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With kids in the house, alone time as a couple is rare and quality alone time is almost unheard of, which makes date nights a necessity.
Dates can be pricey, but my marriage is important. Every now and then we schedule a real date: go to dinner and do something else – movie or shopping, but my budget doesn’t have room for us to do this very often. Our solution? Stay Home Date Nights.
One of our favorites is homemade calzones with a movie from Redbox. The meal is quick and easy, so I’m not stuck in the kitchen all night, and considering how rarely we make it to a theater it isn’t very difficult for us to find a movie we haven’t seen yet. This entire date night costs less than $15, making it something we can do weekly – bonus!
The meal is cinchy. I make this homemade dough (try adding some Italian herbs to it). I split it into 4 parts and we each make 2 calzones, one to eat that night and one for a lunch. We make them together (it is a date … you know what starts in the kitchen don’t you? 
) and fill them with whatever we like : mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese, pepperoni, ham, green peppers, mushrooms, etc. Then seal the edges with an egg white wash. Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes then serve with warm marinara sauce. Yummy. Sometimes we even wait to eat until our daughter is in bed, especially nice if you don’t feel like sharing your food. This meal is the opposite of fancy, but we’re pretty relaxed people and I cook big meals all the time so it’s nice for both of us. Besides, the whole point isn’t the food, it’s us.
This might not seem like a very exciting date to some of you when you keep in mind that we are together at home all the time. The difference is that this is planned time to spend together and not on anything else. Any of my married readers can attest to the fact that being in the same house and focusing on each other are two different things. We’ve found it to be absolutely necessary to set aside time to be together, otherwise we get a little disconnected and start griping with each other a little. We fell in love cuddling up and watching movies. I’d be willing to bet it’ll keep us in love too.
For more of Tightwad Tuesday head over to Being Frugal.
How do you make your marriage a priority when living on a tight budget?
Why I do what I do ~ When my older niece, Jazmyn, arrived this morning she saw my daughter and said, “There’s Chloe. She’s my best friend.”
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
That is an awesome idea! You gave me a great idea for date night.
I can’t even remember the last time we had some alone time and this makes it easy without even having to leave the kids with somebody.
Super Mega Dad’s last blog post..Parent Teacher Conferences
Ooohhh…I love this idea! We hardly ever go out anyway, but I think I’m going to try to make our date nights at home a little extra special.
You are so right…it’s incredibly important to make time for your husband and your marriage. I’ve got this tiny little person who depends on us working to make it as successful as possible.
Courtney’s last blog post..Going to the restroom is now a two-man job
We used to do this when our children were little. One night each week (usually Friday night) we’d give our little ones supper at our regular time. Then my husband would take them outside for a walk or to play. By the time they got back the kids would be good and tired and ready for baths and bed. Then once they were asleep, Dave and I would cook supper together for the two of us and eat it by candle light.
SuperMom’s last blog post..SuperMom Tip of the Day – Cook Extra to Freeze
I find it so hard to let go of the chores at home, even when we set aside time for a date night. And of course, the computer is omnipresent (I’m an addict).
We just started doing a baby-sitting swap with some friends. Once we get rid of the $40 or $50 we would have spent on a sitter, we can have a pretty cheap date out of the house.
Country-Fried Mama’s last blog post..Cacophony
You are so right. You can all be in the same house but not spending time together. That’s why we do game nights.
We used to have movie nights after the kids were in bed so we could save on a sitter. Sometimes we would sit by a fire and just talk and stare at the fire.
Now a date night can be a trip to Ikea just to look around and window shop!
momstheword’s last blog post..I’M ALLERGIC TO MORNINGS
These are such nice ideas. I love the cozying up by the fire. We like to do that by the campfire in the summer.