Every Sunday night I sit down and fill out my weekly planner, making sure that I’ve got everything that’s happening that week written down. There are soccer practices I’ve got to run kids to, assignments for school I need to complete, dinner ideas to make that week, it’s almost always a long list. In the midst of all that busyness, every Friday night’s entry says, “Date Night.” There are very few weeks that my husband and I don’t go out on Friday night. Our date night gives us a chance to slow down, take time to connect, eat great food, and enjoy each other’s company, and it’s something we both look forward to all week.

But, because it’s a tradition and we do it so often, sometimes we find ourselves running out of ideas of fun things to do for date night. We’ve got a lot of great restaurants we love, but after we’ve eaten dinner, sometimes we’re at a loss as to what to do next. We aren’t ready to go home and frankly, we want to keep talking because it’s so wonderful to have time to talk together without interruption (kids).

Recently we tried a new idea and it was so much fun that we’ve repeated it a number of times already. A friend of mine called it “fast food hopping,” or you could say it’s a progressive dinner…of restaurants. We hit a bunch of different places and try something new and different at each one. It’s a chance to try new places in the area, plus it keeps things interesting as we move from one to the next.

The first time we tried this we went to a local pizza shop my husband loves and I’d never tried, got one big piece of pizza, and split it. Next, we headed to a taco joint we’d Date Night Ideasheard was good, grabbed two street tacos, and shared those. Our next stop was for mac and cheese that we’d been wanting to try, and finally, we got dessert at another shop we’d never been to. Not only did we get to try all kinds of new things we’d been wanting to try (and every single one of them was so good!), we had fun shaking things up from the usual routine of sitting in one restaurant. This also took the pressure off of choosing where to eat since we were trying lots of places.

Since the first time we went fast food hopping, we’ve added even more places and had a fun time trying new things! We don’t do this every week, but we’ve enjoyed the nights we’ve done it. Go ahead, shake things up, and try a restaurant hop like this! It’s easy to start by brainstorming a list of places you’d love to hit and choose a few to try this time. Hopefully, you’ll love this as much as we did.

Chelom Leavitt

Dr. Chelom E. Leavitt teaches and researches healthy sexuality. She received her PhD from Penn State. Her research specifically examines how being present, accepting, and non-judgmental is linked to improved sexual functioning and satisfaction. Dr Leavitt’s research has been published in the top academic journals. She teaches seminars on sex and healthy relationships around the world. Chelom is married to David Leavitt and they have eight (yes, eight) children.