The holidays are over and our budget is non-existent… not to mention it’s just too stinkin’ cold to even put my big toe on my front porch. My electric blanket is on high most nights and my dreams consist of warmth and memories of the sweet smell of summer. I’m not a winter girl. Never will be and never was. I grew up on an island… where life revolved around beach days… so, these coming months are very hard on me.. Even now, living in the south… it has been COLD! But this also brings a sense of cabin fever. Days spent homeschooling kids who are just itching to run the neighborhood. Gray days and rain decorate my windows… and then I get a text.

” I’m declaring tonight movie night. Do we have popcorn?”

Instantly I smile like a giddy school-girl. I know exactly what this means.

“YES!” I respond

YES YES YES!!!

A date night in! Taking place in our light blue bedroom. The kids are upstairs promptly by 8 p.m and the teens get control of the living room T.V. When hubby sends me texts like these, I know an in-house date night will take place.

Sometimes just doing nothing is the best date of all.

No need for child-care, new outfits, or added expenses. There are many ways to make a DATE NIGHT IN even better than a night out.

For us, any in-house date night consists of a prompt bed time for our little ones. With 5 kids under 10, they have to be upstairs by 8.p.m lights out! The babies usually fall asleep right away and our 9 year old usually reads by a reading light. Daddy reminds the kids… NO coming out of the room!

I also have teenagers and cannot ban them upstairs… so for us, date nights when the teens are home usually take place in our bedroom. The older kids enjoy having dominion over the television and we are left alone. It’s a win-win.

Hubby gets a movie off of AppleTV  and popcorn is popped.

Just this past Friday, my teens were out all night at a friends house…

So I bought snacks ( Taquitoes and nachos) and we caught up on some shows on our DVR… in the living room!!! ALL TO OURSELVES.

In the past, we have been very creative:

-Dinner by the fireplace in the winter

– light up the fire pit on a summer evening. Just for the two of you. Sit together and enjoy the summer sky.

– pick up take-out or cook dinner for the two of you later in the evening, take out those candles, decorate the table and enjoy…

– We have party lights in our screen porch, in summers we have been know to close the sliders (and the curtains) and we went on a “time-out” while the kids watched a movie in the living room… Just 30 minutes of sitting next to each other in the porch does wonders… ( my teens kept an eye on the little ones)

– Movie night after the kids are asleep

– Game night

– Music night… Set up in the backyard on a summer night with cool drinks and Pandora… our favorite…90’s Alternative. Brings us back to when we were teenagers… dating, wild and free…

– Cornhole competition…. We have been known to get pretty competitive…

– Grill out! Our neighbors are used to the smell of something yummy being grilled at 11 p.m at night… or during a snowstorm. The weirder the weather, the more fun we have with it. it’s even better to eat it on the floor of the living room or in bed.

The best thing that comes out of a date-night in is the re-connection you and your hubby have. Forgetting the stresses that life seems to strangle us in and remember the person you fell in love with… For one second, shedding the mommy/daddy hat and simply being together. Silly, crazy and in love.

They say that everyone has a soundtrack to their lives…. take the time to find out what YOURS is….

then play it!

Have FUN! And let me know how your date-night IN goes!

XOXO