Date Night Ideas: Rekindle The Passion In Your Marriage

A happy marriage can begin with a list of date night ideas that you turn into a series of romantic dates with your mate. That's right, you can rekindle the romance in your marriage with a regularly scheduled date night with your spouse.

Couples who nurture their relationships through regular date nights tend to have long, very happy marriages. This is particularly true for couples who have kids that are active in sports and other school activities. If these parents don't set aside time just for themselves then their marriage could lose its excitement and passion very quickly.

While there are a lot of great books and resources available to help couples come up with date night ideas, including Michael Webb's "300 Creative Dates", there is one resource that has really taken the marriage date night concept to a whole another level. We are talking about David and Claudia Arp's "10 Great Dates to Energize Your Marriage", a series of ten date nights designed to help marriage partners rekindle the passion in their marriage.

The Arps share a passion for helping couples build great marriages through fun, relationship-building dates. In 1983, the Arps started their Marriage Alive ministry to help couples re-connect with their mate through simple dates that focus on different aspects like communication, intimacy and other key areas of a healthy relationship.

Their first book, "Ten Dates for Mates", a Gold-Medallion finalist, launched them on their path to helping couples grow together by dating each other like they did as young singles. Their "10 Great Dates" brand of resources, that include books, DVD-based programs, apps, and seminars, are respected and used nationally and internationally.

These programs are so popular and marriage date nights have become so important that many large churches are now hosting "10 Great Dates" programs for their married members.

The "10 Great Dates" book and program offers plenty of date night ideas, but it also has some very specific things each couple must follow for a successful, enriching experience. Here are the fundamental things you need to do:

Schedule the time and place for your personal date. Put it on your calendar in ink. You don't want to erase it from your agenda. You make these dates a priority and not let things keep you from having them.
Anticipate your date with your partner. Like a young couple just going out on their initial date you need to share your excitement about going out with your mate. A little note or text to your spouse telling them about your anticipation will go a long way in creating this excitementr
Leave the kids and problems out for this one night. You don't want use your quiet time together to talk about problems with the kids, work or home. You need to be talking about fun things, including your dreams for the future. Make this a special night that you both will remember for a long time.
Be affectionate with your mate. Do those things that you did when you first started dating in the early years. You know, things like holding hands, flirting with your mate and kissing them with unbridled passion. No reason to hold anything back on these special date nights because if your passion gets out of control then you can head home a cap off the night by sharing the ultimate expression of love. That would be a perfect ending to the night.
Don't stop with one great date, repeat it often. As soon as you finish your first great date, schedule the next one. If you can do one every week that would be great, but many couples can only do a date night every couple of weeks or maybe once a month, but come up with some new date night ideas.
You can rekindle the romance in your marriage with a regularly scheduled date night with your spouse. Start by making a list of date night ideas then go to work on making each one happen. Before long, you and your partner might be calling each other soul mates like we have over the past fifteen years.