8 Ideas for Date Night at Home

My long-term partner and I live together, which is definitely something that I'm grateful for while we're in lockdown. We're both homebodies and we rarely go out in the evening – I thought we'd be fine. But, this period has made me realise that our relationship relies more heavily on activities and adventures than either of us ever thought.

I've come up with some different date ideas that my partner and I can do while in lockdown so that we feel a little bit more like ourselves again. Lots of these can be done with family and other housemates too, so whoever you're locked in with – spice it up!

1. Dance party

This one's pretty self-explanatory, but if you can – go all out. Dress up in your favourite dancing outfit, pull out the glitter, glow sticks and coloured lights, and move furniture out of the way.

Make the ideal playlist for you and dance the night away. If you're not feeling great about your dancing, turn all the lights off and move however you want to!

2. Movie night

This is not your usual binge session.

Build the best pillow fort that you can for this one. Dig out your Christmas lights and string them up for the ultimate cosy movie session.

Wear your cosiest pyjamas. Make popcorn or grab your favourite movie snacks at your next visit to the shops and choose a movie that's on your bucket list. Maybe it's an old classic that you've never seen, or maybe a recent Oscar nominee – your pick!

3. Yoga class

It doesn't matter if yoga is or isn't your thing, just give an online class a go. Slow exercise with your partner can be super sexy, particularly if you take it in turns doing the poses.

This way, one of you can gently touch the other in the places they might need to adjust, or in places that just look enticing!

4. Spa

This one is all about placing all of your attention on your lover. Find some soothing spa music, light a few candles and make your bathroom and bedroom space completely Zen.

Start with a warm bath or shower to relax the body and give them an at-home facial with the skin-care products you already own. Afterwards, move to the bed for a massage. If you don't have a specific massage oil on hand, you can use coconut oil, which might already be in your kitchen.

Take it super slow and keep checking in to make sure you're getting all of their sweet spots.

5. Cafe breakfast

Okay, this is more a 'date morning' idea, but I think it's worth it.

I don't know if this is just me, but I have a whole shelf of recipe books and I've never made a breakfast recipe from any of them. Café breakfasts were something that my partner and I would do quite regularly on the weekends, pre-lockdown.

So now that all the cafes are closed, I thought it was about time to try out all the fancy looking breakfasts that are in the collection of cookbooks we own. It might take some prep the night before, but it's so worth it!

6. Mystery box challenge

We're big MasterChef Australia fans in my household.

The challenge: each of you picks five ingredients for each other, you also have access to pasta, rice, flour, eggs, milk, oil and salt and pepper.

You must use one of the five picked ingredients in your dish. Then, cook!

7. Draw each other

For this date idea, one of you is the nude model, and the other is the artist (when finished, switch). If you're modelling, make sure you pick a comfortable pose – you'll be in it for a while. And if you're the artist, you don't need to draw the whole body, you can pick a specific part and focus on that.

Play with the lighting in your space so that there's shadows that you can add to your illustration. Invest all your focus on how their body looks in the light and shadows of the room, and admire away!

8. Comedy night

If you need a laugh, this one is perfect. Dress up for an actual date at a comedy night, pour yourselves your favourite beverage and stream a stand-up special that you've never seen before.

There are plenty to choose from on Netflix and other streaming platforms. Make sure you turn off your phone, just like you would in an actual venue!

Eleni is a health communications student from Sydney. Her favourite topics to communicate are sexual health, gender and sexuality; she spends her time smashing taboo topics everywhere she goes.