Tag: date night

Date night for many couples is sadly long overdue. Time, money, creativity can all get in the way... and if you’ve got kids, there’s the extra hurdle of finding someone trustworthy to care for them while you whoop it up. We compiled some tips to help you find and hire the perfect person. In fact, we suggest you fill a roster with several sitters.

1. Know Where to Look

It may seem impossible, but finding a reliable sitter is possible. Try these ideas:

Ask family and/or friends to babysit. If you battle with feeling guilty about asking loved ones to babysit (as I do), know that they’ve been in your shoes and totally get it. Half of the battle is allowing yourself to ask because, in most cases, grandma and grandpa would love the extra time with junior; and your friends are always down to help too.

Cheap dates are the best (um, when it comes to the activity; not the person). You can break the dating mold without breaking the bank. Try these free date ideas for priceless fun:

Get Artsy

Many museums offer free admission either on set days or every day. For example: The Smithsonian Museums in Washington, DC are free. Take advantage of Museum Day Live hosted by Smithsonian magazine (typically in September) for free admission to museums and cultural institutions that normally carry an entrance fee.

We humans live a well-worn path, often living the same life over and over, day after day. It takes true effort to blaze a new trail because we’re simply not wired for change; we’re wired for habit. Our brains like reliability and consistently.

This is why creating a new practice, like regular date nights (or anything for that matter), isn’t always easy. Even if you really want to have regular, quality couple time, there’s a very good chance that you’ll naturally revert back to your old ways of not prioritizing date night.

You need a reliable babysitter for date night. Should be easy peasy, right? The truth is that this relationship is a two-way street and sometimes parents, unknowingly, can make the job harder or less satisfying than it needs to be. We reached out to our babysitter network to find out what they love (and loathe) about minding our kids.

Be Ready

You made reservations and even put mascara on, but your date night checklist is not done. First, tell the kids how you expect them to behave for the sitter. When she arrives, act excited to set the tone.

Pregnancy is an exciting time. Despite a lengthy preparation list of name selection, nursery decorating and baby registries, it’s important to keep your relationship a priority—especially since it’s soon to change from a twosome to a threesome or more! Date nights are a great way for couples to maintain a happy connection, yet parents-to-be may feel less motivated—physically and emotionally—to take the time, energy and money to nurture themselves. However, the effort is well worth it! Here are several date ideas for expectant couples:

As we settle into the fall season and say goodbye to our summer vacations and the romance of summer date nights on a terrace, it becomes a little bit harder to think of ways to keep the romance going. As the temperatures drop, we are less inspired to go out; school starts and we get involved into our children’s school lives and there just seems to be no time left for you and your loved one.

If you’re in a relationship, there will come a time when you need to make a compromise. After all, you can’t be in a relationship strictly on your own terms. However, compromise isn’t always easy. Here are the healthy and unhealthy accommodations we make for our significant others.

Healthy Compromises

Dinner
Can’t decide what’s for dinner? Come to a compromise. A simple way to do this is by splitting up the weekday dinners evenly. She gets to choose what to cook on three days, he's also in charge of meals for three days. For that last remaining day, dine out.