Four Reasons to Love Weeknight Dates

What makes weeknight dates so great? Here are four reasons to prefer them.

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“Do you think they’ll still have tickets for the IMAX show time?” my husband Ted asked over our dinner of Pollo Tropical chicken and guava BBQ riblets.

As you can tell, we’re big spenders on date night.

“I think so,” I thoughtfully responded. “After all, it is a Wednesday night. How busy can the theater be?”

This isn’t the first time one of our date nights has taken place on a Wednesday evening. In fact, whenever we schedule them, they tend to fall on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Primarily because this is when we’re either able to get a sitter or to swap date nights with another couple. For us, weekdays are practical.

But do you know what I’ve discovered over the last year or two?

Not only are weeknight dates best for our calendar, I’ve come to prefer them. Here are four reasons why.

Four Reasons to Love Weeknight Dates

1. Weeknight Dates Interrupt the Weekday Monotony

For me, sometimes the five weekdays feel like this:

• Monday: Wake up. Homeschool. Lunch. Work from home. Dinner. Bed. (Shower, optional.)
• Tuesday: Repeat Monday’s schedule.
• Wednesday: Repeat Tuesday’s schedule.
• Thursday: Repeat Wednesday’s schedule.
• Friday: Repeat Thursday’s schedule.

I’m guessing your day-to-day routine is similar. Except perhaps “Drop the kids off at school and head to the office” replaces “homeschool.”

When Ted and I throw a date night into the mix, it brings some spontaneity to our monotony. For me, it provides an evening out to look forward to. A night when I don’t have to make dinner, I simply get to eat it … uninterrupted.

2. Weeknight Dates Provide Connection on Our Busiest Days

Ted and I have found that at the end of a workday, it can be difficult to catch up.
One, we have four little girls who are just as eager to talk Ted’s ear off as I am when he walks in the door.

Two, our kids’ bedtime routine consumes a chunk of our evenings. Three, at the end of it all, we’re tired. That’s not to say we don’t try to catch up, but by the time we’ve tucked our girls in bed, too often all we want to do is turn on the television and have someone tell us our own bedtime story.

When we schedule a date night on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, though, it gives us much-needed middle of the week catch-up time. It’s an opportunity for us to let someone else put the kids to bed and reserve our energy and focus solely for each other. Which brings me to #3.

3. Weeknight Dates Keep Our Priorities in Order

I’m a firm believer that my husband trumps my kids on my priority list. I couldn’t agree more with Heidi St. John, who writes:

When we place our children as the priority of our time and energy at the expense of our husbands, we’re missing God’s heart for the home.

For us, setting aside time in the middle of the week for each other is a tangible reminder to us and a statement to others that our marriage comes first, above kids and work.

4. Weeknight Dates Equal Less Busy Venues

That night we saw that new film, the IMAX theater consisted of Ted, me, and about five other people. We’ve found that in general, restaurants, movie theaters, bowling alleys, and even places like the Shakespeare Tavern downtown, tend to be less busy during the week. We just make sure to schedule our time of departure from home after rush hour.

What about you? Like me, are you a connoisseur of weeknight dates? If so, I’d love to hear why you too prefer them over a Saturday evening out.

P.S. A version of this post first appeared over at my friend Darlene Schacht’s site Time-Warp Wife. For more encouraging words for your marriage, you can visit her here.