It finally happened! Our first weekend of respite in two years- our first chance to get away since the birth of our amazing, but very exhausting daughter. It had been almost exactly two years since our last hotel stay anywhere, and about as long since our last quiet night out.
With our rambunctious, almost-two-year-old, going out at all had become increasingly challenging. In fact, just weeks before, we had to abruptly end our trip to Applebee's; one parent carrying a screaming, kicking toddler to the car, the other tearful and mortified sitting at the table waiting to package up the food (which hadn't even made it to the table yet) to go and pay the bill.
Let me tell you, after a 20-minute drive home, Applebee's 6oz grilled sirloin with garlic mashed potatoes and seasonal roast veggies is just not quite as enjoyable. Especially when you still have a screaming toddler to deal with once you get home.
Why do we subject ourselves to this misery? For me, it is because Quality Time is one of my most prominent love languages (the other is Acts of Service). I show those I love that I care about them by spending quality time with them. And that is how I interpret others care about me as well.
That brings me to our highly anticipated, carefully planned two night stay away from the rest of the world- where we spent most of the time watching television shows we'd watch at home, and browsing social networks on our phones.
Don't get me wrong, we did go out a few times and spent a small fortune on food and drinks (of which I had a few too many and ended up becoming a useless human being on one of the nights). And of course we spent time catching up on sleep- oh, precious sleep!
But I felt we didn't actually accomplish my goal of spending quality time together. We didn't learn anything new about one another. We did things we could have done, and usually do, at home. We missed our kid. And worst of all, we spent way too much money.
There has to be a better way.
So we tried something else. For the first time ever, I ordered us one of those monthly box subscriptions, just to try it out. We went with Date Night In Box, simply because they had an ad on my Instagram. I was so excited to dive in head first to this date night from home thing, and now I am hooked!
I had a few issues with the subscription box we purchased though.
1. It's only a monthly box. I had way too much fun dating my husband to just do it once a month!
2. It's kind of expensive! I mean, it's cheaper than a nice dinner out and going to a show or something, but it includes neither of those things. It was around $40 (with shipping) and basically the only physical items it included were a package of crepes (which were delicious by the way), a tiny satchet of dried lavender, and paper and pens for an ice breaker, letter writing activity, and a few riddles. I could have used the $40 better and actually fed us (we were starving afterward! I ate an entire pint of ice cream, which my husband was brilliant enough to pick up on his way home).
3. I ended up doing a lot more work to make the evening an actual escape from the regular. None of that was included in the instructions. I set up a French bistro in our room, complete with lights, candles, backdrop, and place settings. I even dressed fancy and did my hair and makeup to match the theme (huge deal for me because working from home, there are many days I don't change out of what I wore to bed, let alone brush my hair).
So I thought "I can do this. I don't need to spend $40 a month on a box that may or may not contain a great date. And then wait for some company to ship it sometime in the next month." I just wish I knew you could have such awesome dates at home before. I've started my research and idea gathering and I am ready to plan our next date night in solo.
Join me! Here we go :)
