Lockdown Date Night Ideas!

With Valentines's Day coming up in just over a month, and with everyone stuck in with their partners playing video games non-stop all evening... ahem, here are a few ideas for lockdown dates with your significant other (who lives in your household, of course). These can all be adapted to do as self-care if you live alone too!

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A Night at the Theatre:

What you will need:

Access to a musical or theatre production on a TV or computer.

A glass of wine or nice cup of tea.

Theatre snacks (think popcorn or sweeties)

A (three course optional) meal for before.

This idea is inspired by Jack... I was very low in lockdown number one, and he gave me a note with a handwritten ticket to the theatre (our living room). There was a dress code, and a menu for a restaurant (our kitchen) that I could chose from.

He made us a meal, we almost always have Italian food before the theatre when we go so we had Italian, then we sat on the sofa with a glass of wine each and watched Cats (I have the DVD). We did the same a month or so later when Hamilton was released on Disney+.

Places that I use to find theatre productions and musicals:

Disney+.

The National Theatre has a great at-home section.

Netflix has the film versions of a vast amount of musicals (Annie, Dreamgirls, West Side Story...).

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Board Games Night

What you will need:

A board game or card game

Snacks (optional)!

I am a huge board game fan, despite not being incredible competitive. This one is fairy self explanatory... grab a game and play it! I like to make a space on the floor, get some snacks ready around us, put the game out and just play.

My personal favourites are Monopoly, Pandemic (apt), or a tournament of card games with scores kept as you go to decide a winner... this one means you can play for as long or little time as you want without being controlled by the game.

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Cocktail Making

What you'll need:

Ingredients to make your favourite cocktails

A cocktail shaker

Cocktail garnishes

Some jazzy glasses for that extra bit of fun

This idea is great fun! I would recommend taking it in turns to make a cocktail of your choice and serving them to one another. You can even have a competition to see who can make the best one (best looking, best tasting, most original etc). You can do this with spirits that you already have in the house to make it a bit more frugal, or you can go and get some spirits and ingredients that you wouldn't normally buy to make it special.

I suggest getting some bar-style snacks ready, maybe make a graze board (you can just type this into Pinterest for lots of examples and ideas), and just get creative!

Dry January will be over by Valentine's Day but you can always make some mocktails instead if you don't or cannot drink alcohol. It could be worth trying an alco-free spirit that have started to become available in most supermarkets!

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Blackout Evening

What you'll need:

Candles

Blankets

Some games or a pack of cards

A blackout date night is where you simply pretend you have had a power-cut. Turn off the lights, put your phones away, and light some candles. You can use this time to sit and catch up, or you can play some games! I love playing card games during a blackout like my family used to do when we had power-cuts (it happened often in the snow).

This costs no money, in-fact, it saves a bit of electric!