Tips for a Fun Date Night In (Even if You Have Kids) #shop #cbias #KYDateNight #ad

  Oh the weather outside is frightful, but a date night sounds soooo delightful, but since the kids have no place to go, we'll just stay home, just stay home, just stay home. 

 Well, it's officially winter out there, folks. We've had our first "snowfall" of the year here in Nashville, a whopping half an inch. Schools were closed, grocery stores were sold out of milk, bread and eggs, people were stocking up on alternate fuel sources to power their generators and gas stoves... it was crazy... all inch and a half of it. 

The girl was out of school and the eldest had the day off from work, which meant I had to feed and entertain them even more than usual... Thanks, Mother Nature. Winter can be a real "buzz-kill".

  Instead of hanging out with their friends, the kids are stuck at home, hangin' out with Dad and me, but instead of getting all "bah-humbuggy" about it, Dad and I have found a way to have a fun date night, while including the kids and still managing to carve out a little "grown-up time" later on, I mean, they have to go to sleep eventually, right?!

  The entire point of date night is to have fun, relax, unwind and spend time with the one(s) you love, right? So, if that must include your kids (for the first part of the evening), so be it. 

  The key to planning a fun date night in is to keep it simple. If it feels too much like work, it probably won't get done. Have fun with it. With a little bit of pre-planning and some luck, you can have an awesome date night in, even if you have kids. 

  First things first, take the things you would usually do on date night and adapt them. For instance, if your ideal date night out includes dinner, a movie and some "bow chicka wow wow", then all you need to do is find a way to do all those things from the warmth and comfort of your own home.

  You could spend hours online looking for the perfect recipe, another hour at the grocery store buying all the stuff you need for an amazing dinner, come home, cook it, then "die", because you're so tired from shopping AND cooking, so there's no energy left for any extracurricular activities and now date night is ruined, or... you could just sit back and let Plated.com do most of the work for you. 

  Plated.com is an online service that will cut out all the guesswork for your "date night in" dinner. All you have to do is choose your meal, order it and wait. It really is that easy. They even have vegetarian options. Plated sends everything you need to create a gourmet meal in the privacy of your own home. You can even get your other half to help you cook or in my case, do the prep work. I find too many chefs in the kitchen really irks my nerves, but a good prep cook is invaluable.

  After an amazing dinner, there's nothing like going to the theater to see a movie, the huge screen, the popcorn and candy, the people sitting beside you, talking all the way through the entire movie, the lady "shhh-ing" you when it wasn't even you that was talking,  the bundling up to go outside can be an event in and of itself, so why waste all that time getting ready just to go out and freeze your bits and pieces off and get "shhh-ed" for something you didn't do, just stay home and if there's any "shhh-ing" going on, it will be you, to the kids. 

  With all the technology we have nowadays, there's no excuse to not stay home and watch a movie. Go to Vudu.com, pick a movie, stream it to your TV, pop some popcorn, snag a few boxes of candy from the Dollar store and call it even. 

  You can lay out a couple of sleeping bags for the kids to veg out on, throw a few pillows down there and a nice warm, fuzzy blanket for each one, make them some (non caffeinated) hot cocoa with marshmallows (of course) and settle in for a good movie. 

  Timing is of utmost importance on this one, if you have little ones, keep them up about 30 or 45 minutes later than usual, then start the movie. This will ensure they fall asleep shortly after the movie starts and sleep a few minutes late in the morning.  (you'll thank me for this later) If you have older (19 &16) and younger (3) kids, like me, you can make a deal with the older kids to watch the little one once he's asleep. I find $5 is a good starting point, then barter with other things such as, not having to do dishes on your assigned day, as necessary. (this is all part of your "evil plan"... keep reading).

  After dinner is over and the kids are sufficiently entertained in the other end of the house, that's when the real fun starts. 

 Hubby asked me once, "What do you fantasize about when you're alone?"  His question kind of took me aback... "First of all, when am I ever alone?!" I have a three year old, I am NEVER alone. Not even in the bathroom, unless I lock the door, which results in a screaming fit, because the older kids have the little one convinced there's a Narnia-like place that I sneak off to, just beyond the shower curtain, in our bathroom. 

   I fantasize about what all women fantasize about... a long,  hot,  steamy, uninterrupted, bubble bath, followed by an equally long, hot, steamy, uninterrupted full body massage with my favorite lotion, followed by...

  Having been married for almost 12 years, hubby and I have had some really good times and some really bad times, but through it all, we have always found a way to make time for the two of us, even if we have to sneak away to do it. 

  Before we had Micah it was a little easier, we could send the older kids to their grandparents and sneak away to "our" hotel on the other side of town and spend the weekend vegging out in the in-room hot tub and just spend time together.
  The hotel wasn't extravagant, it was just a little getaway place that helped us to renew our feelings and recharge our resolve for the coming week, dealing with life and everything that comes with it. 

Nowadays, the money for the hotel is hard to come by and I still haven't gotten my Mom used to the idea of overnight babysitting, so for now, we improvise. "Our" hotel had a special date night package that included a gift certificate to the steakhouse across the street and a fun little gift basket, filled with some awesome, smelly candles, lotions and goodies and I still have the very first basket we got from there, on our honeymoon. I use it on my nightstand to hold remotes and such, but sometimes, when I know we are having "date night", I like to fill it up with some fun goodies for a "successful" date night.

  A "successful" end to your well planned date night depends a lot on the mood you are able to create, starting with your date night goodie basket, which includes everything you will need. 

  After a nice hot bubble bath, it's nice to have your favorite lotions and smelly goods close by. I keep all my faves in my goodie basket, along with a few other things that are crucial for a perfect end to the perfect date night in, like my favorite pink lace-y camisole, my favorite slow jams on CD, my favorite 'warm up" drink (porn star shots from Twisted shotz), my favorite perfume and my favorite "pleasure enhancer", KY Yours & Mine. 

   You might not "need" it, but it's definitely nice to have around and right now, you can score an awesome deal on specially marked "Date Night" boxes of KY Yours & Mine. The offer is for a dinner for two from Plated.com and a $5 credit from Vudu.com, along with the best thing of all, the actual KY Yours & Mine product, that will take your intimacy from nice to naughty in 5 seconds flat. 

  Having a fun date night doesn't have to be a thing of the past, just because you have kids. Grab a Date Night KY Yours & Mine at your local Walmart or at Walmart.com and let's get this party started!