My favourite comedy video is Michael McIntyre’s session about people who don’t have kids. If you haven’t seen it, you can check it out here.

There’s so much in this short clip that resonates as a parent, but my favourite line is when he’s driving past a restaurant with his wife and comments that they’ll “never go there” because, you know… kids.

Of course, having kids doesn’t mean you can’t spend quality time together as a couple, it just means your pre-kids staple of “dinner and the cinema” might not be feasible and you’ll have to get a bit more creative.

It’s nice now to live close enough to family that we can go out as a couple every so often, but for a while there when we were tripping about NSW and didn’t have any babysitting options, we made the most of home dates and a few years back I made a “home date night jar” which we still come back to frequently. You can make these yourself – you just need a jar and some paddle pop sticks. Or if that’s a bit too Pinterest-y, you can just create a note in your phone and start your list there.

Here are 21 ideas from our jar, developed with the knowledge that most of the time we’ll have kids in the house (so we can’t leave) and will need to be available to them.

1. Learn something new together
2. Try some in-home karaoke
3. Make milkshakes
4. Play a sport in the backyard
5. Cook a late dinner together
6. Look through photo albums
7. Do a workout together
8. Give each other a massage
9. Do a puzzle
10. Play a board game
11. Play cards
12. Grab takeaway and eat by candelight
13. Watch a movie
14. Go for a late night stroll (if your oldest is old enough to look after the little ones!)
15. Watch home movies
16. Write a gratitude list together
17. Share your bucket list for 1 year, 5 years, 10 years
18. Write and send a family update
19. Have a wine and cheese night
20. Dance
21. Plan a holiday or day out

I’d love to hear your ideas for home date nights. Pop them in the comments below.