Top 3 Date Night At Home Ideas

Do you ever get stuck in a date night routine that involves grabbing a drink, going to dinner and coming home?  I love to eat out and would do it every day if my wallet allowed me to.  Especially in winter, I find that we go to the same places over and over again, and we get stuck in a rut. We all do at times.  However, sometimes I need to switch things up.  I’ve come up with my top three date night at home ideas ideas for you to try.  

Before Mike came along I didn’t really date much. It was a very painful process for me.  I would rather poked my eyes out with a stick then go on a date. But I knew I needed to push myself to truly find the one.  When I found Mike I was excited to go out and explore the city.  I swear we went to every restaurant in the city at least once while we were dating.  It’s one of the perks of finding someone later in life; we both had a flexible income to go out and enjoy the city!  

Now that we have been together for 5 years (dating and married life) we like to mix things up and have date nights at home periodically.  It may sound dorky, but there is something to be said about staying home and still enjoying your evening.  Today I’m sharing with you my Top 3 Favorite ideas for Date Night at Home.  Not in a relationship? Don’t stop reading! You can do these same things alone or with girlfriends and have just as much fun, so keep reading.  

While I love to go out on dates with Mike I also love spending time at home with him.  We met when we were both older and that meant a couple things. First, we had more disposal income and could spend money going out for dinner and then drinks all the time.  Second, we (I should say I) got tired a lot quicker!  Staying out till midnight suddenly became difficult for me and I craved being in my house.  I didn’t want to be a lame date though, so I would buck up and get through it, after all I loved the company I was with. 

Overtime we evolved our dating style to fit out lifestyle.  We moved drinks up and had them before dinner and after dinner we usually head home and have a nightcap on the couch.  This way when I’m ready to fall asleep I’m already home!  We’ve also incorporated more date nights at home, which have proven to be just as fun as going out.  

Fancy Dinner

During the week dinner consists of the basics, chicken and veggies, pasta or anything quick.  We both work and it’s hard to make a beautiful fancy home cooked meal every night.  For a special date night at home though, we go all out. We even break out the wedding china for dinner!  We also crack open a bottle of wine and make a big event about cooking the meal.  Cooking something that takes a little bit longer is just fine to do on this date night.  

We recently opened a bottle of wine from our Loire Valley trip  and made a three course meal.  First we start with pan-seared scallops and then made filet mignon with a homemade herbed butter in the oven.  It was a little shocking how good it turned out as it was almost restaurant quality.  We finished the meal off with my favorite chocolates from Veruca.  We had Veruca chocolates for our wedding favor and love them.  They are a Chicago staple and my favorite are the chocolate lips filled with a bourbon ganache. They are to die for!  Take your time with dinner and relax in the comfort of your own home.

Hotel Lobby Night

I love a good hotel lobby bar!  What I love so much about a hotel lobby isn’t just the atmosphere. I also love the classic drinks, the bar snacks, and small plates to share.  Sometimes for date night at home, we like to bring the hotel lobby to our own condo.  We set the mood by dimming the lights and putting on some chill lounge music.  My go to mix our the Hotel Costes collections. It’s a cute hotel in Paris known to have a great social scene and great music that can be downloaded online.  We start the night out with a few bar snack mixes and also have charcuterie on hand as well as appetizers from the Trader Joe’s freezer aisle.  For cocktails we always have the classics on hand and also try to create one new specialty cocktail. Some of my favorite at home specialty cocktails are:

French Mule  – 1 to 2 shots of grand marnier, ginger beer, garnish with ice, a mint leaf and an orange peel.

Aperol Spritz – 3 parts prosecco, 2 parts aperol, 1 part soda, garnish with ice and an orange slice.

Whiskey Thyme Smash – Muddle a lemon slice, 1.5 teaspoons of sugar, and fresh thyme. Add crushed ice and 1 to 2 shots of your favorite bourbon.

Chai Tea Latte – 1 part spiced rum, 1 part Rumchata, 1 part Tia Marie, 2 parts milk or half and half, add ice and shake everything. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

The best part is we spend the night hanging out, talking, and being cell phone free!

Movie Night

Movie nights are always fun especially for a date night at home.  We go all out for movie night in our house!  Selecting the movie is as intense as it would be if we were going out to the movies.  We each usually have a movie in mind, watch a few previews then decide what to watch.  We get all the essentials ready for the movie too: comfy clothes, furry blankets, snacks and drinks.  For movie night, we usually prefer beer. It may be a Stiegl Radler but recently we have been finishing up the Gull Beer from our Iceland Trip.  

We also have a ton of popcorn on hand. What’s nice about being at home is we can each have our popcorn the way we want it.  I like my popcorn with melted butter and parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.  Ok let’s be honest I just don’t sprinkle it, I load it up with parmesan cheese.  I’m Italian and Italian’s love Parmesan cheese 🙂 Mike likes his popcorn a bit lighter though.  He puts on a little non stick spray or light olive oil and sprinkles some dried herbs and spices.  Once the movie starts and we are full from eating and drinking we are both usually falling asleep. And that’s part of the fun of the movie night!

Next time you guys are stuck in a rut try out these top 3 date night at home ideas.  Do you guys have any date night at home traditions that you currently do?  I’d love to hear about them, let me know in the comments below!