How 'Alphabet Date Nights' Can Save Relationships That Are In A Rut
The ABCs can spice up your typical date nights.
er ryan / Vadym Pastukh / Shutterstock For many of us, date night is something that we look forward to, especially in the beginning stages of a relationship.
However, dinner and a movie can grow a bit tedious after a while, and before you know it, date nights can feel more like a chore than something that you genuinely enjoy doing with your partner.
Thankfully, your date nights do not have to be limited to a specific routine. There are plenty of ways that you can spice up your dates — and your relationship — by incorporating new activies and experiences you might not have thought to explore.
So, how do you put this plan into motion and kickstart some fresh ideas for date night? It could be as easy as A, B, C!
‘Alphabet Date Nights’ prompt couples to think outside the box when it comes to spending time together.
This creative method intended to electrify date nights was shared by content creator Stephanie Booe in an Instagram post.
After she and her husband of eight years got swept up in working and parenting their two children, they made an effort to have a date night every once in a while to allow them to reconnect. However, according to Booe, it wasn't long before their dates began to feel “stagnant” since they often did the same thing week after week.
“We fell into this rut of doing the same thing all the time — dinner (at one of our five fave places) followed by Target,” she wrote in the caption of her post.
This year, the couple decided to start prioritizing their date nights by making them more interesting and trying things they never had before. That’s when Booe came up with the genius idea of “Alphabet Date Night.”
“You go through the alphabet and plan your date night theme all around the letter for that week,” she explained. She added that she and her husband Alex swap who plans the date night based on the letter each week.
For the first week, which featured the letter “A,” Booe’s husband Alex decided that they would go to a new restaurant and order appetizers instead of entrees, followed by going axe-throwing for the first time.
“This was such an easy and simple little way to uproot us from our comfort zone and to do something we wouldn’t normally do,” Booe wrote.
She also claims that the date night ideas do not have to be extravagant. “Hear me when I say that this doesn’t have to be big, fancy, or expensive. That’s part of the challenge!” she wrote. “You don’t have to go out every week, you can easily find ways to do these themed date nights at home.”
Booe encourages fellow couples who find that their weekly dates have gotten a little stale to take inspiration from her alphabet date night idea, but not to feel guilty if consistency just isn't in the cards. “As much as we’d love to do this weekly, that may not always happen,” she confessed. “But the goal here is to make progress towards having a more consistent date night routine.”
For now, Booe and her husband are looking forward to their 26 new creative date ideas! So far, they’ve made it to the letter “I.”
Trying new things in a relationship will deepen your bond with your partner.
Keeping the relationship lively after the honeymoon phase is a dilemma that many couples find themselves encountering. Boredom, stress, and life’s demands often get in the way, and it can be hard to put in the same effort for dates as you did in the beginning.
This is why it is essential to be open-minded when it comes to breaking your traditional date night routine and giving new ideas a try.
According to relationship coach Prem Glidden, getting adventurous will allow you and your partner to connect on a deeper level. “Doing new things together strengthens your friendship, which is the foundation of your relationship,” she told Chopra.
Adding new date ideas to your relationship can be as simple as taking an evening walk at a park you’ve never visited before or enjoying a glass of wine together after putting the kids to bed.
“Doing new things together creates excitement and fun and continues to give you new things to talk about and dream about,” Glidden adds.
Every new experience you have with your partner will be a new memory, a new story to tell, and a new way to express your love and dedication to each other.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.