Grab Your Honey and Make it a Date Night Tonight!

I am only 23 years old but sometimes I feel I am knocking on the doors of 40. My life is a little bit hectic you might say. I work full time as a credit counselor, and partime from home with my own business; I have a one year old son and a live-in boyfriend (who sometimes can pass for my second child). Besides all of this I do most of the cleaning, cooking, bathing, shopping, and general household duties. Life is definitely different now then it was just 2 years ago. Back then my biggest concern consisted of what I was going to wear on the weekend to go bar hopping.

With my crazy schedule you can imagine how hard sometimes it can be to focus on maintaining the romantic spark with my boyfriend Ty. We are both first time parents, so it's definitely been a roller coaster ride to say the least. It has gotten easier though since our son Ty Jr. just turned one years old. He no longer needs those 2 hour feedings and doesn't wake up in the middle of the night screaming at the top of his lungs. Thank God! Despite this it's still hard for us to find some couple time. Every night after everything is done and little Jr is in bed, all I want to do is go to sleep or fall onto the couch and immerse myself in mindless TV. Unfortunately this chain of events only repeats itself week after week. However, recently I think I have found a very valuable resolution to our romance funk.

A couple of weeks ago I was listening to a training call from one of my mentors Dani Johnson. She is a multimillionaire entrepreneur that now does motivational and educational speaking. The topic of that night was time management. Obviously with my schedule this was something I definitely needed some expertise in. Her suggestion was to list all of your daily responsibilities into categories, listed first by priority. Then she suggested putting aside one day a week strictly designated as a date night with your significant other. I had heard of this before but the way she put it was so brilliant. She advised for that particular night, to devote that allocated time entirely to your spouse, meaning no outside distractions. There can't be any conversations about work, kids, or anything that takes away from your partner's time. The main idea of this date night is to always honor it, no matter what. If you have to break it, you have to honor it before that night comes. For instance your date might be every Friday night, but if you have to go out of town that night then you would have to make prior arrangements with your partner earlier that week to do a date night. This concept really stuck with me. Because although Ty and I live in the same house sometimes it seems that we never see each other with the exception of weekends when he doesn't have to work.

Now I find myself anticipating Friday early in the week, sometimes even on a Monday. It can sometimes be difficult though to not rant and rave about work or kids during our dates but in away it's kind of liberating too. It's like we are starting over at step 1 of dating. We are getting to know sides of each other we never thought existed. Not to mention we are remembering what we love about each other and what got us together in the first place! I would say that spending this time with my honey has really improved the romance in our relationship. I start to feel those same butterflies like I did before we became parents. Taking out the time to date each other again has made me feel extremely sexy and desired.

So if you ever find yourself too busy to enjoy your relationship, and you don't feel like you are on the same page with your spouse anymore, then a date night every week just might do the trick. It tells your partner that they are the most important thing in the world to you and you are willing to sacrifice a day every week to focus only on them. All of this put together shows them your appreciation and that you are honoring their role in your life; and in my opinion, that is the ultimate key in a lasting meaningful relationship.

One last tip: Date nights don't have to be expensive or complicated. We always keep ours simple and usually very cost effective. Here are a couple of ideas that I have tried and plan to soon: (You may have to invest in a babysitter to do some of these, but you can always find a relative. My sister is 15 and I give her $2 an hour. Can't beat that!)

1. Dollar movies: Super cheap and you can buy whatever you want at the concession stand and not have to worry about spending too much. We went to see Transformers the other night and that movie was so AWESOME not to mention we could act like kids and yell at the screen. We paid $1.75 for a ticket; why not act like a teenager?
2. Go to the lake: Grab a blanket or some lawn chairs, some beers/wine (optional) and a light snack. Look at the stars, play some music or just talk and skip rocks
3. Play cards, dominoes, or a board game. Any of these games are especially fun when the loser has to take shots. Sorry, I guess that's the 23 year old part of me talking
4. Dinner and a movie rental
5. Play pool or air hockey at an arcade, game center, or a bar
6. Go bike riding, roller blading, or a game of one on one basketball.
7. Head to Braum's for some banana splits
8. Window shop at the mall followed by a snack at the food court.
9. Bowling
10. Miniature Golf
11. Picnic and a walk in the park
12. Play some video games. If you aren't into any of the games that he has in his collection, go the video store and rent a couple that you can both agree on.
13. Laser Tag. Good for the young at heart.
14. Visit a museum. A popular museum in my town has movie nights where they show old movies and provide a dinner for two.
15. Mystery Dinner Theatre.

Be creative and always try to cater to your partner's interests. No matter what make the date about the two of you and its destined to be a blast!