Why is it that some of the best “date” nights really just involve basically staying at home?
My husband and I are not the people who like to go out on date night once a week or twice a month or whatever people do. We work Monday-Friday and because he owns his own business, the work never truly ends. When I get home on Friday I don’t want to go out. I want to put on comfy pants and rescue my boobs from boob jail and have a beer or a glass of wine or a glass of whatever strikes my fancy at the time. Saturday is the busiest night ever to go out and I don’t want to deal with crowds of rude people. We’re not a chain restaurant people anyways. Going out can also be fancy and expensive. Getting all dolled up to spend $100 at dinner or $50 on a movie is just not my idea of a good time.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized what a homebody I really am. I also realized how much I like cheap tasty bad for me food. When I was starting to diet and exercise for our wedding, we started doing a once a week cheat meal on Fridays. I’ve cooked all week, I’ve worked all week, I want a night to relax with some guilty pleasures. This is our night to get pizza, Chinese, Mexican, to go from one of our favorite local restaurants (I *will* but doing reviews on our favorite local spots) or the one fast food staple we’ll actually eat, Taco Bell.
Random side story on Taco Bell. As I stated before, we are not really a chain food people, we’re not even really fast food people. Our idea of fast food is Panera. I hadn’t had Taco Bell in probably 5 years or something crazy like that. All of a sudden, I started seeing commercials for their $5 Cravings Box. I don’t know why but I wanted one. I wanted one so bad. Little did I know, my husband’s dirty little mind was thinking the same thing. We drive to Taco Bell and order the Cravings Box and this neat little fast food present was full of nacho chips, a burrito supreme, crunchy taco, and a cheesy gordita crunch. All of that plus a drink, it’s SUCH a good deal and SO much food! I however I’m not a big fan that they now replaced the nachos with cinnamon twists and swapped out the burrito supreme for a 5 layer beef burrito. I DEMAND the ORIGINAL! My Taco Bell is also pretty on point with their presentation too. Every item looks like it needs to be photographed for their menu so I can appreciate the additional love they give their food.
So as corny as this may sound as a “date” night, you could actually make it really fun, special, and meaningful. It’s not about saving money, that’s just an awesome benefit. It’s about hanging out with your chosen person and enjoying their company and cutting loose!
We go and grab our Friday Night Special. No matter where we go, we drive together to pick it up. Our fav Chinese and pizza places allow for online ordering which is very convenient because as soon as you hit “Submit” on your order and jump in the car, it’s ready by the time you get there and you don’t need to worry about additional delivery fees.
We will open our feast and yes, put it on plates. We’re not total cavemen. Grab a glass of wine or a few beers and park our butts on the couch. Then, we grab the remote and turn our Firestick to YouTube (or most recently the internet browser since Google and Amazon can’t play nice with each other). We then will spend hours watching music videos! Crazy right?! Lord knows MTV isn’t going to show these gems. However, we have learned to appreciate and love each other’s favorite artist. My husband is like 4.5 years younger than me and had a different upbringing when it came to music than I did. I was fortunate enough to be born in the mid eighties and get to be fully conscious of the 90’s where I submerged myself in alternative music, but I’m still my parents child and was raised on The Moody Blues, The Eagles, Alice Cooper, etc… I’m a fan of anything I can sing and or dance to.
My husband has said that some of his favorite times with me has been me educating him on music through the videos on our “date” nights.
So how can you really make this “special”? If you know your significant other’s favorite artist, try creating a playlist in advance of their music videos. Play the videos of songs that have importance to you: song that was playing when you first met, had your first date, had your first kiss, etc… For example, I have a playlist of our wedding music. It was special to us and whenever I hear those songs, it brings such happy memories. (I have had people ask about our music choices so I will dedicate a whole new post to going over it.)
This is a night to discover new music, new artists, new songs from your favorite artists, or that the songs Family Guy inserts for comedy effect are real (yes, my husband had to learn through me that “Rock Lobster” by the B-52’s was a real song, not something Seth McFarland made up). Dance in your living room, perform for your date, get as crazy as you want to – er, just don’t get the cops called for a noise complaint…
Here’s a few of my favorites that have become his favorites:
Strictly Locals 