1. Hot Chocolate Date
Go on a hot chocolate date. One of the cheapest ways to connect with your spouse this holiday is to leave your phones at home (or at least put them away in your purse!) and go on a hot chocolate date! Find a local café that serves hot chocolate and spend the evening talking. Or, if you’re feeling more adventurous, turn the evening into a “hot chocolate crawl” and visit several locations, tasting multiple cups of hot chocolate and rating each one to find the best.
2. Christmas Lights Tour
Drive around and look at Christmas lights. Another budget-friendly holiday outing is to simply drive around your city and look for Christmas lights! It’s especially fun to find neighborhoods that are more luxurious than yours and see how beautiful the stately homes look during the holidays. All that time together alone in the car is sure to get you talking and connecting in a fresh way.
3. Costume Date Night
Go on a date per your usual, but add a twist… Before you hit the theater or your favorite restaurant, swing by a thrift store or resale shop, and pick out cheap holiday gear for the other to have to wear on the date. Then, whether you’re wearing Santa suspenders, reindeer antlers, or Elf stockings, act natural and go about your date like usual. The double-takes you’ll get are sure to connect you with your spouse as you spend the evening laughing and taking selfies.
4. Get-to-Know-You Game Night
Remember when you were dating and getting to know your spouse? You wanted to know every little detail about them and enjoyed the process. Revisit those days by playing get-to-know-you games. Break out the holiday cookies and settle in for a night of connection. Play “Two Truths and a Lie,” where your spouse must guess which of the three items you said are true and which one is the lie. There’s always room for a good ol’ fashioned game of Truth or Dare, as well!