This post is a part of our Red Stick Moms Blog CONNECTS series for the 2013 Holiday Season. This post is all about CONNECTing with your favorite person. Read more about our CONNECT series here.
Not to be confused with Play Dates, “Day Dates” don’t actually involve kids at all. They are what we grown ups like to refer to as “QT” or quality time together. Recently, my hubs and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary, and after 6+ years with kids, our quality time together is few and far between. Why? Because at the end of the day we are just spent. After a long day of work, followed by homework, meals, bath, & bedtime, we love nothing more than to zone out on the couch in front of some mindless television and just not talk.
Sad but true.
We all know sitters can get expensive and even if we could afford one, there’s not much money left in the budget for entertainment purposes once a sitter has been paid. So, when the hubs asked me what I wanted for my anniversary this year, the answer was simple…the gift of time together. So, he took off from work to spend a few days at home (one of which allowed me a day all to myself…hallelujah!) and the other two days, we dubbed our “Day Dates”.
How this works: Fortunately, my oldest son is in school for the day and my youngest is at a Mom’s Day Out, three days a week from 9AM – noon. While we typically do not opt for it, “Lunch Bunch” is an optional extended-day program which allows for an additional 2 hour stay. This would allow us to have 5 consecutive hours together, 2 days in a row! Totally worth an additional $10/day for the extra QT.
Day 1 – After dropping off the little one, we set out for a walk around the LSU lakes. This was a great start to our date in the sense that it was quiet, peaceful, and offered us an opportunity to do nothing but walk and talk for more than an hour. I can’t remember the last time we’ve done anything like this together, but I’d be willing to bet it was pre-kiddos. After we went home and got cleaned up, we went out to lunch, did a little shopping at Target, and enjoyed the rest of our time together before our 2PM “curfew”.
Day 2 – We started this date off with a trip to the movies! (Bonus: Day Dates = discounted ticket prices, hooray!) We ate popcorn and drank ICEES without having to share with the kiddos or take anyone else to the restroom. We had another lunch date post-movie and made it back just in time for carpool.
Day Dates are nice in the sense that they are at a time of day when we are at our best. We are not completely drained and can therefore communicate and function properly. Even if you can’t squeeze in more than one day like we did or more than just an hour from your lunch break, it’s totally worth taking time mid-day to connect with your husband.
How do you make time for dating your husband? I’d love to hear your creative ways of making time to reconnect.
Ha, I LOVE day dates.
I do that with hubby as well. SOmetimes we meet just for lunch, but our next day date is “planned” for January when we will go to see The Hobbit while the kids are at school ;).
Also commenting here for the giveaways 😀 😀 :D.
Day Dates are the best. We have recently gone to Lava Cantina but my favorite is Sammy’s during crawfish season. Eating crawfish, having a beer, and spending time with hubby all without kids is great.
Great ideas, Ashley! I love you guys.
I am constantly trying to get the husband to drive out to my side of the lake to do this because these kind of day dates are really what we need because hiring a sitter and then going out to dinner winds up costing over $150! A spontaneous day date is just icing on the cake and we love trying to get together every now and then over a lunch hour! 🙂
Day dates ARE better! Thanks for sharing some great ideas for activities!