TV or grabbing a bite to eat whenever we’re free. But I think we need more than that. We need to plan dates in advance and make the time feel special.” width=”640″ height=”427″ />
“Never be too busy for the people you love. Never allow pursuits or possessions to become bigger priorities than your relationships. Love is what gives meaning to life.” — Dave Willis
Making plans for date night can be difficult when your schedule is crazy. When you add his busy schedule into the mix, it’s a wonder how you even find time to hang out with each other at all. I find that when that happens, it’s hard to make real plans to hang out. More than likely, we have dates that involve watching TV or grabbing a bite to eat whenever we’re free. But I think we need more than that. We need to plan dates in advance and make the time feel special.
According to the National Marriage Project, couples who make the time for date night at least once a week are three times more likely to be happy in their relationships than those who do not. I don’t know about you, but those are odds I can get behind.
No matter how busy we get, it’s much more beneficial for us to continually put in effort to make our relationship grow. However, the busyness is hard to get past and finding the time to be with the one you love can be difficult.
Here are some tips to help make planning a date night easier:
1. Knowing that you’re looking forward to something together.
Having a date night planned out makes you get excited about doing something together. I’m all about those spontaneous trips or Netflix cuddles, but there’s something so different and important about picking out a specific date and time to go out and have adventures together.
It is a specific time you are allocating just for each other during your busy week. It’s special time just for the two of you. When you don’t get to see each other a ton, these date nights really help you feel excited. The anticipation for a great date is something that we should continuously feel throughout our relationship and not just at the beginning.
2. Making good use of the time.
Do something different with each other. Use these date nights to have adventures that will bring you two closer together than ever. Challenge each other to do the unexpected or to do something they wouldn’t normally do. These dates don’t have to be as epic as The Bachelorette, but make them special.
Instead of dining at the same place you always do, check out that new sushi place downtown. We should always be growing in our relationships and continuously doing routine things doesn’t encourage growth.
3. Dressing up.
Be your best selves for each other and dress up. Pretend like it’s the very first date again. We can get so comfortable with our significant others that we start to let go of the effort that we once put into it.
There’s something nice about getting dressed up and looking your best for your partner. Date nights give you an opportunity to go all out. It’s a way to say, “I still want to impress you” even on the hundredth date.
4. Not allowing each other to back out.
By making date commitments to each other, you’re promising to make this person a priority for that time no matter what. It is something that you should be able to count on. Sometimes we’re so overloaded with work that we put it as a priority over our relationships in a way that isn’t healthy.
Keep this date and time each week as precious time that you can’t swap out or cancel on last minute. It’s an important appointment and we should treat it like it is.
Before using “I’m so busy right now” as an excuse to plan out date nights, let’s remind ourselves about how much happier couples are who make a little extra time. Whether it’s an hour long date or a weekend getaway, any effort to plan something for each other is great.
Now that we’re all our way to plan out some date nights, here’s a post from Keenyn to help us make our date nights the best ones ever.
About the Author
Nicole is a California State University, Fullerton grad with a B.A. in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing. In her free time you can find her reading, drinking iced coffee, blogging, and going to the beach. She hopes to one day own a social media marketing company.
Website: coleysopinion.com