Sometimes, you’re just not in the mood to go out on the town. If you need to plan a date night but just want to stay at home, consider a creative, impressive date night activity you can do from your house. Focus on an activity that will allow you to bond together and enjoy each other. Here are fun, inexpensive, and creative stay-at-home date night ideas.
Cook Together
For this idea, instead of going to a fancy restaurant, you’re going to create the restaurant at home. Get out the China and the candles. Start some music and pour a drink. Then, spend most of the evening cooking and preparing your meal together. What makes this fun? Cooking something unusual and fancy together.
Board Game Tournament
Bring out the board and card games, order carry-out, and put on some fun music for this date night plan. Whether you’re a competitive couple or you just like being together, there’s a fun board game for everyone. If you are competitive, keep things friendly and cheerful by playing low-strategy, high-fun games that bring a lot of laughs. If you get bored easily, try fast games that are finished quickly or games in which all the players play at the same time, rather than taking turns.
Murder Mystery Kit
Are you in the mood for a challenge? Do you want to play a game without competing? Consider buying a murder mystery kit for your date. A murder mystery kit is either a download or a physical package that contains clues. These clues are in the form of physical evidence, pictures, and written materials. Some games are designed for parties and each person actually pretends to be a character in the plot, but other games are perfect for the at-home date. To make this even more fun, consider cooking or ordering a meal that fits the “theme” of the mystery.
Escape Room in a Box
Similar to the murder mystery kit, these boxes contain puzzles and riddles which you must solve in order to rescue a fictional character. The puzzles and riddles have clues that lead from one to the other until the person escapes. If you really enjoy these kinds of activities, you can even get mystery or escape room subscriptions and receive one box a month automatically!
Old Sitcom Marathon
Order your favorite food and settle in for a night of old sitcoms. Choose a funny, goofy sitcom you both loved when you were younger or maybe, if you are still young, choose one you haven’t ever seen before but is a well-known household name. Sure, you may only get through one season in a night, but if you choose a long-running series, you could have date night planned for a few weeks! Watch Hulu or some other subscription service so you can watch for as long as you want without worrying about paying per episode.
Cooking Class at Home
Choose a meal, buy an online class, and cook a fancy new meal together. Then, pour drinks, set the mood, and enjoy your dinner. If this is a date night you might not want to attend a live cooking class with others, but many online options aren’t live and allow you to move at your own pace in privacy. Plan ahead so you have the ingredients you need, buy special aprons and hats to wear, and choose an interesting menu with things you’ve never even considered cooking before.
Paint Class at Home
Another class-at-home option brings the popular wine-and-paint date night to your house. For this idea, you need to plan ahead to buy supplies and set up your room so you can paint together. Find a simple, fun, fast paint class online (you can find them free or pay for one) and pour your favorite drink. If you don’t want to cook supper, order take-out or have a pizza delivered.
Video Game Tournament
Do you love video games? This is the perfect date for you. Buy a new game so you can discover it together, and spend the evening playing together. If you don’t want to compete with each other, consider buying a strategy game where you work together or something requiring teamwork, like an escape room.
Vacation Planning Night
What does your dream vacation look like? Where would you go? What activities would you plan? For this date night, you spend the evening planning a dream vacation- choose the location, research activities, pick a hotel or resort, and create an itinerary. Watch some travel movies for inspiration to get you started.
Travel at Home
Like the last idea, this one also involves a travel theme, but rather than planning a trip, for this date night you travel somewhere from your living room. Plan a trip to another location by choosing thematic foods, watching travel movies from that country, and listening to traditional music. Make sure you carry the idea through by getting the correct drinks and decorating the room. Try to avoid “Americanized” versions for a better, more authentic experience.