If we have the girls we usually have friends come over here and I will cook dinner or we will all chip in and order take out. Or we will cook the Punkin grilled cheese or spaghetti o's or something like that and have like a free for all and everyone brings their own snacks and drinks and we will have a movie night or a game night or just hang out. A lot of the time the guys end up riding their 4-wheelers around the neighborhood while the girls sit around and talk.
Our movie nights consist of someone bringing over a movie that just came out or since we have a lot of movies (pre-cable days) we just choose one. We have....or well had a Hollywood video (they just went out of business) and they always had the best previously viewed new movies out for 4/$20, 3/$25, or a buy so many get so many free deal. So we usually racked up. Now since they are out of business one of the last stores open just had a huge sale ALL movies were $1.50 each and so we are hoping that now Blockbuster will have a better selection of movies. The movies were guaranteed for life too, If they were scratched or anything they would replace it. We are missing some movies and I know some people have a lot more movies but this is a lot to us ;)
We also have a game night. We have a selection of games that are for adults or they are labeled as party games and we sit around and just play games and laugh all night long. Target has a great selection and so does Toys R Us. Toys R Us most of them are online only and we have a super Target (my favorite store) that has a whole back wall of games and the first section is "party" games. Ages 13+ but there are some that say 16+. About once a month depending on our budget we try to get a new game. This way we always have a new game night waiting. Last weekend we all chipped in for KFC and played battle of the sexes and whats yours like. We had a blast.
If we have the girls and our few friends that have kids to come over for an all around play date we will let the kids have a game night too in the play room with snacks and juice included and they have just as much fun!
or the kids can watch movies we are working on a Disney classic movie list and are slowly getting the girls a nice little movie selection.
The other way we are able to save on going out is when our family asks us what we want for our birthday or Christmas or Anniversary we usually tell them gift cards. We get gift cards for the movies and our favorite restaurants and save them for when we want to go out and our budget is not up for that we can go for free. Most gift cards don't expire. We just used a movie gift card we got for Christmas to go see Eclipse and a gift card for a nice restaurant from my hubby's boss. Nothing is better than a free date night.
If all else fails just hang out and talk. But we understand hanging out and still be us as a couple helps us with our sanity and being better spouses and parents so we try to do it at least a couple times a month and a lot of times the kids are included or we just start after bedtime. Hope this helps any of you!
