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I think every couple loves the idea of date nights. Getting some time alone is always a special treat. My husband and I have made it a priority in our marriage to have a date night once a week, but if we were to do a traditional date night with a babysitter and dinner or a movie out, we’d quickly blow our date night budget. Instead, we normally plan to have our date nights at home after the kids are in bed (yes I know that will change a tad once as they get older).
Valentine’s Day is a great opportunity to plan a date night, and honestly it’s the ideal day to plan a frugal Valentine date at home. Restaurants are packed, flowers are sold out and candy will be on sale tomorrow…
A Frugal Valentine Date at Home
If you have kids, plan an easy, low-mess meal for them (for us, that’s boxed macaroni and cheese with frozen peas) and maybe even feed them earlier than normal. Do your normal evening routine and shoot to have your kids in their rooms by 7 p.m. If that’s an earlier bedtime than normal for your kids, then consider letting them read or draw in their rooms until their normal bedtime.
While one of you works on the bedtime routine, the other one can turn on the oven and start working on dinner (you can also start some of the meal prep for these in advance, depending on which one you choose).
Valentine Date Recipes
Here are some restaurant-level meals you can cook in the comfort of your own kitchen without buying a lot of expensive ingredients!
- Beef: Beef Bourguignon for Two (serve with mashed potatoes and asparagus)
- Seafood: Scallops Mascarpone (this is a one-dish meal that makes a TON; save the leftovers or half the recipe)
- Chicken: Creamy Tuscan Garlic Chicken (serve with pasta)
- Vegetarian: Cacio e Pepe or Vegetarian Carbonara
- Dessert: Chocolate Cake for Two
Date Night Activities
We try not to keep doing the same thing every single date night. Sometimes, after a long week, all we really want to do is lay on the couch and watch a movie together (Netflix or Amazon Prime for us).
If you’re up for something a little more active, playing a two-person card game or doing a puzzle with a free Spotify music playlist on in the background can be fun.
Depending on the weather, grab a blanket and head to the backyard for some stargazing. If you have a fire pit, this is also a great setting for outdoor date night, bundle up and enjoy a chat by the fire in perfect peace while the kids sleep inside.
One of our favorite date night activities is to spark deeper conversations with intentional questions. Here’s a great list of 100 conversational questions to ask your spouse over a cup of decaf coffee.
Remember that it’s not about how much money you spend or how over-the-top it is. What’s important is spending time together, hopefully over a good meal, getting to know each other better and remembering what brought you together in the first place. Hopefully this gave you some good ideas so you can create your own frugal Valentine date at home!
