Mid-Week Date Night :: The Secret to Unlocking Extra Time Together
In the past month or so, my husband and I have discovered a secret that has unlocked a sense of freedom we hadn’t had in years — the mid-week date night.
It came about by accident. My parents were visiting, and the Wednesday of their visit worked out best for us to sneak away. Then, a couple of weeks later, we realized that our kids’ favorite sitter was free on a Wednesday, the same night my husband’s favorite author was speaking at a local bookstore. We decided to make a night of it, and have since decided we just might make this a habit.
Why it Works
New Orleans offers lots of fun events for locals during the week.
During the spring, the YLC puts on Wednesdays at the Square, which is a free event at Lafayette Square from 5-8 from March through May. You could easily head downtown, listen to some music, grab dinner from a vendor in the Square or even walk over to any of the nearby restaurants. Luke, Herbsaint and Le Chat Noir are all a block or two away, and many others are easily walkable.
At least once in the Spring, the LPO performs at City Park for free. This would be a perfect night for a picnic as you listen to some excellent music
As previously mentioned, we went to a lecture at Octavia Books given by a favorite local artist. The have regularly scheduled author events in the evenings during the week. In our experience, it was a great introduction to a new book out by an author we appreciate, and was intellectually stimulating in a way most of our weeknights are not.
Sitters can be more free during the weeknights than on weekends, and dinner reservations are easier to get.
In our case, many of our favorite sitters are getting back to more fully programmed social lives after the past couple of years, so sometimes a weeknight is an easier option for finding availability. In addition, restaurant reservations are much easier to snag on a Tuesday at 7pm than a Friday at 7pm, and there are plenty of places you won’t even need a reservation. In many ways a weeknight date is easier to coordinate than a Friday or Saturday night.
It turns a mundane middle of the workweek into something fun to look forward to.
My husband and I both work full time and our three kids are all elementary school-aged and involved in extracurriculars, so weeknights for us are mostly utilitarian. We eat a rotating menu of dinners planned in advance for their combination of ease and timeliness in preparation and appeal to the broad array of our palates. And our evening hours are often spent driving to or from one activity or another, which is necessary but not exactly enjoyable. So when I knew we had a reservation at a fun new restaurant on a Wednesday a few weeks ago, I looked forward to the meal for days, and my usually hurried and frazzled commute home was filled with excitement and anticipation.
