I got married in July 2018, but we were not rich. In November, I gave birth to a bouncing baby boy! As a result, money got tighter. This was nothing new as we were used to tight budgets. Through all of the tight months, we never gave up on date night. Date nights give couples a chance to reconnect more intimately. It’s a time where you’re not supposed to worry about the next big assignment at work or that growing heap of laundry in the corner of the laundry room. Take time to remember why you fell in love with your person and have fun together. Since budgets are tight for me and my person, we have a lot of date nights at home. However, Chinese take-out, pizza and Taco Bell can get real old real fast. As a result, your dinner dates become boring and you get antsy because you can’t go anywhere! Here are my top three home date dinner ideas to bring a spark back to at home dinners.
1.) Recreate the Spaghetti and Meatballs dinner from “Lady and the Tramp.”
Remember that famous scene? The two dogs are eating dinner while being serenaded by music. First, they share an accidental kiss while eating the same noodle and then he pushes her the last meatball. How romantic! If you’re eating at home for date night, why not make your meal extra special? Cooking together is one of the most fun things you can do as a couple! And how many rom-coms have that important kitchen scene where one partner or the other is swept off their feet? Chances are that someone’s grandma has a meatball recipe. Dig it out and make it together! Take it to the next level and make homemade pasta to go with it. Pasta is not as difficult as you might think. You really only need water, flour and salt. I have included a link to my personal go-to recipe. You can use a rolling pin to flatten your dough and a pizza cutter to cut the noodles. Recreate the noodle kiss and get yourself the last meatball while “Bella Notte” is playing in the background.
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/12044/eggless-pasta/
2) Go all out with ‘culture dinner.’
For one of our first home date dinners as a married couple, my husband and I mad a complete Asian dinner. Which brings me to my second dish in this home date dinner ideas. My husband made egg drop soup. I made some rice. We steamed some dumplings. But we took it a step further. We set up our dinner at our low coffee table, sat on cushions, asked google to play some oriental music and dressed the part. We even did some research about how a traditional dinner was served and what roles a husband and wife had in a meal. Of course you can do all sorts of things with other cultural meals. For example, if you want Mexican, find a recipe for tamales and churros and take a salsa dance lesson with YouTube! Feeling Mediterranean? Break out the Greek olives, some fresh fish and have a toga party! If you aren’t sure what you can make and your budget is too tight to pick up extra food, go to supercook.com. It takes the ingredients you already have and finds recipes for you. You can even search by cuisine!
3) Indoor Picnic
We had a fireplace in our first apartment. One night we built a fire, got out our air mattress and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows while pursuing a game of ‘Uno.’ If you don’t have a fireplace, pitch a tent (yes, inside the house!) and throw your sleeping bags in there. Drink your wine from tin cups and eat a hobo dinner. (A hobo dinner is a common camping meal where you have corn, potatoes, some sort of meat and cook it in foil on the coals of your fire.) Don’t have a tent? Revert to childhood and make a blanket fort for enjoying the evening. You may need to send the kids to Grandma’s house for the night so you can have it to yourself. Plan to sleep in it, too! If you get uncomfortable, you can always go back to your bedroom. You’d be surprised how romantic your own fort can make a home date dinner.
That’s my top three home date dinner ideas. I hope you got some ideas to spice up your home dates! Remember, a date is meant to simply have fun with your special person and keep stoking that flame that brought you together. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to plan a fondue night for our next home date dinner!
