5 Awesome Date Night Ideas After Baby
It’s hard to feel romantic and carefree when you’re exhausted and all your clothes smell like spit-up. But having alone time with your partner is essential to maintaining your relationship, and frankly, you deserve a break. To make date night work in your new post-baby world, opt for low-key outings. We talked to parents about how to keep the sparks alive, even when you’re dead tired.
Fast-track Dinner
A four-course dinner takes hours — not to mention the time it takes to get yourself ready for such a swanky outing. Skip dinner altogether and opt for an abridged meal out, suggests Taylor Olson, founder of The Frugal Seed and mom to a 15-month-old son. “Instead of going out to a full dinner, we’ll often just go out for an appetizer and a drink,” she says. “This was especially true when he was a bit younger – we’d have a baby-sitter come after he was already in bed for the night. We felt good knowing that we weren’t missing out on any quality time with him and that we’d only be gone for an hour or two.”
Walk Down Memory Lane
Take some time to celebrate the roots of your romance by planning a date that reflects where you began. “My wife is a rock star,” says Bart J. Zoni, Chief Marketing Officer of Dermworx. “On one of our first date nights after baby #2, she printed out all of our old emails and messages from when we were dating. We got some wine, snacks and music and camped out in a room we found on a last minute travel site. It was a great way to reconnect and have a few laughs.” Try this yourself, or recreate your first date.
Go Back to Childhood
Becoming a parent is a fundamentally adult move, but you don’t have to leave the fun of child-hood behind. Head to the arcade and have an old-fashioned Pacman battle, play a round of mini golf, eat ice cream for dinner — you might even challenge your partner to a go kart race, if you’re healed enough to handle a bumpy ride.
Relax and Unwind
You can both use R&R, so why not take it together? Head to a local spa for a couple’s mas-sage, suggests April Masini, a New York-based relationship expert and author. “This is going to connect you and get rid of the stress that comes with the adrenaline rush of a new baby, the sleepless nights and the multi-level transitions. This is a big treat for most couples and easy to skip. Don’t. You can be back with your baby in a few hours. Find an in-town spa that has even-ing hours and book a 7 or 8 pm couple’s massage.”
Find Something Funny
When you’re in need of some adults-only time, head to the nearest comedy club, suggests April.
“Adhere to the two drink minimum, get little buzzed, and have a load of laughs with your partner, after the baby. It also takes the pressure of you, as a couple, to make conversation — or worse, make conversation that only includes talk of diaper rash, colic and pacifiers.”
Kathryn Walsh is a freelance writer specializing in parenting and travel topics. Her work has appeared on mom.me, TheBump.com, and USAToday.com.
