Work from home, kids at home… how are you keeping your marriage alive? Date night in with Blue Apron is the perfect solution. Get $80 in free groceries on your first 4 boxes with my link below. This post is sponsored by Blue Apron.
The Family Dinner Crazies
Meal times in our house are CRAZY.
With Mazen wanting to play “name that tune” and “guess my number” and Birch running circles shrieking around the the table or asking for “uppy” in my lap while I’m trying to eat, we’re getting up and down so much we are in a game of whack-a-mole!
Sometimes I just want to EAT ya know?! And an adult conversation would just be gravy on top.
Dinner Dates = Quality Marriage Time
I have actually long said that sharing a kid-free meal is the key to quality time in our marriage.
If the kids are awake, we are always distracted! (No offense, dear children <3)
If we’re chilling out on the sofa in the evenings, we’re often watching a show, on our phones, or reading. AKA distracted.
Dinner dates are my favorite way to connect because we only do two things: eat and talk. (We have a no-phones-at-the-table rule that is also key!) We used to go out just the two of us once a week before Birch came along, and I miss those days!
We’d be back to it but babysitters and restaurant dining aren’t in the cards right now. So we’re not exactly getting the quality time we used to. Pre-pandemic, pre-toddler.
Finding time for a date night can be hard and finding time to cook can be even harder, so Blue Apron has been a great two-for-one date night in solution during this season.
Date Night In
While most nights we have family dinners at 6:00, on Blue Apron nights we’ve been feeding the kids first and doing some cooking while they eat and then having our date night after they are in bed. I can’t tell you how peaceful those evenings are.
Blue Apron offer has a great wine pairing selection! We added some wine to our recent meal box and enjoyed sipping those while we cooked and with the meal. These are ~2/3 bottles so they are ideal for splitting.
We shared the Anthesis Pinot Noir and it was fab!
Blue Apron Recipes are easy to divide and conquer
The Blue Apron recipe cards are great for dividing up tasks and splitting up the prep and cooking. Each step is usually a complete “process” so we divide them up and finish the meal as efficiently as possible.
And if we’re really organized, I’ll do the prep during Birch’s nap so we just have to cook the remaining components when it’s time to go.
Set the table with cloth napkins and pretty flatware.
Light a candle. Make it special!
And if we’re really lucky, we break out a board game for dessert!!! Chickapig for the win!
Spice up your marriage
If you want to spice up your marriage, give Blue Apron a try with $80 off your first four boxes. The two-person, two-meal plan is only $27 a week with this special offer, so get yourself some new recipes, free groceries, and quality time in the calendar!!
Lauren says
Haven’t had a date night in a looong time (two young kids!), but last holiday season I got a few deliveries of Blue Apron and it was so nice to do something special. I’d love to do it again!
Heather Sharpe says
We love to cook together and then snuggle on the couch with a glass of wine and a good show! Simple but quality time and relaxing!
Danielle says
With two young kid at home I love an occasional date night of just wandering around downtown Washington DC (where we lived pre-kids). Grabbing a bite and people watching.
Hannah Beck says
This is so fun! One of my favorite date night ideas is to play “Golfing with Friends” on our XBox. I haven’t laughed that hard in years. I definitely empathize with consistent distraction at meal times. We find our connection times are after kids are in bed and it is 9 o’clock. Needless to say: I am enjoying this stage of young kiddos, but man I am tired!
Meg Whitley says
We love cooking together once the kids are in bed, too. Or having a fire and watching a movie together.
Evelyne says
Hi Kath, thankyou for the email, I enjoyed reading your blog, highly appreciated
Amy Dabney says
Right now our favorite thing is to sit together on the porch of our new (but pretty old) house, maybe with a little bourbon, and make endless lists of the home/yard upgrades we would like to do over the years. Dreaming together and making big plans to create the home and property we have always wanted.
Amy H. says
For at-home date nights, I love walking around our neighborhood after dinner and talking about life and other people’s yards together. We usually end up coming up with new landscaping ideas!
Christine says
We love to sit out at the fire pit with a nice bottle of wine and snacks, talking and reconnecting. <3
Chelsey says
Dinner, wine, and a game or show is pretty awesome for a date night in! Could be dinner homemade or takeout 🙂 I also love some of the lists of questions to ask your partner during date night in for fun that are available online. Sometime this starts new conversations and you might learn something new about the one you love!
Carla Reyes says
We’ve been doing coffee dates in. Kids go to bed, decaf coffee goes on, and we sit at the kitchen table and talk.
Anu says
Candles, an impromptu dance party, watching a movie and sharing a dessert!
Lisa V. says
For date night in, I like to have some time with wine around our back yard fire pit and then move on to a yummy homemade dinner.
Hillary Gras says
We recently did an online cooking class with Joe Sadsto from top chef. We learned hot to make gnocchi! It was the perfect date night in! The only bad part was cleaning up at the end of the night ha ha. Great post and ideas
Kath Younger says
I’m trying to see if I can do a “cook together” event with Blue Apron and Zoom you guys in so we can cook together!
Carolina says
I would love that!! Though I’m quite sure I will not be able to attend due to the time difference. I attended a food&drink online festival last week and cooked along but the attendees could not see each other, that felt private but at the same time not very enjoyable.
Betsy A Fry says
Date night in has become a staple of ours since March! The virus numbers have always been high by us and true date nights were not an option. We decided a few months ago to try and learn new things together to keep life interesting right now. Currently, we are practicing yoga in our basement once a week after the kids go to bed. It is fun, humbling and a chance for us to bond in a different way!
Kath Younger says
I love doing yoga together! We might have to try that. I never think about that in the evenings.
Tara Buckley says
Lately, our favorite date night activity is watching travel shows and dreaming of where to travel to once we can but our next date night will be a salsa dancing lesson (online)!
Katie M says
Favorite date night in is playing a board game (when we have the energy for it)!
Katie D. says
I love reading books and my husband loves listening to books, so lately we select the same book to “read” in our own way and then enjoy a little “book club” together!
Mandy says
What is a date night? lol We enjoy playing darts, trying fun beers together, watching shows…
🙂
Jessica says
We love sharing a cocktail and watching a show/movie together. <3
Mugs says
I love this post! The wine pairing is so neat! Brad and I love wine and monopoly deal
Melanie says
We’ve always wanted to try Blue Apron. When we can go out for a date night, we like to go for a walk or a hike and go out for dinner. Haven’t done that since 2019 though, ha! For date nights in, we’ve been digging puzzle and wine nights.
Laura says
Favorite date night in right now is snuggling on the couch watching cheesy holiday movies.
Marina says
Our kids are about the same age as yours, so finding time for a date night in is also a struggle!! One of our favorite things to do is crack open some wine after the kids go to bed and talk around a fire pit in our backyard. It’s the only time of the week where we have a legitimate conversation! <3
Eliza says
I sure do miss dinners out. We used to put the kids to bed and play cards or scrabble or watch a movie as a date night.
Do you mind if I ask how you get such great photos? Is there a particular tripod or other gadget you recommend for getting yourself and Thomas both in the shots? I’m always curious about how bloggers and instagrammers manage this.
Kath Younger says
Cramer Photo worked her magic!
Melissa says
Everything looks and sounds great and I absolutely love your deck!
Cathy says
We go hiking together. We both love the outdoors, doesn’t take too much time and a bonus of exercise!
Sally says
For date nights in, we love to make a huge bowl of stovetop popcorn and watch a movie. It’s cozy, and so much cheaper than going out to a movie, the popcorn is healthier than movie theater popcorn, and it’s overall a great “date night” option these days when going to the movie theater isn’t feasible.
K~ says
Love the coordinated blue outfits !!
K~ says
Addendum You look great in stripes, I love stripes too.
Heidi says
Thanks for the reminder to prioritize investing in your marriage! We also love to cook together, although typically one of us is seated at the island with cocktail in hand haha. But we both like to pitch in! Just being able to focus on one another and savoring good conversation without kids is a gift. Lately we’ve had a lot of fun doing a challenging puzzle together!
Kristin M Thomas says
Dinner and a movie
Charlotte Brown says
We love making dinner together as well, but I am sure Blue Apron makes it far easier than planning and groceyr shopping!
Alexandria R Hardy says
We love sticking the kids in the stroller and going on long walks together while talking about the future. Pre-COVID, we also loved taking long bike rides or hikes sans kids – cannot wait to get back to that when it’s safe and the grandparents are willing!
Sue says
I like to set the table in the living room for a change. Candles, flowers, music. Then we fall asleep on the couch LOL
Amanda says
We love doing Blue Apron and get meals fairly regularly. But we recently purchased a new cookbook to work our way through this winter during Covid – it’s called “In Bibi’s Kitchen” and I’m hoping it’ll teach us a new style of cooking and get us out of the rut of our standard go-to’s. I get what you mean about being distracted by phones, TV, laptops, etc. Cooking together and enjoying a nice meal is a bit more special and a way we like to connect (with a glass of wine in hand of course). Granted, we don’t have kids so it makes it a little easier. But the traditional date night out isn’t happening these days (for us at least), so it’s fun to get creative at home.