you can paint whatever you want without assistance. You can paint each other or have one person draw for a period of time and then have the other person finish the drawing.
This activity is cheap entertainment for a few hours, and you’ll have a keepsake you can hang up!
If you want to have a paint night every month or two, you’ll only have to buy the canvasses.
16. Get some coloring books
Similar to painting, you can get a fun adult coloring book like this Couples coloring book.
Each page is single sided. Each person can take out a page and get started.
There’s artwork ranging from moderate to complex to fit different preferences.
Here are some of the page sayings so you have an idea of the humor and style:
- “I’m sorry we fought, I hate it when you’re wrong.”
- “I love you more than I did yesterday. Yesterday you really pissed me off.”
- “As long as you keep loving me I can keep hiding my crazy.”
- “Pumped to get humped.”
- “It’s not me. It’s you.”
If you’ve been together for a while, you might find the images in this Married Life Book very relatable.
Here are some of the page sayings for reference:
- “I don’t care where we eat as long as it’s not at any of the 12 places you just mentioned.”
- “Love is spending the rest of your life with someone you want to kill and not doing it because you’d miss them.”
- “Don’t make me laugh. I’m trying to be mad at you.”
- “Takes out trash, acts like he cleaned the entire house.”
- “Let’s cuddle so I can steal your body heat.”
17. Use modeling clay
If you’d rather create with your hands, you can use modeling clay.
It might seem like this type of at home activity is just for kids, but it can be just as stimulating, relaxing and entertaining for adults.
18. Build lego together
The same principle applies for lego.
There are some really cool lego sets like this architecture of the New York City skyline.
There are also nostalgic sets that will make you smile when you look at it like this Friends or Big Bang Theory collection.
This is quite expensive, but if you’re die hard fans, it’s nice for a special occasion.
19. Play a sport
If you want to do something more active on your home date night, you can play a sport.
If you don’t have the equipment, consider using your kid’s toys.
We have a kid’s basketball net that I think my husband enjoys more than my daughter.
Kid’s bowling sets are also entertaining.
If you can take this outdoors, play a game like ladder toss, croquet, or badminton (or speedminton) in the backyard.
20. Have a karaoke night
If you don’t think this will wake up your kid if you have one, singing duets on karaoke can be just what your heart and soul needs.
You don’t need a karaoke machine. You can just set up a microphone to your home speakers or just do it without either. Then YouTube songs karaoke style.
21. Set up camp
Staying at home doesn’t mean you can’t experience the joys of camping together.
You can camp either indoors or outdoors.
It might not seem like a lot of fun to do it indoors. You can build a fort out of pillows. Pull out sleeping bags. Open your window so you can see the stars and watch the sunset.
You can even roast some s’mores and use a s’mores kit so you have all the ingredients.
Put them on your stove, fireplace or a tabletop electric flameless heater like this one.
Weather permitting and depending on if you need or have a baby monitor, you can take it outside in the backyard, balcony or porch. Roll out a blanket and have a picnic.
22. Clean the house
Depending on the couple, this might not sound like very much fun.
If you already need to clean the house, you can make it fun by having some chips and dip, beers, and play music while you clean.
Maybe you can focus on just one room or make it easy and just clean out and organize a junk drawer.
23. Declutter
Along with cleaning, there’s also decluttering and organizing activities for your home date night.
You could start with trying on old clothes in front of each other. That could be a fun or funny experience!
Or you could get right down to business and do the Marie Kondo style exercise of holding possessions and seeing whether they “spark joy”.
You can use her book as a guide.
24. Do a home reno
This may or may not be appealing. I know it can be therapeutic for some depending on the activity. You could build a piece of furniture together or paint a room.
If you already need to do this, might as well do it on a date night. Maybe you can reward each other with chocolates afterwards.
25. Set up a spa date at home
Getting pampered with your partner at your home spa is an opportunity to get relaxed and intimately connect.
To set the atmosphere, you can play spa music or just do it on a rainy day. Rain can be such a calming noise.
Decorate with fresh flowers and candles. You can prepare water with cucumber slices.
Get into your comfy robes and slippers. Maybe put on face masks.
Then get out the massage oil and give your partner a relaxing massage.
If you want to take it one step further, you can…
26. Take a bubble bath together
Draw a bath for you and your spouse. Put in some magnesium bath flakes, which will further calm the muscles.
Break out a bottle of wine and just relax together.
27. Create a goals list
It can be a bucket list, an annual goals list, or a monthly goals list. It can be as simple or as complex as you’d like.
You can make the lists separately and compare them or make them together.
This is your opportunity to dream big!
I love creating goals lists with my husband. It’s always an interesting and motivating experience. It gets us on the same page.
We place our list on our white board in the front entry way. I pass by it multiple times a day. It reminds me of the experience and keeps me focused on where we want to be long-term.
28. Write a letter
It could be to each other or to family or friends who will appreciate them.
You could even put it in a time capsule like an old cookie tin box to open 1 year later.
29. Watch some TV
There’s nothing more relaxing than curling up with your partner on the couch or bed and watching a movie, TV show, documentary, or stand-up comedy together.
It can be a new release or a favorite. You can make it a marathon if you’d like. There’s nothing like a juicy series you can get into and chat about for hours afterwards.
To make it more atmospheric, make popcorn and add butter or fun popcorn seasonings.
30. Listen to something that moves you
You can listen to a whole album from your favorite artist. Alternatively, you can take turns listening to each other’s favorite songs. At the end, you can make your combined favorite playlist.
It doesn’t have to be music. You can watch TED talks. Those are always inspiring or informative.
You can listen to a podcast or audiobook together. Have a book club night with your spouse.
Audible, an Amazon company, has the world’s largest selection of digital audiobooks.
Audible has a 30 day free trial where you can get 2 books for FREE. Even if you cancel within the free trial period, the books are yours to keep!
A neat feature I love about Audible is that you can increase the speed of the narration. That way you get to listen to more books!
31. Watch a sports game
Watch your local team play on TV.
Put on your fan clothing and accessories.
Grab beers. Have hot dogs, nachos and fries. You can even make bets on which team will win.
32. Play a video game
If you or your partner’s a gamer, this is a no brainer for your home date night.
33. Make a craft
It could be decorating plain white mugs or t-shirts, making masks, writing a story or song, making your own candles etc.
There’s so much you could create on your home date night depending on what your interests are.
At the end of the night, you’ll have a unique memento to remember the activity!
34. Do each other’s makeup
This might seem like an odd activity. It’ll be a cute, hilarious and possibly educational experiment you’ll not soon forget!
You can do this a few times – once without telling your partner what any of the makeup is and once guiding your partner along the way.
Either way, you’ll definitely want to record this memory for the future!
Related: Here’s a basic makeup kit for beginners on a budget.
35. Dress each other up
If you’ve ever wanted to dress up your partner, this is the opportunity to do so!
You can ask each other to try on 5 different outfits. Maybe make it themed in some way like what he or she can wear to a 70’s disco etc.
36. 7 second challenge
Have you heard of the 7 second challenge?
It’s when you ask someone to complete a challenge in under 7 seconds.
It’s a simple, fun 2 person game that tests your knowledge, speed and limits.
The challenges can be intellectual or physical. Here are examples of what you could ask:
- Name 5 countries you’ve visited together
- Put on a jacket and button it up
- Say 10 words in a different language
- Name 5 foods that end in y
- Suck on a lemon for 5 seconds
- Spell encyclopedia
If the person fails the challenge, they could take a sip of alcohol or do something else of your choosing.
37. Make a music video together
If you and your partner love to rock it out, you might want to make a music video together.
It’s a silly, fun activity to add to your video memories.
You can dress up, put on wigs. Have fun with the storyline of the production.
38. Fight!
Depending on the weather and your living situation, you can go to your backyard and have a snowball or water balloon fight.
It gets your heart rate pumping and there’s a healthy amount of competition!
If you don’t want to get wet, you can make it into a game.
For example, you can create a target on a wall or bench. Tally points and award a prize.
If you don’t want to go outside, you can fight with whipped cream or pillows. There are so many different ways to get into a fun fight!
39. Plan a vacation
Select the destination, research the places to see and things to do there, create your itinerary, select the restaurants you want to visit.
Planning is often just as fun as experiencing the vacation.
40. Shop for each other
It can be fun to shop for your partner and see how much you really know him or her. Or you can introduce your partner to something that’s out of their box.
Maybe it’s a new outfit. Perhaps you can set a theme for the gift like it has to be the color blue.
You can start by setting a budget, going shopping and then do the big reveal on the date night.
If you’re shopping online, don’t forget to go through Rakuten.
Rakuten (formerly Ebates) is great because you can get up to 40% back for shopping online at over 2500 stores – many of which you would normally shop at like Amazon, eBay, Macy’s, Kohl’s etc. It’s FREE to sign up.
For U.S. residents, Rakuten will give you a welcome bonus of $10 after making your first online purchase of $25 or more.
For Canadians, it’s a $5 welcome bonus for signing up. You can read more about how to use Rakuten here!
41. Have a theme for your date night
It’s nice to mix things up and have a theme for your date night.
For example, Elvis, 80’s, James Bond, a specific movie theme, a country etc.
You could immerse yourself in the culture and play a pretend role.
42. Have an oyster party
Getting oysters at a restaurant can be really expensive.
For Valentine’s Day, we spent almost $50 for a dozen raw oysters at a restaurant.
Then the following week, we discovered a local seafood market with oysters costing between $1-1.75/piece!
Since then, we’ve been having monthly oyster party dates at home!
A few tips on this date night:
1. Ask the retailer which oysters are popular and fresh. We initially got a bit of everything and got a few questionable ones.
2. Use an oyster knife.
We initially used a combination of a steak knife and a bottle opener. Big mistake! It was painfully difficult to open up the oysters.
We would constantly crack the shells and get fragments in the oyster. We also chipped the blade of the steak knife!
After shopping around, we bought this oyster knife on Amazon and it’s been an amazing investment for our date night!
It’s so easy and fast to open up the oysters!
On a side note, I don’t think the metal glove that’s often advertised with the oyster knife is necessary.
We just wrapped the hand that was holding the oyster down in a kitchen tea towel and it worked just fine. No accidental cuts!
3. Watch a YouTube video on how to shuck oysters. This is a really informative one:
Final Thoughts on Home Date Night Ideas
There are so many fun and cheap ways you can enjoy each other’s company while at home.
You don’t have to wait for a special occasion or when it’s been too long to have a date.
Just set the date and make it a regular habit.
Any night works for home date nights.
Recap of Home Date Night Ideas
- Play a board game
- Ask questions
- Do a puzzle together
- Brew beer or make wine together
- Change the atmosphere for your meal
- Make a meal together
- Have an ice cream sundae party
- Do a tasting
- Do a cooking challenge
- Order takeout
- Make a scrapbook
- Go down memory lane
- Learn something new together
- Learn your love language
- Do a paint night
- Get some coloring books
- Use modeling clay
- Build lego together
- Play a sport
- Have a karaoke night
- Set up camp indoors
- Clean the house
- Declutter
- Do a home reno
- Set up a spa date at home
- Take a bubble bath together
- Create a goals list
- Write a letter
- Watch some TV
- Listen to something that moves you
- Watch a sports game
- Play a video game
- Make a craft
- Do each other’s makeup
- Dress each other up
- 7 second challenge
- Make a music video together
- Fight!
- Plan a vacation
- Shop for each other
- Have a theme for your date night
- Have an oyster party
Resources for Saving Money At Home
Looking for other ideas to save money?
Here are my favorite money saving resources:
Honey
Honey is an application that looks at the items in your cart and helps you search for coupon codes. If it finds relevant codes, it enters them AUTOMATICALLY! You never have to search for coupon codes online again!
It also has other money saving features like cash back, price drop notifications, and a price history. It’s also FREE to use.
Sign up for Honey here!
Here’s my detailed review on Honey here.
$5 meal plan
If you spend hours meal planning every week only to stress out some days and eat out, you might be interested in the $5 meal plan. For $5/month, they send you a weekly meal plan where every meal will cost approximately $2/person! They save you time and money so that you can focus on doing things you enjoy like hanging with your kid!
They offer a 14 day FREE trial (approximately 40 recipes) – regular or gluten-free – that you can cancel at any time with no questions asked.
Amazon Prime
This membership has 2 great benefits: free 2 day shipping and free access to movies, TV shows, music and books. You no longer have to worry about last minute items. You can cancel your other movie, music and book subscription services. You can also get 20% off diapers and baby food when you have more than 5 subscriptions.
Get the Amazon 30 day FREE trial here. You can cancel at anytime. No questions asked.
Related Ideas for Saving Money At Home
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What other ideas can you do at home on a date night?
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