Busy married couples can yet find time for a date night in even with a plethora of children. Let’s explore some Catholic date night in ideas!
Date night.
Many tout the importance of regularly escaping the house and spending time with your mate, but is it essential to a happy marriage?
It seems like many of us young Catholic families (I’m still young, right?) have our hands full with lots of two-legged blessings. How do we get time to nourish our marriage as we pour ourselves into our children?
(By the way, I don’t think you have to birth a million and one children to be a faithful Catholic. Goodness knows we can’t even guarantee ourselves a big family even if we want one!)
Husband and I have had a handful of real dates in our eight plus years of parenthood. I can literally count on one hand the times we’ve had a real date.
There are lots of factors that contribute to our lack of date night:
- cost of a babysitter
- cost of a date (though this could be 100% free!)
- babies that are extremely attached to mama
- distance from family
- older parents
- lack of energy to coordinate the the whole affair
I’ve enjoyed those handful of dates, but they aren’t going to be a regular occurrence in this season of life. I accepted that long ago!
The whole concept of “date night” is a modern invention. I don’t recall Ma and Pa Ingalls ever getting away for some quality time together.
I also don’t remember Ma “self caring” either, but that is a whole other can of worms for me to open on another day.
Back to date night.
Despite our lack of “dates,” Husband and I are best friends and our marriage is incredibly strong.
Intentionality in marriage
We’ve developed a strong marriage by being extremely intentional with the limited time we do have for one another.
Learn more: 65 Little Ways to Love Your Husband
Husband and I have learned to mesh our similar interests into our time together.
We try to grow ourselves as we grow our marriage (you’ll see this in a lot of the ideas below). This looks like:
- growing in our Catholic faith
- staying in shape
- gaining direction/vision in our parenting, homeschooling, and life
Maybe it’s all too practical and unromantic for your taste, but knowing Husband’s heart and shaping our life, dreams, and desires together is about as romantic as I can imagine!
I’d love to share with you ways we keep that spark alive without even leaving the home!
Catholic “Date Night” In Ideas
Morning
This is (usually) our individual devotion time, but we also love to just sit together while we spend time with God. We don’t spend all our quiet times together, but it is a special when we do.
- In summer, we drink our coffee together on the porch and discuss what we read, prayed, or thought about during our devotions.
- In cooler months, we sit at the kitchen table or on the couch to have our quiet time and then talk until the kids wake up.
Quiet Hour
Our family has a quiet hour every single day sometime after lunch. When the children are little, this is nap time. The older kids can get in some reading time.
Most of the week, Husband is at work during quiet hour. But on the weekends, this becomes another special time for us.
Occasionally, Husband (or I) will take one of the kids out for one-on-one time (fishing, shopping, hiking, etc.).
There are, of course, house projects that occupy this time too.
When those one-on-ones or projects aren’t happening, this becomes another time where we have undistracted time together.
At Night
When the kids go to bed, we don’t hop on the computer, the phone, or run off to do our own thing.
That short hour in the evening after the kids go to bed is semi-sacred; it is our hour.
And, yes, we try to make sure we get some time every night to unwind together. This means instituting a good bedtime routine.
On the weekends, our children LOVE to have sleepovers. We send them up to bed even earlier on these nights so we can have more time together.
I’m sure you’ve seen many bloggers saying they work on their business after the kids go to bed. Not here. I confine my blogging to early morning hours and quiet time during the week.
So how does this look during that sacred space following 8:15 pm?
On the weekends, I try to make our time together more date like by making a special dessert. Sometimes we just enjoy a homemade cup of cocoa.
Watch or listen to religious talk or show
We learn more about our faith and enjoy the discussion that ensues.
The great thing about learning about your Catholic faith by watching a talk, listening to a radio show, or reading together is that it always sparks deep conversation.
You will learn more about each other, the views you hold, and where you each are struggling. You grow in your knowledge, faith, and marriage.
I suggest you follow up with praying together. Push past the initial awkwardness and you will be rewarded by connecting on a completely different level.
Read the Bible or another religious book together
You may want to check out the following book lists for ideas.
- 10 Books that Shaped my Conversion
- Busy Mama’s Guide to Catholicism
- Bible Study Resources for the Everyday Catholic Mom
- Catholic Bible in 360 (Read through the Catholic Bible in a Year)
Pray together
Yep. It can be totally awkward at first but it is 100% worth it!
Chat
There are a million and one things to talk about together.
- develop individual and family goals
- discuss homeschooling
- discuss parenting
- discuss your home life
- discuss work
- discuss life!
Movie
We love to borrow movies from the library which means date night is FREE!
It can be so hard to find great, clean movies for date night. Here are a few of our favorites.
Get fit
We don’t do this every night, but it can be helpful if we can commit to working out together a few times a week. It’s fun to chat while we get healthy.
Our special times have been such a blessing to our marriage. May you be blessed in your time together!
If you liked this post, you also like:
Loving On your Husband in the Little Ways
Stop! Praying for your Husband!
How to Start Praying with Your Husband
How do you spend time with your husband? Do you do an official date night or are you more casual like us? Is there a resource you use to learn about your faith with your spouse?
So good! My husband and I rarely go out for dates anymore but every week we try to at least have a “date night in.” Often those date nights at home end up being more fun than when we go out!
I agree! Just making eachother a priority is so important!