7 Last Minute Ideas For An At-Home Date Night

Note: This post is updated from a post in 2021. You can check out the original post here.

I can’t say I am big on Valentine’s Day. I like the idea of it, but we don’t need a holiday to tell each other how much we love each other. I also think that Valentine’s Day is about showing everyone you love how much you care about them. For me, it is a day for family and friends.When I was single my single girlfriends and I would take each other out for dinner. We had fun. 

Valentine’s Day has been looking a lot different since the pandemic. Our kids are still quite small (4 and 2.5 years old), and because of the pandemic we haven’t had a lot of help in terms of having someone around to take care of the kids so Tom and I can go on a date. Our youngest is also still at home with us and not in daycare. This means there isn’t much time, energy, or space for romance. We haven’t been out on a date since October. Finding time to have a nice romantic Valentine’s Day is hard, but not impossible. That is why I have been brainstorming Valentine’s date night ideas for us to do this year. I thought I would share my ideas with you for you to get inspired too.

A Note on Valentine’s Day With Little Kids (During the 3rd Year of A Pandemic)

Valentine’s Day falls on a Monday this year, so N will be in school and E will be with me. I am planning to make the day all about the kids and the evening after bedtime will be about mom and dad. I think the kids should take part in some way or another, plus it’s fun to see them get all excited about things. I have bought them matching Valentine’s pajamas and I am putting together some activities that they can do like colouring and some crafting. I have made them special Valentine’s Day baskets with treats and little toys. 

For dinner we are going to make something more adult for Tom and I to enjoy. We will bake a pizza for the kids so everyone is happy. I will also put together an early movie night with some movie snacks too. Once the kids go to bed we will do something nice, just the two of us.

Now that I have shared with you my plan for Valentine’s Day with the kids I will share some of the ideas I came up with for the evening along with some wine suggestions to pair with the activity.

Play A Board Game Together

I love playing board games. Tom and I used to play board games a lot but we just can’t seem to find the time or energy to play these days. 

Our favourite board games are Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble, and Jenga. There are so many options out there. We also like Wine Wars and Scene It. I have an unfair advantage in both these games but we both still have fun playing them. 

Wine Pairing: You need something that is hefty and a good sipping wine that will help you focus on kicking your significant others butt. I would suggest an Australian or Californian Cabernet Sauvignon or South African Pinotage.

Do A Jigsaw Puzzle Together

I also really like doing jigsaw puzzles but I find it difficult to get one done on my own with the kids around. It’s easier if there are two people doing it together to get it done in one sitting. 

Wine Pairing: Here you need another good wine. I would suggest a lightly oaked Chardonnay or Argentinian Malbec.

Cook Together

This one may be a bit hard if you have kids, but  maybe you can have a light dinner with the kids and maybe make a cheese board together after bedtime. You could also have dinner with the kids and then maybe make dessert together after the kids have gone to bed. You could make something easy like my Easy Peasy Baked Apples recipe with ice cream or you could try out something more complicated like a souffle. You can try out Martha Stewat’s Chocolate Souffle recipe. Maybe, have that ice cream on hand, just in case the souffle doesn’t work out. 

If your kids are not like mine and go to bed early then you can actually make dinner together after they have gone to bed. Try out a recipe from a cookbook you own and haven’t tried yet, or if you have a subscription to a food box you could cook one of those meals together.

Wine Pairing: You could open a bottle of wine before dinner to drink while you are cooking. I would suggest a bubbly like a Cremant from France or a Prosecco from Italy. 

Play Video Games Together

We aren’t hardcore gamers here but we do play video games. It’s a fun way to do something together that doesn’t require a lot of setup and a little competition is always fun. We have a Nintendo Switch, a Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and an old Ninentdo 64. We like to play Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Lego Harry Potter on the Switch. We also like to play Super Mario World on the SNES.

Drink Pairing: I find it hard to drink anything while playing video games, I can get really animated while playing. So maybe skip the drinks until after the game is done or you can make yourself a cocktail in a low glass. Here are 14 Delicious Two-Ingredient Cocktails That Are Totally Foolproof. If you really wanted wine you could also do a fun New World wine like a Shiraz or Zinfandel. 

Do A Wine Tasting Together

Speaking of drinking, I think it would be a great idea to do a wine tasting. Don’t feel intimidated by the idea. It is a lot easier to do than you think and lots of fun. 

You might be asking yourself where do I start? Well, first pick your wines. If you are a beginner I would suggest you pick two wines.You could do a white and a red. You could do two whites or two reds. 

From there you can decide if you want to do wines from the same country and/or region, the same grape variety or different. You could also do cool climate versus warm, or hot climate wines, or Old World (Europe) versus New World (everywhere else). There are a lot of options. Whatever you decide, I suggest you pick two wines that are very different from each other, for example a Pinot Noir and a Shiraz, or a Chardonnay and a Sauvignon Blanc. 

Next, all you will need is a blank sheet of paper. Jot down all the different things you observe. 

First, you LOOK at the wine. What colour is it? How intense is that colour? 

⁠⁠Then you SMELL the wine. Here you are trying to create a picture of the wine’s profile. What do you smell? Are the fruits ripe, underripe, or overripe and jammy? Are there floral notes or herbal notes? Do you smell oak in the form of vanilla, baking spices, chocolate, or coconut?⁠

⁠⁠You then move on to the best part, you TASTE the wine. Take a good sip. How does it feel in your mouth? Is it sweet? Does it make your mouth fill with saliva? Does it dry out your mouth? Is there a heat to it that you can feel in the back of your throat? What do you taste?

⁠⁠Lastly, you put all your observations together and think about the parts you liked and didn’t like about the wine. Did you like the aromas and flavours? Did you like its structure (sugar levels, acid, tannins, acid, and body)? Why or why not?⁠⁠

⁠⁠This is the very beginning of learning to assess wine. It’s about looking at the wine using your senses of sight, smell, and taste. ⁠⁠When enjoying a wine one must consider the environment around you. It affects your overall experience. This does not only involve the 3 senses above but also the sense of touch and hearing. ⁠

Streaming

Let’s be realistic, you might be too tired, especially if you have kids, at the end of the day to even do any of my suggestions above so let’s not kid ourselves. This Valentine’s Day may just be ordering in, finding something to watch on tv, and hanging out on the couch. That’s ok. A lot of us spend all day working and then dealing with kids at night, or we are working and dealing with kids at the same time. That is all exhausting and it’s no surprise at the end of the day when all you want to do is absolutely nothing. 

Ordering in is a great opportunity to support a local restaurant so treat yourself to some kick-ass food, watch a movie or binge watch a TV show. Whatever floats your boat will be the best thing for you. As long as you and your partner do it together and just enjoy each other’s company, then you are doing Valentine’s Day right.

Wine Pairing: Pick your favourite bottle and enjoy. I love a bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc or a nice Beaujolais-Village. 

You still have time to put something together, just pick something from this list and have fun. I miss having date nights out. They were always so re-energizing for us as a couple. I know whatever we do will be a nice change to the everyday. I hope you can take the time to do something special because we all need it.