day date
Because our kids are small, it’s hard for us to get out much. If you don’t have kids, this idea is somewhat abstract (as it was to us before we had kids). So for any of you in that boat, no it is not as easy as just finding a baby sitter. Maybe you do have kids but you also have a lot of super-willing family around to help you out and watch your kids whenever you need it. I so envy you people. My husband and I also did not realize the game-changing wrench that a second child would be to our social life. It’s still relatively easy to just cart one baby around with you pretty much on your own schedule. But trying to organize bottle feedings for a breastfed baby and dinner for a toddler and baths and bedtimes with a sitter who may be verified through a professional babysitting service but is no less a stranger to your family is just waaaay more effort than it’s worth most of the time. On top of all that, said professional babysitter’s fee for a night hovers around $70. And that’s before you pay for your dinner or movie. [ok end rant]
Despite all that, I do recognize how important it is for my husband and I to make time to be together with just the two of us or at least to get out and be social with other adults – minus our kids running around and trying to keep one eye on them. For special occasions, we will spring for the sitter. Or we find a way to make it work between sitters, family, and friends. But when the budget is tight and we just want to escape for a bit, we get creative. We have date nights at home where we just rent a movie and drink wine after the kids go to bed- no phones, laundry, or other chores allowed. Sometimes we invite friends over for game night so that we don’t have to leave at all.
Then a few weeks back, my husband really got creative. Let’s both take the day off work, take the kids to daycare and preschool, and spend the day together. Why had this never occurred to us before?! We dubbed it the ‘day date.’ It actually did take a while for us to get our schedules to sync, but we finally got it together last week. We decided to spend a day at the beach and it just so happened one of my BFFs from college was close by in Santa Barbara for a long weekend with her fiance. So we met up with them at the Four Seasons in Santa Barbara for a day in paradise. The day date became a daycation. Have I mentioned how much I love Santa Barbara already? 😉
