My Top Ten Favorite Marriage Dates

Hi everyone!  I’m Whitney’s mom, Denise.  I write a blog – RefreshHer,  that is just a tool to refresh the hearts of women.  I hope this post will do that for you today, but specifically for your marriage, because Whitney has asked me to write a post on that topic.  It’s one of my favorite subjects because I love being married!

One of my favorite marriage verses is Proverbs 18:22, “Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing.” I ask the Lord to help me to know how to be just that – a “good thing” to my husband.  One way that is always on target is planning a date for us.  We’ve had some great ones in our 34 years of marriage. Today I thought I’d share my Top Ten Marriage Dates.  I hope it will give you some ideas to do with your spouse!

1. Fall Picnic – On a crisp fall day I packed homemade soup in mason jars, pieces of corn bread, huge molasses cookies and jars of milk.  We went to a beautiful park where there was lots of fall foliage.  I put a quilt on the picnic table, along with my crystal chandelier and some silk fall leaves.  We ate our lunch huddled together in the cold.  Afterwards we hiked near the water and up some of the trails.  This was a romantic picnic!
2. Car drives. We’ve gone up the Blue Ridge Parkway to Mount Mitchell and to other beautiful scenic overlooks  I think the reason I love these drives is that it’s just the two of us.  Oh, the cell phone might ring, but usually on the parkway, we lose signal! 🙂 I have him all to myself for a little while!  Sometimes we take a lunch or snack to enjoy along the way or at a beautiful overlook.  Other times we have enjoyed a lovely dinner at an inn.
3. Book Store date. I made up a list of types of books we were to find – a favorite childhood book, a cookbook containing a recipe you’d love to try, a poetry book with a love poem you wish you had written for your spouse, etc.  We laughed and cried.  Unbelievable how much fun this date is!  Even after being married many years, this date is helpful in learning new things about one another!
4. Twelve Days of Christmas dates. Starting on December 13, twelve days before Christmas, we would end each day after the girls were in bed by sharing a small gift with one another in front of the tree.  We would sometimes have a Christmas goodie and cup of coffee or hot chocolate too.  We found that by doing this we were able to really enjoy the Christmas season AND one another.
5. Honeymoon Return Trip. We have gone back to our honeymoon cabin/area several times. We went to the mountains of NC, and the memories that area holds for us are so fun to relive! The last time we went, we lodged at a different (and much nicer) place, but we were still surrounded by the memories of when our marriage was brand new.  There’s something really special about that!
6. Spontaneous Picnic after a busy ministry day. We were on our way home from a funeral that was a good distance away.  We had had very little time together in recent days.  We stopped for a bucket of KFC, and took it to a park and had a picnic overlooking the lake.  We were the most dressed up people at the park, but we made time to seize the moment and enjoy quality time together!
7. At home after the girls were in bed dates. Being on a tight budget while our girls were small, necessitated low-budget dates.  If we waited until the girls were in bed, there was no need for a baby sitter!  Personal-size pizzas or dessert and coffee, served by candlelight in our bedroom was as good as a weekend get-away.  It gave us time alone, time to talk, and didn’t break the bank!
8. Breakfast in front of the fire on a snowy winter morning. I moved the table so that it was right in front of the fire.  Coffee, pancakes, bacon and soothing music is the perfect way to start your day as a couple!
9. “Swing-In” – We watched a movie on our computer on the back porch swing. It was our version of the “Drive-in.”
10. Coffee Shop Hunts. We had a list from the newspaper of quaint coffee shops in our area. Over a couple month’s time we found each of them and shared coffee and sometimes a game that we took with us.  We’d play while we sipped, munched on a cookie and laughed our time away.

Most of these dates cost very little (with the exception of the honeymoon return trip).  The point is just having time together, with no one else.  The investment made in your marriage is so worth the time planning and preparing for these simple and fun dates!

When was the last time you planned a date with your husband?  Maybe it’s time for you to plan again! Don’t make him be the one to always have to come up with an idea. How about surprising him this week with one of these dates?

Be a good thing!

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TI’m thrilled to share a few of my favorite bloggers with you this week while I’m away on vacation! I hope you’ll enjoy these posts and hopefully find a few new blogs that you love! You can keep up with my WDW vacation fun over on Instagram. 🙂 -Whitney