How to Do Date Night Right

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Inspired Relationships

How to Do Date Night Right

By Denis ⋅ August 14, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

How Date Night works …

“Rules of Date Night”

For us… (as in Denis and Emma) date night is simple, keep it cheap and have some fun.

We do stick to some fundamental rules: here we go…

Do it weekly, and take it in turns!

If Emma took me out on a date last week, then this week it’s my turn (and I really should stick to it).

There are times where I cannot make it to a date night, or Emma cannot. We’re cool with this, as long as we reschedule the actual date to another night.

There are times where I honestly cannot be arsed! It’s not that I don’t love Emma; it’s just that my mind may be elsewhere, for example there may be issues to deal with at work. Em’s always understands, she usually knows when I’m in a mood before date night comes around.

But the important thing is to get back on the horse! Reschedule the date and stick to it… on the flip side, if work or life is getting on top of, date night can be a great way to distract you and reboot your brain.
Be open to the experience your partner is giving you.

Date night CAN be lame, and it CAN be cheesy! We know this…

Think of it this way… none of friends are there to see you, and the only person that you know (your partner) is doing the same thing as you. So if its cheesy go with it, you can’t be embarrassed at least you’ll be cheesy with your partner! It makes for a bigger laugh!
Shake it up!

Trust us; even date night can become boring and routine! Shake it up a little… every few months, try something daring… something you wouldn’t normally do, and push your comfort circle. If you don’t like it, or it’s not working for you… take a back up date night plan.

Emma and I tried the seedy pub “play pool” date, this first time we went the pub was a little too dodgy, we had a back up date just in case… $30 worth of dessert! Turned out to be a great night. Did the seedy pub play pool date another time!
Expectations

We’ve found that expectations have been the biggest killer in relationships. Expectations are useful and purposeful, but can cause trouble relationships as it may lead to disappointment.

Don’t let expectations kill your date night… its only $30. Whatever happens to the money shouldn’t matter, if the date didn’t work out the way you wanted it to, try again next month…
Don’t care what your friends / colleagues or peers say!

The people around you always seem to have an opinion on the things that you are doing… (l know I’ve got no problem voicing my opinion, my friends will vouch for that!) When it comes to date night people’s reactions are interesting.

When Emma and I first mentioned that we were doing date night, (long before the generator was created) many of our friends were surprised, thinking that the relationship was in trouble, as if only failed relationships require date night… Emma and I thought of date night differently.

I noticed that couples do felt that their relationship is fine and doesn’t need additional attention or effort into it. And as for the singles out there, they are the harshest critics of them all.

These days our friends simply expect Emma and I to be unreachable on Wednesday nights (our date night). We can see our friends look at us differently too, they look at us as a stable couple, you know… the couple that stays together.

Do your thing how you want to… don’t worry about what others say, or don’t tell them. When we first started, we preached to all our friends, “its the bees knees! You’ve gotta do it! I don’t understand why you don’t do it?” Now, we’re like… “meh, do what you want, just let us know how it went if you do.” And life is easier.
Rules are meant to be broken!

If you’re taking your partner out on a date, i.e. you’re spending the $30… and you want to spend more… why not? Do it!

If you want to go on 2 dates in a row… screw it… do it!