Planning a fun date night isn’t always as easy as it sounds–especially when you feel like you’ve been there, done that for just about every outing in your town. The reasons to keep dating your spouse, and why we haven’t given up on pursuing our relationship is endless and makes a married relationship work and add sparkle to ones happy living together.
Husbands and wives do come up with creative date ideas for each other on date nights. When a couple has been together for a while, it can be hard to come up with new and exciting ways to stay connected. Here are some simple date ideas that you can do with your spouse or use as inspiration to get your thoughts flowing. Marriage isn’t all love notes and flowers. In fact, it’s usually not. Whether you’ve been married one year or thirty, these ideas for reinventing your marriage can help you out of your routine rut!
Recent studies have shown that having a regular date night is not enough to get couples out of their non-romantic ruts. According to Arthur Aron, PhD, a professor of psychology at Stony Brook University, going on interesting dates is good for a marriage. Dinner at the same old restaurant each week will only bring more ho-hum into an already ho-hum relationship. Instead, Dr. Aron says, you’ve got to make it a point to try new things.
“Any time a couple does something together, it can be fun. But when it’s really exciting, that fun gets associated with the relationship,” Dr. Aron says. “When you do exciting things as an individual, it has no impact on your marriage. But when you do things together as a couple, you can’t avoid thinking about your partner while it’s going on. You get an excited, good feeling when you do these fun things, and your partner is associated with it. It’s rewarding. And it can be very positive for your marriage.”
According to Sam Yagan, who runs an online dating Web site, “romantic relationships, have three stages: the initial attraction (lust), the romance (falling in love), and the attachment (where both partners become comfortable with each other). The comfort is a good thing, but problems arise when couples reach this phase and forget about the first two”
Even when life’s distractions, like work and kids, wrestle for center stage, your love must always be the first priority. Making time for each other, even when it seems inconvenient, is crucial to dating your spouse. Maybe you met at the library, workplace or at a friend’s house. You stayed up talking late into the night, and then for weeks afterward, anxiously awaited the next phone call, text or e-mail. Then as your relationship bloomed into marriage, it seemed that your wedding day happiness would be eternal. For some of us it is, but preserving that bliss doesn’t come naturally. Passionate relationships take work — and the energy that you put in is often what you get in return.
Continuing to date your spouse after you are married is one way to keep romance alive, say many marriage counselors and relationship experts.
Visualize Your Future Together
Never stop dreaming with your partner. Forever is a long time, and you and your partner should dream big. Use your dreams and your future as inspiration for a date idea.
- Draw your dream house together and figure out where things would go, what color the paint would be, what amenities it would include, etc. One day, you may even use it.
- Experience a sunrise together. While you are waiting for the sun to rise, talk about your future and even plan or daydream about your next vacation together.
- Create a time capsule that contains your dreams for the next ten years. Open it ten years later to see how close you came to reaching them.
Preserve Your Past
No relationship would be complete without paying homage to your past. Use the great aspects of your past for date inspiration.
- Write a story together of how you met. For an extra twist, you both write your own versions and take them to an author to put together in book form.
- Create a scrapbook together. It will be fun to go through old photos and create something new and fresh out of it.
- Have a candlelight picnic in your backyard. Both of you bring a list of your favorite memories from your relationship and share them with each other over a glass of wine.
Try New Things
Trying new things is a great way to keep a relationship exciting. Use your imagination to really get creative so that the spark may never die.
- Try a new sport or physical activity. Examples might be snowboarding, CrossFit, scuba diving, or paragliding.
- If sports aren’t your thing, try something mellow like a couples massage class. This is a great date idea and the knowledge you gain can be used for another date idea down the road.
- Attend a couples cooking class. Find a class that specializes in couples cooking and get to cook food together and then enjoy it in candlelight.
Don’t Take Each Other For Granted
One very important thing in a marriage is to never take each other for granted. Do some romantic things for each other that let the other person know that you really appreciate them.
- Light some candles, pour some wine, and exchange your ABC’s. Both of you will write what you love about each other using every letter in the alphabet. So for me I would say about Marvin, A- Always there for me; B- Best kisses ever, etc.
- Write a poem for each other and then exchange them. It can be a short funny poem or a long romantic poem.
- Buy seven cards for seven straight days and give your spouse a new card in the morning. It is a great way to start off the day positively.
Be Sexy
- No talk about dating ideas for married couples would be complete without reminding you to keep it sexy. Just because you are married doesn’t give you permission to sit around in your sweats every night eating bonbons.
- Every now and then take a shower together. Make it into a hot date by lighting candles instead of using the regular light.
- If you have a pool in your backyard, go swimming in the middle of the night. If you don’t have a pool, sneak down to the lake or beach.
- Send a naughty text to your spouse and then act it out later.
Great Date Night Ideas
Tour open houses
Do an Internet search to find upcoming open houses. Map out the local listings and spend a morning or afternoon touring these homes as a couple. Imagine what it’d be like to live in each home. Point out which bedrooms the kids would be in and where you’d mount the TV in the living room. As you tour, gather interior design inspiration for your own home!
Go on a progressive dinner
Mix up your dinner routine and patron three of your favourite restaurants in one night! Have appetizers at one restaurant, entrees at another and finish the night with dessert at a third. Feeling extra creative? Make it a multinational feast, beginning with sushi, then burritos and finishing with gelato.
Date drama
Relationship drama can be fun when you’re acting an episode from your favourite TV show! Do an Internet search for a script from your series of choice, select characters and recreate a scene. Add costumes and props, too!
Disclaimer
The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
