A Cityscape Date
Date Night Idea
A Great Way to Keep Costs Down and Still Feel Like You've Had a Break
Working on your friendship and making special memories as a couple is so significant for keeping love and passion in your marriage alive. According to relationship expert, and author of The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work, Dr. John Gottman - happy marriages are based on a deep friendship. With long-term vitality and connection being maintained through moments of intentional friendship that are woven throughout the course of the relationship.
Weekly, or fortnightly, Date Nights are a great way to carve out regular time together in busy schedules in which to work on maintaining and growing your friendship. By making an effort to consciously focus on enjoying and learning more about the other person, especially when you put aside distractions like social media or texting, you can do wonders for your marriage and connection as a couple.
But it is also very beneficial to do something extra special and out of the ordinary every so often. For me and Mike, one such amazing memory is a night we spent at a hotel in our own city. We have both lived here all our lives but we seldom get into town and hardly ever get to play tourist for the day. By staying close to home we kept the cost low, since no real travel costs were needed, and there was very little time wasted in transit.
Making Memories & Enjoy The Sights
The idea came about when we saw a great deal on a local discount website. We managed to get a really good price on a nice hotel in the center of town, with a dinner voucher and an AWESOME buffet breakfast included. So, after work on a Friday, we grabbed our overnight bags and headed to the hotel. We started the night with a couple of BYO drinks in our room and a game of pick up sticks (an added bonus that came with the room) before dinner.
The hotel restaurant wasn’t on the cheap side, so we got all dressed up and headed down for our reservation. We discovered that despite the cost people didn’t really dress up so we were slightly overdressed for the occasion. In the end, this added to evening and memory as we commented on the numerous checked shirts and jeans with sneakers which sat around us. And Mike says it was the best sticky date pudding he has ever eaten, so for him that pretty much meant the night couldn’t be less than a 5 out 5.
The next morning we got up late, enjoyed a massive breakfast, then spent time exploring the city and doing a little bit of shopping. We finished off the day and our mini vacay with dinner and board games at the local board game cafe in town.
We would certainly rate this experience highly and look forward to doing it again in the future. After listening to our raving, good friends of our recently decided to follow our example and spent a night at the same hotel. They described the little break away as the best nights sleep they’d had since their 1 and a half year old was born! And they felt refreshed and more connected afterward.
So, I encourage you to make plans to do something extra special with your spouse. Don’t let money be an excuse. Put aside a little each week and keep your eyes peeled for good discounts in your area. Your marriage and friendship will thank you for it!
Do you have any fun and cheap date night ideas? We would love to hear them! Send us an email or leave a comment below. Or if you would like some more ideas make sure you check out some of our other date night ideas.