Stay At Home Date Night Ideas: Fun Dates You Can Do From Home

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Stay at home dates for married couples are a great way to reconnect with your loved one without burning holes in the pocket or being away from the house for too much time. So we’re here to share with you some fun At Home Date Night Ideas for couples!

Let’s face it, as much as we’d all love to be going out on regular dates with our partner, it’s not always feasible. Many of us have young children that need constant attention. Or perhaps you are feeling the pinch financially, or both! Whatever your reasons for not being able to get out as much as you may have in the past, that doesn’t mean that you can’t be romantic at home, spending quality time to keep that flame burning. 

Stay At Home Date Night Ideas For Couples On A Budget

For that reason, we’ve come up with a great list of stay at home date nights for married couples that you can start to implement immediately. Some may require a little planning ahead while others you can try on the spur of the moment. 

These stay at home date night ideas will have you spoilt for choice and before you know it, you’ll be asking yourself why you never started earlier!

The Importance of Regular Date Nights

Life can get hectic, we all know that too well. And as time passes, it becomes easier for a couple to get caught up in the logistics of running a home, looking after children and pursuing a successful and prosperous career.   

With all that going on, very little is left for intimacy between spouses, whether that is physical, emotional or both. 

Regular date nights are a huge help towards reconnecting and ensuring that you are both growing together, understanding each other’s needs, challenges and desires. The act of coming together at scheduled times provides reaffirmation of your love for one another. 

How To Come Up With Date Ideas

Have a running list! Any time you come across a fun and creative date idea, write it down on your date idea list. There are lots of ways you can decide to choose a date to do that night…do the Alphabet Dating idea, create your own date jar, create a 12 Months of Dates box, or go off your checklist!

Ideas for Stay At Home Dates

Here are some fun and interesting ways to spend quality time with your loved one at home:

At Home Date Nights In The Kitchen

 The kitchen is the perfect place to have some fun and flirty dates at home. It’s also a great place to have a little fun competition, and you get to taste the fruits of your labor afterwards!

Host Your Own Cook Off

If you’re a couple who loves cooking shows, turn this into your new favorite date night! Whether you decide to play your own version or Nailed It!, Chopped, or Top Chef, you can create a date loosely based on the rules of your favorite cooking show. 

Play as a team, or compete against each other in this fun and creative date night. 

You can even do it with two separate courses, where one makes the meal, and the other makes the appetizers and desserts. 

If you’d like to follow along with the show, record an episode, watch what ingredients you will need, then make sure you have it all prepared when it comes time for your date. Then you can “compete” with the others on the show, and watch the finale when you’re finished. 

couple baking together for a stay at home date night

Candle Lit Dinner – For At Home Date Night Ideas

Plan a very romantic candle lit dinner for your spouse. Each of you should dress up a bit like you’re going to a fancy restaurant and serve your favorite meal. 

You can cook the meal yourself, order take out, or have your food delivered so you both have the day off cooking. 

Our favorite idea would be to get all dressed up, sit down for a candle lit dinner and serve pizza and beer, or burgers and ice cream! 

Have A Recipe Challenge From A Cooking Show Like “Nailed It” 

Nailed It! Is a fun cooking show where “everyday” people try to copy the Pinterest type recipe. 

Find a fun looking dessert recipe you’d love to try and make it at home together the best you can. If you’d rather follow along with the show, be sure to record it, check out what ingredients you need, and make sure you’re all set in time for date night. 

Create Your Own Tasting Night

Wine tasting, beer tasting, ice cream tasting, or chocolate tasting…whatever your favorite treats, snacks, or beverage is, make it a full tasting night. 

It’s always fun to do a tasting of different flavors of food and drinks, but you don’t have to go out to do so. 

We like to grab 5 different flavors of new ice cream flavors or 4 different types of red wine, 6 different craft beers, or something similar and enjoy having your own tasting. 

This is a great way to be able to sample all different flavors you might not have tried otherwise. 

Make it even more interesting and do a blindfold tasting. Have each other guess what each flavor is as they try each one. 

At Home Wine Tour

Who says you have to go to a winery to taste different wines? Set up your own wine tour at home. 

Make a nice grazing dish full of cheeses, crackers, breads, and fruits and make sure you pick up a few different bottles of wine. They don’t even have to be expensive bottles, just mix up each type of wine like they do at the winery. 

Livingroom Stay At Home Date Ideas

The living room is an easy place to have a date night since that’s most likely where all your entertainment is set up. But there are lots of date ideas that don’t involve TV…

Binge A Show

Sometimes dates at home are perfect because you really don’t feel like doing anything, but you still want to spend some quality time together. 

A great way to just relax and unwind together without having to plan anything or prepare, is to binge watch a TV show. These days it’s so easy to find full seasons of shows that both of you will enjoy watching. 

Watch a few episodes each night until you finish a season. Every once in a while it’s nice to have a “lazy date” but still be able to snuggle up on the couch together. 

couple watching tv for at home date night ideas

Date of Favorites

Tonight is a night full of your favorites! This would be a perfect date night to do twice. Once for your favorites and once for their favorites, or you can mix them together. 

Each of you should pick your favorite movie, favorite dinner, favorite dessert, favorite activity and/or favorite game. Decide what your favorite date is, movie, dancing, music, podcast, etc. and plan the date filled with all of your favorite things! 

Switch off next week and do all of your partner’s favorites. 

Sleepover Night 

Do your own sleepover together. You probably did these a few times when you were kids, so bring back all your favorite parts about a sleepover and share them with each other. 

Build a fort, start a pillow fight, play truth or dare, and watch scary movies. Don’t forget all the best junk food and stay up extra late. 

Game Night 

Time to bust out the 2-player games and have a game night together. Game night is a fun way to mix up your normal days. You’ll be able to challenge yourselves and get a little competitive together with all of your favorite games. 

There are several fun games you can play together with just the two of you at home. If you don’t have games you can play at home, then try finding some free ones online or use your Alexa for some free games at home.

Communication Exercises 

Spend your evening together connecting with some of our favorite couples communication exercises. 

These are great ways to learn how to communicate better, make each other feel heard, and reconnect throughout your week. 

They’re not as intense or boring as they may sound either. 

Dancing With The Stars Night 

But tonight, you get to be the stars! Put on some music and spend the night dancing the night away together. You can play your favorite songs and enjoy silly upbeat dancing, or turn on some romantic tunes and show off your best moves. 

If you’d like, turn this into professional dancing and learn some dances together on YouTube.

Host Your Own Book Club

This one could be done in a couple different ways. You can both agree on a book to read each month, and read them separately when you have time. Then, plan a day to have your very own book club together where you discuss what you have been reading.

Another option would be for the two of you to “read” a book together and get the audio version of it, and spend several nights cuddled up on the couch or in bed, listening to your book.

This is a great way to get away from the TV, and spend time doing another activity together you might both enjoy.

2 couples drinking wine at home

Create Your Own Marriage Bucket List 

Spend an evening coming up with your own version of a marriage bucket list. Think of all the goals, dreams, and adventures you want to share together and come up with a list…and a plan!

Be sure to add these categories to get you going:

  • Family Life
  • Travel Goals
  • Adventures
  • Love Life
  • Volunteer
  • Work Life
  • Spiritual Goals
  • Financial Goals
  • Bold Dreams
  • Etc.

Every marriage bucket list is going to look a bit different, but that’s the beauty of creating your own. Dream big, think of things you really want to accomplish together in life, and start checking them off.

The most important part of this one is to start a plan to work your way towards those goals. Bucket lists shouldn’t be left till the end of your life.

Make seasonal bucket lists too; Winter Bucket List, Spring Bucket List, Summer Bucket List, and Fall Bucket List to do together.

Try a New Hobby 

Finding a new hobby with your spouse is a great way to spend some more time together doing something you both love. It’s more than likely you both have your own hobbies that the other doesn’t share, so start thinking of hobbies you both might love to do together.

We even have a full list of hobby ideas for couples that can help get your creativity going.

Hobbies as a couple will allow you to spend more time together since you both will be doing something new that you’ve come to love. So spend an evening checking out the list and discussing what you may both want to start trying together.

You can even pick a few different things that might be good, and have backups in case you decide you really don’t enjoy a certain choice you had.

Do Your Own Paint At Sip For Your At Home Date Night Idea 

You may have seen those “Paint & Sip” nights around your town, where you pay $25-50 to join a class where you can sit down and paint a painting with the rest of the class through step-by-step guidance from a teacher. You all paint the same painting, and get to bring your beverage of choice as you do it.

It’s a great night out, and one that gives you something to bring home to hang up and enjoy the memories.

These can get costly though, so we were so excited to discover a cool website that does these step-by-step paintings for couples. We have a cool post on how to set up your own paint night at home! Check that out, and plan for a fun and creative date night at home.

paint night at home date

Create a Date Jar

Do you and your spouse always have this conversation…

Wife: “What do you want to do tonight?”
Husband: “I don’t know, what do you want to do?”
Wife: “I don’t know either.”
Husband: “Well, I guess we can watch our show again…?”

Stop the “I don’t knows” before they start! A date night jar is just the way to do this. Sit down together one night and create your own date jar. Each of you should come up with 10-30 different ideas on what they might want to do for a date night.

When date night comes around and you’re not sure what to do, grab a date from the jar and that’s what you get to do that night.

We like to color code our dates, so when we are trying to do a free date, we can pull that color…a date night outside of the home is another color…and a date that needs a little more planning could be another color.

With a date night jar, you won’t be asking each other “idk, what do you want to do…” anymore!

At Home Escape Room Date Idea

Escape Rooms are not just for groups anymore. You can set up your own Escape Room date at home, and all you need is an Alexa device.

Actually, even if you don’t have Alexa, there are other ways for you to play as well.

  1. Alexa Escape Room – This is a free app where Alexa leads you through several rooms to Escape. Just say “Alexa, play the Escape Room” and get going!
  2. Buy an Escape Room Board game. This one has 5 different one hour missions…and this one is
  3. Play an Escape Room on this App. For this game, you’ll get a 10-minute and 15-minute game for free. The others are 20-30 minute games for 99 cents each.
  4. Create Your Own Escape Room Game. Google how to create your own, and try to get creative for setting up one in your house.

Escape Rooms are such a fun way to work together and play a game at the same time. You’ll need your brain fresh and ready to solve clues and figure out how to escape together.

Date Subscription Box 

Sign up for a Date Night Subscription Box! This is the perfect way to mix up date nights and take a week off planning, since they do the work for you. Each month, you’ll receive a date idea in a box full of everything you need to carry out that date.

There are so many different date subscription boxes you can try, so figure out what types of dates you’re looking for, and start researching which one will be best for you.

Video Game Tournament Night

Video games aren’t just for the kids. Especially if you loved playing them as kids yourselves. Host a video game tournament together. Whether that be playing a fighting game on X-Box, playing the bowling game on Wii, or finding a good game on your phone you can play together.

If you don’t own a video game console, look online to see what free games you can download to play on your computer. Or bring out the old Nintendo that’s been packed away in the house.

Challenge each other to a couple different games and enjoy the night like you’re teenagers again.

Plan For The Future

This can be anything depending on your relationship. We like to plan our vacations together on a date night. Look up your favorite places you want to go, and start planning all the stops you’ll make along the way.

Plan your future goals together. Dream big, and figure out a plan on how you are going to reach those goals together.

There’s always something to plan or dream about in the future, so take this date night to really start something to look forward to.

Turn Off The Electricity

That’s right…no phones, no television, no lights! Build a fire in your fireplace, light safe candles all around the house, and enjoy the evening together without electricity.

Make this an extra romantic night by cozying up together in front of the fireplace, playing some slow music to dance together in the living room, and make a bubble bath to enjoy your candle in with each other.

Turing off all electricity and eliminating all distractions makes this a really intimate and romantic night for the two of you.

Do A Puzzle Together At Home

No we’re not 90, and yes, this is actually a fun idea for you to try on your next at home date night! We do a Christmas puzzle every year as a family Christmas tradition…and every year, I remember how much I really love doing puzzles with B!

It’s such a great time to sit down together and chat about everything while you work on the puzzle. We like to play music, pour a couple drinks, at chat all night long while finishing our puzzle.

This gives you something different to do during your date, and gives you a chance to work together to accomplish something.

picture of puzzle

Perform a Couple’s Yoga Session

Doing yoga together is a fantastic way to unwind after a long day, getting those muscles stretched out and a great excuse to have a good laugh with one another. 

Remember, not every date night needs to be an intense session of staring into each other’s eyes…often what we miss in our relationships are those little moments of shared laughter which is something you will definitely end up doing when trying out couple’s yoga.

YouTube is littered with yoga routines for couples that you can try out. It may be worth spending a little time before your date night to look through some videos and select one or two which are within your physical ability though. The aim, after all, is to have fun, not to get injured! Perfect for a date idea when it’s raining outside too!

Set Up Your Own Photoshoot 

How about taking some really cute couples photos together at home? All you need is a camera or your phone with a timer or remote. Find some cool places around your house where you can take some photos together.

Think by the fireplace, in the garden in your backyard, in the kitchen doing a cutesy cooking shoot, etc.

Set your camera up to be on a timer, or use a remote to shoot if you have one. You can even set your phone or camera to video and grab some screenshots of the actual video, if it’s too difficult to capture a photo.

Have fun with this one. Be extra romantic, a little flirty, or do a sultry shoot together for just the two of you.

Spend the Night In a Different Room

If you have a guest room or even an office with a bit of space, make use of it for your date and even sleepover in that space. The change in environment from your usual bedroom will instantly add a new dynamic to the evening which adds excitement. 

Your mind automatically registers that this evening is different from your normal routine which helps you to focus more one each other and the events that unfold! 

If you use space such as an office, then add some flair by placing some blankets and pillows on the floor, lighting some candles…you get the idea. 

Wedding Date Night

Spending the evening together on the couch looking through your wedding album while sipping on some good wine (perhaps the wine you served your guests at your wedding?!) is a wonderful way to recall the joy of that celebration, the emotions felt that day, and the commitments made to each other.   

And if you have a video of the wedding day, even better! There’s really nothing like rewatching wedding day speeches and little moments captured that you may have been unaware of in the thrill of getting hitched. 

Grab some cupcakes from the store, so you can recreate your cake feeding, play your wedding video, and dance to your first dance song!

At Home Date Night Ideas In The Bathroom 

The bathroom isn’t typically a romantic place, but it’s time to change that up a bit and rethink how you can use your bathroom for a romantic at home date night.

At Home Spa Night 

This is one of the most romantic at home date ideas. Set up your own spa night to pamper yourselves together. Give each other a sexy full body massage, do a face mask together and give each other manis and pedis.

No, your husband doesn’t have to paint his nails.

Light some candles, turn on romantic music, and enjoy back rubs, foot massages, and each other.

spa stuff on bed for at home spa night

Take A Hot Bubble Bath 

Draw up a nice romantic bubble bath for two. Grab your favorite bath salts or bubbles, light some candles, throw on some music, and relax together in a hot bath.

Wash each other’s hair, put on an audiobook or just enjoy the relaxing time together.

Who says you need a jacuzzi?!

At Home Dates In The Bedroom 

You probably don’t need any help with at home date ideas in the bedroom, but we have some more PG dates you may not have tried yet…

Breakfast In Bed

Sure you may have thought of this, but have you actually done it? Try taking turns for this one, and come up with your own version of breakfast in bed. You cook it and bring it in for your spouse, and they can do it for the next breakfast in bed at home date.

Get creative with what types of food you add to the breakfast. It should be a bit different than just your normal daily breakfast. Pick a flower from the garden, add mimosas, and put everything on a tray for the two of you to enjoy together one morning.

We’re sure it might end up being a very long lazy morning in bed together.

Stay In Bed All Day

That’s right, take the entire day and stay in bed together. This is one of the best ways to really let everything go and just relax and spend some real quality time together.

Bring the laptop in so you can watch movies, order delivery for your meals, or have your food already prepared in the kitchen the night before, so you don’t have to get up to cook.

Read a book together, listen to a podcast, binge watch a show, and do some other married activities.

Staying in bed all day is a great way to refresh and bond together for a perfect date.

couple laying in bed eating pizza for at home date idea

Romantic Hotel Stay

Nope, we’re not leaving the house for this one! Spend the afternoon setting your bedroom up to be just like a romantic hotel stay. Wash your blankets and sheets so they’re nice and fresh, light candles all around the room (or use the electric ones), spray some perfume or something that smells good, and add some flowers to a night stand.

Head to bed a little early with some chocolate covered strawberries and some champagne, or other favorite sweet treats.

Then enjoy your evening together in your romantic “hotel room”.

Body Paint Date Night

For the more adventurous at heart, painting each other with edible chocolate body paint and helping each other to remove it is a fun and often sensual way of being intimate. 

Edible body paints can easily be found online or even in stores and come in a variety of flavors too for those who don’t enjoy chocolate.

Stay At Home Date Ideas Outdoors 

Sometime we tend to forget that at home dates don’t just mean indoor dates. Take your at home date idea outside in your backyard to have a good outdoor date idea at home!

Stargazing 

Keep an eye on the dates of meteor showers, eclipse, and different moon nights. Grab lots of blankets and pillows and lay outside watching the stars.

If you have a flat roof that’s safe to lay on, try that. But always be safe of course…this will depend on the type of roof you have and where you’re located.

Bring some wine and snacks and have some lighthearted conversation as you look for shooting stars.

couple looking at the stars for at home dates

Bon Fire & S’mores Night

Take this night to build a bon fire, or make a fire in your fire pit. (Again, safety first).

Bring all the fixings for s’mores and roast marshmallows together on the fire.

Bon fire dates are always so romantic, as you get to enjoy the outdoors, listen to the peaceful breeze, and enjoy each others company all cozied up together. It’s a great date for any season too! We even like this one as a winter date idea!

Watch The Sunrise/Sunset 

Try to plan a day where you both can watch the sunrise AND the sunset together in the same day! It’s fun to watch the sun come up and go down to complete the day.

If you can only do one, that’s still a great time spent together. Depending on the weather, you may want a blanket…but bring your coffee out together in the morning, and your dinner out for sunset.

Backyard Picnic Date 

Plan a picnic date in your own backyard! Make your favorite sandwiches, snacks, and drinks, and pack them all up in your basket to take outside. Lay out a blanket and bring some music to enjoy.

Spread out your food and graze on all your snacks and goodies.

Enjoying the outdoor weather while you eat is a fun at home date that is easy to do.

You can even just bring your dinner outside and eat on your outdoor table too. It’s all about mixing up your routine and doing something a bit different for these date nights.

Outdoor Movie Night  

If you have a projector and large blank wall on your house, you can set up your own mini movie theater date outside.
If you don’t, use this time to grab some blankets and pillows and bring your laptop out to watch a movie on that.

Laying in the grass together while watching a movie outdoors is a fun way to mix up your movie routine.

You’ll probably want to pick a movie you both have already seen, because it may be hard to hear some parts outside. But it’s the quality time together in a new space that makes this date special.

At Home Date Night Ideas For Double Dates

More than likely, you have friends who are going through the exact same thing and trying to figure out a way to mix up date night and get some more ideas for cheap dates or at home date ideas as well. How about inviting them over for a fun double date night!

You can invite one couple or multiple couples depending on what you decide to do for the evening.

Couples Game Night

Our favorite double date is couples game night. It’s always so much fun to get other couples together to compete in lots of different games throughout the night.

Have everyone bring their favorite game, and favorite snack and drinks, and you’ll have yourselves a night full of fun.

There are so many great games you can play with a double date game night!

Backyard BBQ

Invite everyone over for a backyard bbq. You don’t even have to do all the cooking. Make it a pot luck, and have everyone over just because. Don’t just wait for a holiday to get together with your friends and family.

Having a double date with a backyard bbq opens the evening up to so many different activities you can all do together.

man wearing apron at the bbq for double date night at home

Karaoke Night

Karaoke night is a fun one, but what about karaoke night with all your friends?! This makes it even more fun since you all get to act goofy around each other. Karaoke brings out all the fun and liveliness of people and everyone starts getting more comfortable acting silly together.

You can find great songs for this night online to play on your tv or on your phones.

Themed Movie Night  

Host a themed movie night. A themed movie night can be anything…you can do a Harry Potter night where everyone dresses up, brings a dish that is Harry Potter themed, and play the movies. Or do a Italian themed night, where you serve pasta, play Italian music, and watch a movie that’s set in Italy.

Having your couple friends over to enjoy makes it more fun, as it’s more of a party/get together atmosphere, and you’ll probably get a little more into it.

Having at home date nights is a great way to save money and still get to enjoy quality time together. These dates are even great if you have kids and don’t have a babysitter. Wait till they’re in bed and pick one of these at home date ideas to do that evening.

Related Posts:

Stay At Home Date Ideas For Couples To Enjoy Quality Time
At Home Dates For Married Couples
Awesome Stay AT Home Date Ideas

Sara, a seasoned expert in wedding planning and date ideas, brings a wealth of experience to our couples blog. With a background in the television industry and hands-on involvement in a dozen weddings, including working as a wedding assistant on "My Fair Wedding with David Tutera," Sara has an innate understanding of the magic that makes weddings truly special. Growing up with four sisters has given her unique insights into the dating world, making her a go-to source for practical and heartfelt dating advice. Her knowledge and enthusiasm make her the perfect guide for couples seeking to infuse their relationships with creativity and love.

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