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Date Night Contest

January 19, 2012

We all know date night is healthy for your relationship with your spouse. However, doing this can be a challenge with the busyness of raising kids, working, and all the commitments we have.

I know for Claudia and me, we run out of creative things to do and therefore, don’t have a date night as often as we’d like. This contest is a way for you to give us some new ideas and a way for you to pick up a couple ideas as well.

The Contest:
We’re looking for creative low-cost (or no-cost) easy to plan dates.

The Prize:
We’ll be giving away a copy of the book “The Marriage You’ve Always Dreamed Of” by Dr. Greg Smalley and feature some of your ideas on Valentine’s Day, February 14.

To Enter:
Leave your date night ideas in the comments of this post.

Entry Deadline:
Saturday, February 11, 2012.

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  • Chris Sutton January 20, 2012 at 9:05 pm

    Purchase a bottle of Apple Cider Cocktail and 4 plastic flute glasses. (non alcoholic)

    Head to the nearest retirement community.

    Find an older couple and ask them to celebrate marriage with you.

    Ask them for the best advice they have! (marriage or otherwise)

    Listen, Laugh, Love & Grow a New Friendship.

    Expectantly,

    Chris

    • Michael Good January 20, 2012 at 9:35 pm

      That’s awesome, Chris! Now that would be a good adventure.

    • Kent Julian January 21, 2012 at 1:03 pm

      Chris…great idea!

    • Claudia Good January 21, 2012 at 11:05 pm

      I love as well Chris! Have you done this? Just curious if you did and what you came away with 🙂

      • Chris Sutton January 23, 2012 at 8:29 pm

        We found an older couple sitting on the pier once. It’s surprising how much they were willing to share.

        I want to do this again and be sure to keep their contact information and stay in touch.

        My biggest take-a-way was the need to have patience.

        • Chris Sutton January 23, 2012 at 8:31 pm

          Whever I here the country song “Waitin’ on a Woman” I think of this couple.

          • Claudia Good January 23, 2012 at 9:50 pm

            Wow. Something our culture definitely doesn’t promote (learning and connecting with the elderly)! There is so much to learn from them!

            I like that song. 🙂

  • Kent Julian January 21, 2012 at 12:54 pm

    Great idea, Michael and Claudia!

  • Kent Julian January 21, 2012 at 1:03 pm

    Here are two quick ideas off the top of my mind:

    1. I think the key is to do something that is meaningful to you as a couple. Kathy and I love to walk together because we are both into exercise and love to talk to each other. So, although I like running, occasionally we head out to local road race (5k or 10k) and walk it together instead of running it. This gives us a ton of time to just be together and talk. We also will head off to a local park to walk…our favorite is Stone Mountain, and we’ll walk up the mountain together.

    2. One of our favorites is to send our kids off with some friends and have the home to ourselves. We’ll cook dinner together and then set up a blanket in the living room and have a romantic candlelight “picnic” dinner.

    Thanks for doing this contest!

    • Claudia Good January 21, 2012 at 11:11 pm

      Kent,
      Thank you for your ideas!

      Wow, I love these.

      Walking is good for the soul of a marriage I do think 🙂

  • Video Sunday: We Stink At Date Night » rise365 January 21, 2012 at 11:45 pm

    […] Click here to enter the Date Night Contest! (link mentioned in video does not work!) […]

  • Anonymous January 23, 2012 at 4:03 pm

    We think we’re experts on keeping things cheap… But Kent and Chris have some fantastic ideas…

    Here’s one and this is pretty typical of us, nothing to fancy,but these are special moments together:

    Whenever we have a low cost date night, the kids will usually go with one of the relatives over night. We’ll usually go walk one of the local towns after we’ve eaten dinner… We’ll end up at the dollar theatre, and afterwards typically a pit stop at Kroger because we forgot to get something, followed by our drive back to the quiet house, where a bottle of wine, or something a little stronger is waiting for us. My wife is a bartender, and she knows how to mix up some delicious drinks…

    However, if there’s a party, we’re probably going…

  • Anonymous January 23, 2012 at 4:03 pm

    We think we’re experts on keeping things cheap… But Kent and Chris have some fantastic ideas…

    Here’s one and this is pretty typical of us, nothing to fancy,but these are special moments together:

    Whenever we have a low cost date night, the kids will usually go with one of the relatives over night. We’ll usually go walk one of the local towns after we’ve eaten dinner… We’ll end up at the dollar theatre, and afterwards typically a pit stop at Kroger because we forgot to get something, followed by our drive back to the quiet house, where a bottle of wine, or something a little stronger is waiting for us. My wife is a bartender, and she knows how to mix up some delicious drinks…

    However, if there’s a party, we’re probably going…

    • Claudia Good January 23, 2012 at 6:21 pm

      Rob,
      Awesome. Thanks. These ideas rock!
      The dollar theatre is way cool. We don’t have one around here or I know we would be there.

  • Jon White February 1, 2012 at 5:56 pm

    Lisa and I like to go to the parks for our date night. Right now in Ohio we can’t do that as easily but when the weather is nice we go to one of our favorite local parks and just pack a picnic. It’s just fun to eat together and talk about life, then we go ahead and walk one of our favorite trails. We have had some great discussions about our future and things we want to accomplish in the short term and long term that way.

    Another thing we have done before is get dinner at Chick-fil-a or someplace like that, then head on over to the dollar store and buy things for Samaritans Purse or a local charity. That is so much fun and we enjoy doing it primarily I think because it takes the focus off of us and puts it onto others. But most importantly do something together that you enjoy! Date nights are really important for us, especially now that we have a 6 month old in our house and we don’t get as much “adult” time together where we can focus on each other and talk about what’s going on in our lives. Great contest and I’m looking to get some other cheap date night ideas for myself. 🙂

    • Michael Good February 1, 2012 at 7:11 pm

      Jon,
      One of the best things Claudia and I can do when we are having a rough day is go for walk. For me, there’s just something about getting out moving around. I can’t sit still for very long. I hear you with the kiddo, we have a 5 month old and he fills up any extra time. This is good but we need those times when it’s just the two of us.
      Thanks for the input.

  • Lovehimservehim February 7, 2012 at 7:54 pm

    My man surprised me one evening by making a HUGE fort in the basement- made out of hanging blankets from the sealing. Then he lit candles inside and made hot chocolate (you could have a whole meal by candle light). The basement is cold so we got lots of cozy blankets (the only ones that weren’t part of the fort) and then we watched a movie I’d been dying to see! What an incredibly romantic surprise! Still my favorite date we ever had!

    • Michael Good February 7, 2012 at 11:05 pm

      Love it! Sounds like a lot of thought went into it. That’s what make it so special. Thanks for the comment.

  • Mandychell85 February 24, 2012 at 5:18 pm

    Have a five-course dinner… at different places
    Have an appetizer at one place, soup somewhere else, a main here, a dessert there, & coffee at your favourite cafe.

    • Michael Good February 25, 2012 at 10:58 pm

      That’s a great idea. I think it’d be fun because you could spred it out over a whole afternoon. Thanks for the input!