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Dates to Go on Before Baby Comes!

Having kids has been hands down, the best thing to happen to my husband and I.  Even so, we still joke about all of the things we can’t seem to do anymore.  If you’re expecting your first baby or trying to get pregnant, take it from us and do these things before you have a little one!

• • We love these Date Cards that give you a unique date idea for each week of the year!
  • Go to the expensive movie theater and sit in the reclining seats!
  • Netflix and chill with your favorite snacks under the covers for an entire day one weekend. Enjoy the peace and quiet with no interruptions.
  • Cook an elaborate meal
  • Go to a fancy restaurant (or any restaurant) and pick each other’s meals
  • Have a fondue night at home!  We absolutely LOVE this fondue set in our house!  Plus, you can still use it for date nights at home after the baby goes to sleep.
  • Go to an arcade. We LOVE Dave and Busters.  It makes the perfect date night!
  • Do an escape room! These are SO popular right now and you won’t have to plan it around having a sitter…
  • Host a bonfire and make smores!
  • Check out this article on how to have an awesome sex life even AFTER the baby comes and discuss your tactics for an exciting love life even after becoming parents!
  • Depending on where you live – go for a ghost tour! We love Charleston, SC and go there often.  We’ve done a few of these and they never disappoint.  We bought ours through Groupon and saved 50%!
  • Go get a couple’s massage. Better yet, give massages to each other!  I love Melt classes.  They teach you how to give each other a massage without being awkward or sexual (not that there’s anything wrong with that…)  I think it’s such a cool concept.

• • Go browsing in a store with lots of breakable things. We avoid Pier 1 like the plague these days.
  • Stay up late doing anything at all and actually sleep in!
  • Go out with your friends who don’t have kids. You’ll likely see them way less after baby comes.
  • Go to a concert – probably the thing we miss most from our pre-baby days!
  • If it’s your thing – Go to a play
  • Go to a sporting event (we still haven’t done this and our oldest is about to turn 3)
  • Talk about anything other than the baby. Go to a coffee shop and reminisce about when you first fell in love with each other, your favorite memories, new memories you’re excited to create, etc.
  • Have sex during the day – seriously. After baby comes, unless you get naptime just right, you’ll have to stay up until all hours to have quality alone time…
  • Have a picnic and write down your dreams for the future. Frame it and hang it somewhere you’ll always see it.  Never forget to keep working toward those dreams together, even when life changes drastically after baby arrives.
  • Drop everything and go away for the weekend. We still do this even after kids, but it takes a little more planning.
  • Go to a bar. Yes, I know you’re pregnant and can’t drink.  Go anyway.  You’ll never be able to go to a bar again without a sideways look from some know-it-all, so go now and soak it up!
  • Make eye contact. Yes I know it isn’t a date, but incorporate this into absolutely everything you do.  You’ll be surprised how hard pressed you are to find time to do anything except work parallel to each other on household chores and baby caretaking.
  • Go camping – we’ve done this after having kids and it was definitely way harder than doing it pregnant. Go, enjoy the outdoors, and ignore the fact that it might be a little uncomfortable
  • Play a board game – you’ll find it so hard to get enough uninterrupted time to do this once baby arrives!
  • Go bowling. We took our kids bowling when our youngest was just 5 days old.  It took a while, was a little stressful, but so worth it.  I really wish we’d gone bowling more before we had kids!
  • Do something that involves heights – whether it’s ride a ferris wheel or tour a rooftop deck in your area. After you have a baby, you’ll develop an instant fear of heights…especially once your little one starts walking!
  • Go to a piano bar. My husband and I went to Pat O’Brien’s in New Orleans before we had kids and had an absolute blast.
  • Watch loud or scary movies. Know those movies (usually action movies) that suddenly you have to grab the remote and turn the volume down?  You’ll grow to HATE those when you have a tiny sleeping terrorist in the room with you.  Get your fill of those now!
  • Go to an amusement park! Even if you can’t enjoy all the rides, you’ll love the atmosphere and will be able to ride enough rides to have an awesome time.  Eat all the disgustingly greasy and over-priced food too!  You’ll be glad you did 😉
  • Do something that involves water. A picnic by the lake, canoeing, swimming…all things water-related will seem so much scarier and harder to prep for when you’re bringing a baby along.
  • Go somewhere you’d never go otherwise. If museums or art galleries aren’t your thing – go anyway!  Do something spontaneous.  Get outside your comfort zone.
  • Go miniature golfing. Or, for the love of God, if you are a golfer, go real golfing.  We LOVE to golf and haven’t been in almost 4 years.
  • Start traditions NOW that you want to continue as your family grows. We drive to Charleston, SC to see the Christmas light display at James Island every year.  We’ve done that since we were dating and knew we wanted to have kids one day.  Every year, I cry when we go (probably because I’m pregnant every time) but it feels like a dream come true to carry on these traditions with our little ones.  I want that for you too!
  • Take a cooking class
  • Go to a paint and sip class. These used to be geared toward just girl’s night out, but now they’re a hit with couples too!
  • Go to a water park! I got the go-ahead to do this from my doctor when I was in my 2^nd trimester with our first son.  She said it was perfectly fine to go down the slides and do the lazy river…just don’t do anything too ridiculously crazy.  We had a blast!
  • Go tour model homes together in your area. Pretend money is no object and discuss what you’d change and how you’d make it work for your growing family.
  • Take a trip to the nearest beach and watch the sunrise or sunset.
  • Go geocaching! I know, we’d never heard of it either.  It’s basically a treasure hunt using GPS to find objects in your area.
  • If you’d rather not actually leave the house, I love this Travel Date idea that lets you travel the world on date night from the comfort of your own home.  It’s the sweetest idea and an awesome gift!
  • Make chocolate covered strawberries together and have a romantic spa night in. We actually did this on our babymoon and it is still one of my favorite memories we’ve created.
  • Go play bingo! It’s actually way more fun than it sounds.  When I was pregnant, my husband and I used to go play bingo every couple of weeks.  I actually teared up when the baby came and I had to give away my dobbers.

• Go to an exotic restaurant and try new foods. Some awesome ones are Mediterranean, Indian, Thai (I was in my 20s before I tried Pad Thai.  It’s a crime), and Ethiopian.
• Go to a comedy club. Check to see if any of your favorite comedians are coming to town and get tickets to the raunchiest comedy show you can find (if that’s your thing)
• Go taste-testing. There are lots of options that don’t involve alcohol if you’re currently pregnant.  I’ve seen hot sauce tasting, jelly/jam tasting, ice cream tasting…  Short on ideas?  Just hit up a Sam’s Club or Costco on the weekend.  Just be prepared to buy a month’s worth of whatever you end up falling in love with.
• Go hiking! We’re outdoorsy people and have always loved anything that gets us out in nature.  It’s a little harder now that we have kids, but still possible.  Do the long, really picturesque hikes now before you’re toting your little one around too.
• Host a cookout for all of your closest friends and talk late into the evening…interruption free.
• Before baby comes, sit down and plan your date nights for the rest of the year with this kit.  This way, you’ll have something to look forward to, especially since you’ll be too tired to decide on a date night idea! 😉

Are you expecting a new baby or are you a new parent?  What did you do to make the most of your pregnancy to bond with your partner?  Let me know in the comments!