Having An Elevated Date Night at Home

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Adding a Touch of luxury to your weekend…

During this time, my husband and I have been trying to keep some normality. And with this, we’ve been trying to elevate date night at home. With us not being able to go out for dinner, we wanted to make sure every now and then we’re creating an evening where we are escaping from it all and having so delicious dinner together.

I’m very lucky that Lee is an incredible chef and is always making us amazing dinners. However, to ensure that our food shop budget isn’t going through the roof during this time, we have been pulling back on elaborate dinners. So for us, recreating date night at home is an evening that we look forward to. It’s not just about food, it’s the pageantry around it that elevates it. Here are my top tips for creating a fabulous date night at home…

COOK A CUISINE THAT YOU ABSOLUTELY LOVE.

It goes without saying but you should only be eating food that you absolutely love on date night. For my husband and I, we love either Italian or Mexican food. We usually lean towards the latter, because it’s a little more complex and we have a lot of Italian food during the week. Saying that though, Mexican food can be really simple to create. I love my husband’s fish tacos that he makes (and has promised a blog post on them very, very soon!) They are super quick, easy to make and utterly delicious to eat.

I love this dish because we both have our own areas of creating the dish (Lee with the fish and me with the salsa) so we’re working together to create the meal. This time is a great bonding experience and working together to make a delicious dish.

GET CREATIVE WITH THE PRESENTATION.

Now is the time for the pageantry with presenting your food. If you have a dining table, set that table like you were dining at The Ritz! For us, it’s our coffee table. So taking the time to present the food on wooden serving boards, lighting candles that really helps to set a mood for the evening. I’m also a big fan of taking everything out of the tubs (like the sour cream) and serving them in nice, pretty bowls. Serving boards also give your date night a home something extra, something that you’d be proud to snap for your Instagram Stories.

I would also say now is the time to pull out the fancy plates rather than the dishes you use on an everyday basis. Our pretty pink plates are usually looking pretty in our pantry cabinet in the kitchen. But on days like this, it’s time to whip them out and get them used.

 

   

TURN THE TV OFF.

I’ve found myself craving nights where the TV doesn’t turn on. Yes, we are those people who usually eat their dinner in front of the TV. So on date night I tend to make sure the TV doesn’t make its way on. Instead, I like to ensure that Jazz or Salsa music is playing on in the background. It allows us to chat more and reconnect, but also allowing us to imagine that we’re not in the house while having dinner. So hide those remotes and get that speaker of yours blasting some of your favourite tunes.

With this as well, I’d also recommend kicking your phone to another room during date night. No need to have any notifications pinging away distracting you.

TREAT YOURSELF TO A LOVELY BOTTLE.

We’ve been trying to make sure our drinking doesn’t get too out of hand during the lockdown. So we’ve been saving our wine nights for date night. Whilst our local supermarket does some great affordable bottles of wine, we don’t let that us stop us from splashing out. If there’s a cheeky bottle that’s a little pricier than we’d usually go for, we get it. After all, it’s only the same as if we were out, we would splash out on that more expensive bottle of wine.

If wine is not your thing or you don’t drink, cocktails and mocktails are the way to go. Just make sure it’s something that’s a little more elevated than you’d usually have during the week. Get fancy and creative. Again, another great bonding time for you and your partner while you’re creating them.

SCENT THE ROOM.

I’m a big fan of scent to help create an atmosphere and help to create a mood. I love lighting candles where possible and I always take the opportunity to get my more luxurious candles out during at-home date night. My big White Company candles are my favourites for lighting up during special evenings. The scent they give is gorgeous and helps set a great mood for the evening. Scents also helps to connect memories, so every time I pass this candle I’m reminded of the special evening I spent with my husband.

 

SHOP THE POST.