How to Keep Having Date Nights While Quarantined

Once upon a time, partners could plan date night with a call to a restaurant and a call to the box office. Now, partners need date night more than ever. In quarantine, the home has become an office where partners focus on remote work. Make dates so you know when it’s okay to shed boundaries and explore intimacy together. Dr. Ruth Westheimer suggests some ways to make the most of our shared time sheltering in place. The Doctor prescribes making quarantine dates that are playful and full of fantasy.

Explore the Possibilities of the Yard

The yard is as safe as the house when it comes to social distancing. Work together to make it an escape from the pandemic. Set out lawn furniture, pots of annuals and perennials and even a plug-in water fountain. Make it a destination for dinner and for love. The more it feels like a secret garden, the better. Try to dine al fresco as much as possible on warm nights. Buy a canvas tarp from Army Surplus to enjoy sitting out in the rain. Help children to find a place in the yard. Make it a safe place for them to go when the adults want privacy.

Explore the Possibilities of Home

A date is a time and a place. Partners can rename all the spaces of home. Name the room near the yard the Garden Room. Write a card inviting your partner to picnic in the Garden Room for breakfast. Call the finished basement the Cave of Wonders. Text your partner, “Meet me in the Cave of Wonders with two adult sex toys at quitting time.” The bathroom can double as the Closet of Waters. Ring your mate up and offer a loofah rubdown and a back rub in the Closet of Waters after bedtime. Children need to name spaces too. Encourage them to invite you to a film festival in the Hollywood Theater.

Explore the Possibilities of the Future

The quarantines can’t last. Have fun calling restaurants to make reservations. Many places will soon offer socially distant dining in outdoor cafes. Order travel brochures and plan getaways for intimacy and family bonding. Don’t worry about booking accommodations and tickets. Count on deals on excursions once the economies open up again. Most of all, make plans long into the future because your love is stronger than a pandemic.