Fun Date Night Ideas at Home With No Babysitter

As parents, there’s nothing better than spending quality time with our kids. But every now and then, mom and dad need their own special time to enjoy conversation and rekindle their romance.

If you’re not comfortable leaving your children with a babysitter or just couldn’t get one for your upcoming date night, it’s easy to create the same intimate mood with some fun date night ideas at home.

Hopes and Dreams Wishboard Night

For quite a few moms and dads, their future hopes and dreams may have been to have a child and their very own home. Hopefully, you have achieved these wonderful goals with your family, but what else do you have in mind?

To keep the excitement between the two of you alive, it’s important to continue planning for the future—no, I’m not just talking about more kids! You also need your own future dreams as a couple. 

So for your home date night, create a beautiful board, online scrapbook, or collection of ideas cut from magazines and webpages. Put the kids to bed and talk about what you would love to do. Fill your chosen space with your hopes and dreams for the future as one of the fun date night ideas at home with no babysitter. 

These could include: 

• Trips to take: Think of relaxing spas or interesting museums.
• Countries to visit: Maybe the depths of Egypt or the beaches of the Caribbean.
• Restaurants you’ve always wanted to go to: Try different cuisines, however expensive they may be.
• The new car you want for the future: A fast sports car or a big car for all the family.
• Design ideas for the home you want to buy: Even if it’s a dream home rather than a legitimate purchase.

Themed Dinner and Drinks 

If you can’t head out to your favorite Mexican restaurant, whisk yourselves away to Mexico in the comfort of your own home. 

As a couple, your regular home-cooked dinners have been tried and tasted for a long time now. Plus, staying at home when you can’t find a babysitter shouldn’t mean the same boring food every date night. Time to switch things up!

Going to an Italian, Spanish, or even Lebanese restaurant would be ideal. But with the right ingredients and a little cookbook (or YouTube) to help, you can create the same experience at home. 

First things first, tuck the kids in bed. Then take a pick of your desired location for the night, maybe some Spanish paella or Italian tagliatelle! If you want to go the whole shebang, go ahead with the drinks and match your clothing to the country.

You’ll need to plan ahead for this one. A day or two before, write an ingredients (and prop) list, head to the supermarket to stock up on your supplies, and make a themed night of it. You could either cook together, or you can keep it as a special surprise for your partner.

Games Night

If you’re not tempted by the first two ideas, what about a trip back into the past before the era of smartphones and Netflix? The rule of tonight’s date night is no screens allowed!

We have become far too addicted to our phones, even in important and intimate times, such as date night. According to new research, Americans actually check their phones over 80 times a day! One of the top fun date night ideas at home with no babysitter is to switch off all technology, and just spend time together. 

Make it more fun by getting out the old board games or even your kid’s ones. Spend the evening laughing together and getting competitive, away from the online world.

Some of the fun, old school games include:

• Twister
• Connect Four
• Monopoly
• Chess
• Scrabble
• Risk
• Trivial Pursuit
• Card games

Home Spa

Oh, wouldn’t we all love a little weekend away to a luxury spa? Unfortunately, this is both harsh on the wallet and not ideal when you have little children. One of my favorite fun date night ideas is recreating a spa experience in the comfort of my own home. 

You can agree to give each other the DIY spa treatments or you can just do them for yourselves. 

It can be challenging to slow down and completely relax, without the need to continually check on the kids or your work emails. But it’s essential to do so every once in a while. Slowing down is actually said to make you more productive and boost your immune system.

Some lovely spa-style treatments you could include for each other could be:

• An essential oils back massage. Essential oils and aromatherapy are excellent for stress relief, with the most potent being lavender and bergamot.
• Skin loving, homemade face masks.
• Learn how to give an Indian Head Massage for the ultimate relaxing treat.
• Try a little reflexology foot massage for each other to take the stress off at the end of the day.

After all of the relaxing treatments, maybe finish off with a cheeky bubble bath together.

Photo Framing Memories Night

The present may be pretty sweet, but it’s also lovely to take a trip down memory lane every now and then. This is especially nostalgic if it’s a date night for an anniversary, such as your first date or maybe the anniversary of moving into your home together.

If you have a photo printer at home, you could print them onto special photo paper yourselves. Printing on special photo paper improves the print quality. 

Alternatively, you could send the photos over to a printing service to be delivered to your house in advance of your memories night. Many printing services can deliver your order within a day or two, so this is one of the fun date ideas for last-minute planning.

Once you have your photos, you could also add some small memorabilia. This could be a movie ticket from a date you went on together, an airplane ticket from a previous trip, or maybe even a ribbon from around a ring box. 

With all of these tokens together, you can create a collation on a board or frame them in some decorative frames for around your home. 

Fresh Air Affair

Weather permitting, why not enjoy the great outdoors in your backyard? If you think you won’t be able to hear your little ones if they wake, set up a monitor and take it out with you for peace of mind.

Grab a blanket and some cushions, snuggle up and go stargazing for a unique and intimate experience. Even better, use a star map to work out constellations or use a telescope. 

You could bring out a little picnic or build a fire and roast some marshmallows over the flames. This is a great way to re-live dates of your past, such as picnics at the park or fires on the beach with friends. 

DIY Date Night

While it might seem your date night is ruined when the babysitter cancels, now you’ll be inspired by some of these unique and bonding fun date night ideas.

Date nights don’t always have to involve going out and spending a ton of money while you leave the kids at home with the babysitter. 

You can do equally relaxing things such as the home spa for each other or spend a romantic evening looking at past memories and future goals.