The Romantic.com

A GIFT OF DATE NIGHTS

submitted by: Craig

My wife and I had gotten out of the habit of going on dates regularly.  Since we had committed, at the beginning of the year, to improving our marriage, this was one of the important areas she felt needed enhancement.  So I decided to do something radical about this.

First, I tackled one obstacle that always seemed to get in the way:  Babysitting.  I tracked down and made a list of the numbers of at least four teens in the neighborhood that did babysitting.  Then I planned out dates for the nine weeks after Valentine’s Day and arranged babysitting for each date with the four teens (and a couple other friends).

Then I printed out a calendar for the next three months with the each date listed and who would be babysitting (I used a MS Powerpoint template) for that date.  I made a home made card with hearts, put the babysitter list and the printed calendars inside and took my wife to dinner.  During dinner, I gave her the card and told her I was committed to increasing our frequency of dates.

She was totally blown away and now we have many fun activities to look forward to doing together.

BTW, most of the dates were I planned inexpensive and different from the dinner/movie norm.  Winery visits (cheap tour/free tasting/free music), swing dance clubs giving free or cheap lessons, husband prepared meals, etc. are some examples. See www.300creativedates.com for more ideas.