25 Fun but Affordable - Stay at Home Date Night Ideas

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Need some stay at home date night ideas to spice up your relationship?

Feeling stuck at home with your partner, whether because you have younger children, or want to save some money, or being in lockdown during a pandemic…

Here are 25 fun but affordable date night ideas to enjoy each others company while staying at home.

1. Take Out

I love take out date night! This is a great option for parents with smaller children. In fact, during the long months of lockdown in the UK, it has been the highlight of the week for me and my husband.

Yes, you may have to wait after your children’s bed time, but it still allows you to enjoy gourmet food from your favorite restaurants, much cheaper than a date night out plus paying for a babysitter and taxis.

2. Wine & Cheese Taste at Home

Cheese is not just for after a meal. Pick out some cheeses and wines you haven’t tried before, pair with some crackers, dried fruits and nuts to create your own wine and cheese night. You can combine this with the lounge picnic idea in front of the fire P.S drink some water along the way!

3. Lounge Picnic Movie Date

One of my favourite stay at home date night ideas for the cold and rainy months (which we have lots of in the UK) is lounge picnic movie date.

Roll out your picnic blanket in the lounge with your favourite wine and nibbles, cosy up and watch a film together.

Or even better, order your favourite take out, and have it picnic style while watching the film.

4. Have a Paint and Sip

The first time my husband and I did this was in the US many years ago. It was so much fun!

While we did it in someone’s studio in a group setting, it can be easily replicated at home and make it much more intimate.

Grab some canvas, paints, brushes and your favourite tipple then get to create your masterpieces. Creating portraits of each other is always fun if you can hold off becoming an art critic.

5. Cook a Meal Together with Your Favourite Tunes

As parents cooking sometimes feels like a chore, but it’s really how you want to make it. Plan an hour to prepare dinner together with your favourite music, and it can be fun and productive at the same time.

Find out how to cook 4 meals in 1 hour HERE.

6. Garden Movie Night

So if you have access to a projector, this can be a great way to spend an evening in the warmer seasons.

Hang a white sheet, add some candles around the garden, sort some comfy chairs and enjoy the experience of enjoying your favourite movie Alfresco.

7. A Virtual Yoga Session

Yoga is great for the body and mind. Why not bond with your partner through a virtual yoga session? These days, it’s so accessible online, both paid and FREE option, with practices suitable for all abilities where you can choose the length of the session.

Here are a few of my favourite YouTube channels who my husband and I practice frequently with:

8. A Couple’s Workout Session

The Covid lockdowns have certainly created the online at home workout boom. These workout sessions are even more fun when you do it together.

No home gym? You don’t need it, check out bodyweight classes, that can challenge even the fittest of gym-goers. You never know this might lead to a regular thing and have you both fitter than ever.

For a fraction of the regular gym membership, you can access to many workout subscription services like Peloton, LesMill. But alternatively, there are so many good channels on YouTube that you can work for FREE.

9. Spa Date Night

Does your partner steal your moisturiser? If the answer is a big YES, then the door is open for a couples spa night.

You can make your own facial masks from ingredients in your cupboards like avocado, honey, oats, or olive oil. Don’t forget the cucumber slices for the eyes. Or go simple and buy a couple of the sheet type face masks – less mess! Maybe avoid the pedicure, it might just kill the romance!

Don’t want the faff? Simply light some candles and put on relaxing tunes. Trade-off giving massages for each other.

10. Tackle a DIY project

DIY can actually be a relaxing break from your day to day work, and provide a real sense of achievement and new found love for your home. The added bonus of this one is how much you actually talk to each other while doing it. You can even add some tunes and a glass of something (as long as the power tools are not required 🙂

11. Challenge Each Other to a Board Game

Dust off the board games that are lying around the house, I bet you have one of these – Scrabble, Monopoly, Trivial Pursuits, Pictionary, Chess! Challenge your partner to see who is the champion of the house.

12. Make a Bucket List for the Next 10 years

Take some time to each create your bucket list then go through it together. Compare notes to see what’s common, what’s not, and what’s important to you and your partner.

Then keep hold of it and dig it back out on anniversaries to see how you are getting on. As well as being fun, this is actually great for your relationship.

13. Gardening

Yes you heard it right.

This is another one of those summer stay at home date night ideas. With much longer daylight in the summer, after the kids’ bedtime, spending a couple of hours digging, planting and weeding can be relaxing and productive at the same time.

14. TV Show Night

I know there are nights after a busy day, you just want to relax and watch some TV with your partner. NO deep conversations, Nothing that requires effort! I get it =)

So here are list of TV shows that are great for couples to watch together:

Outlander
Suits
Bridgerton
Somebody feed Phil
Chef’s Table
Self Made
Umbrella Academy
La Révolution
Sex Education

Just to name a few..

(I’m constantly looking for a good TV show, would love to hear yours on the comment below)

15. Puzzle Night

So I am seeing a theme of getting on the lounge floor for a few of these activities! Here is another.

Puzzles aren’t just for kids, and will soon have you in deep conversation while you work through it, maybe with some tunes in the background.

16. Go Through Old Photos

We are rapidly losing the ability to do this – actually holding photos, as they are now all on a cloud.

Digging out and going through old photos can be great fun, bringing back fond memories of trips, dodgy clothes and hair, loved ones, good times…the list goes on.

Digital images can also give you a fun option, pick a year and relive the memories while playing a playlist from the same year.

And it doesn’t cost you a dime.

17. Learn Something New Together

All the lockdowns have tuned us into Youtube more than ever, and you can find just about anything things to learn as a couple.

Take your pick and have some fun.

Learn a dance routine (Tiktok if you want to embarrass your kids), Latin dancing, yoga, magic tricks, origami or even a new language…the options are endless.

18. Have Fun Creating Cocktails

Disclaimer, this one can get messy.

Why not dust off the bottles languishing at the back of the cupboard (or retro drinks globe – I would love one of those) and get creating or perfecting your very own cocktails.

I love a gin Martini, so with the boom in gin these days the options are endless, I like to call it ‘perfecting’ the recipe 🙂

19. Spice up with a Date Night Subscription Box

Need some fresh stay at home date night ideas, try a date night subscription box. You can get the full date night experience at home, for less than a meal out! Both Box 42 and Let’sDateCrate are UK based services.

20. Online Couples Trivia Games

Live, Love, Laugh – those who play together stay together!

Well playing online couples trivia games can give you both the laughter and play. Trivia is a great way to connect with your partner in a really fun way. Just search for online couples trivia and choose one that looks fun.

21. Learn Your Love Language

Sounds cheesy? I thought so too when my husband and I were given the book by a friend nearly 10 years ago. We decided to read a few pages every night just to honour our friend’s good intention.

Little did we know, we quickly came to discover that we didn’t speak the same “love language”. Reading the book together has led us to have many deeper conversations, and ultimately helped us to understand each other better.

Curious about you and your partner? Simply take a quiz here to start

You can also get the book here.

22. Take A Virtual Museum Tour

If you haven’t tried one, a virtual museum tour could be an unexpected delight.

Many top museums around the world are offering virtual tours, with 360 videos, full walkthroughs, voiceover guides, slideshows, and zoom in features of some of the greatest pieces of art in the world.

Take yourself to the L.A and the J Paul Getty, the Guggenheim in Bilbao and NY, MASP in Sao Paulo, and not forgetting the National Gallery, British Museum and National History Museum in London.

23. Enjoy A Virtual Broadway Show

This is one of the NEW stay at home date night ideas post COVID. As Broadway and the West End are both shut, you can now stream live broadway shows from the comfort of your lounge. Over the years, I’ve accumulated a long list of shows to see, but seeing one just seems to be a lot of effort and money…

But that’s no longer an issue, with Broadway HD – a genius ad-free service that you can stream anytime from your own home. Take advantage of the 7-day free trial, but if you want more, you can commit to a subscription of $8.99 (£6.59) per month. That is much more affordable compared to a West End ticket average over £100.

24. Indulge in a Dessert Feast

Ok sometimes you just need to go all out, so this is exactly as it sounds (I am turning off the health conscious part of me for this one).

Imagine recreating the best dessert trolley where you can pick multiple desserts and just go for it. Many of the main supermarkets do individual or portions of desserts or have options on the fresh counter.

Another good option is seeking out your local Italian deli and buy a ton of Cannoli.

25. Comedy Night

It’s probably been a while since you made it to a comedy night, so why not bring it into your living room. Netflix and Amazon prime have plenty of options.

Check out Richard Pryor’s classic 1979 live concert, or bring it up to date with Dave Chappelle. Remember life is always better when you are laughing ?

Final Thoughts on 25 Fun but Affordable Stay at Home Date Night Ideas

So here you have it, I hope these 25 Stay at Home Date Night Ideas can help you spice up your relationship while save some money.

Date nights don’t have to be expensive, with some creativity, you can have plenty of laughter and lots of connection with your partner while staying at home.