Take Time for Day-Dates

My husband and I have pretty crazy schedules. We both work full time and he is also in school full time. Needless to say we don’t have very much time for us and we definitely don’t get many opportunities for date-night. What makes it even harder is that we don’t really have a lot of help watching our daughter either. My brother helps out, but I don’t want to ask him to watch our child every time we feel like doing something. I would feel like I was taking advantage. So how do we ever get to do anything together?

We take day-dates. Neither of us has a typical 9-5 schedule so I’ll be off one day during the week since I work on Saturdays. Maybe once a month or so my husband will take a Wednesday off (my typical off day). Ryleigh is in daycare so we have the day to do something until we have to pick her up. We felt guilty about it the first time, but we would typically be working, so she would be there anyway. Why not make some time for ourselves?

So what could you do on a day-date? Go to that restaurant you’ve been hearing about. Typically you would think of reserving the nicer restaurants for dinner, but they usually have a similar menu for lunch and it’s usually cheaper than their dinner menu – bonus!

You could check out some of our amazing beaches in the area. If you have kids I’m sure your typical beach day would be lugging around umbrellas, toys, blankets, lunches, and snacks. Make it a day-date and just bring the essentials, relax, take in the sun, the breeze, and the smell of the ocean. Our favorite beach is Siesta Key. It’s not the closest, but it’s less crowded. There are tons of beautiful beaches, however, so if you want to stay closer to home try out the one nearest to you!

Check out a nearby park. We like to visit Medard Park because we live in Plant City and it’s close to home. It’s a beautiful park with a great big lake. There are hiking trails, BBQ picnic spots, areas to boating and fishing, and disc golf. The park is a great place to have a nice romantic picnic and take in the scenery.

We also like to visit downtown St. Pete. We usually grab lunch at one of the restaurants over-looking the water and then stroll around downtowns looking at the fun shops and checking out the street art. Downtown St. Pete has tons of beautiful wall murals. You can find a map of the mural locations here.

Another great idea is taking advantage of your annual passes. We just got Disney World passes and have done adult Disney days twice so far. It’s great because you can ride the rollercoasters the kids are too small for, have a drink (or two), and get to sit down and eat without worrying about feeding anyone but yourselves. This day-date would also work well for Busch Gardens, Lowry Park Zoo, the Aquarium – anywhere you might normally frequent with your kiddos can be a totally different experience as just adults. Don’t have an annual pass or membership? Go for the day! I guarantee you’ll have fun!

These are just some of the ideas we’ve had so far for day-dates and are always looking for new ones. Do you day-date? Where do you like to spend the day with your significant other?