Recently, our family purchased a small day sailer–an O’Day Mariner. It’s only 19 ft & a bit old, but it’s ours and is on a trailer which has its ups and downs. This month, I thought I’d share a few boating related date night ideas for busy parents, even if you don’t have a boat.
For Free
If you don’t have a boat or a lake nearby, window shop. Talk with your husband about boating and dreams.
- What kind of boat would you buy – power or sailboat? Or maybe a canoe or kayak?
- Where would you go? Ocean? Coast? Warm or Cold?
- What is the coolest marine gadget you can find in 15 minutes online?
- What would you wear on the boat? Feel free to have more fun with this one than I did though ;).
For Frugal
Window Shop
If you do have a boat or a lake nearby, but cant take a whole day for a trip, go window shopping! You could visit a boat store or marine supply place and daydream. Or if you need some things, get an estimate and make a list. Make the trip fun by adding a challenge like, find the cheapest thing you could use on your boat. Or the most marked down item on your list.
Movie Night
Or you could adapt the boating theme for a rainy day or night after the kids are in bed. Overboard or Captain Ron are favorites around here. Or any Pirates of the Caribbean movie.
For Fun
Day Trip
If you have a boat, take a trip! Grab your gear and take a boat somewhere. Can you try a canoe, kayak, or tubing trip? Or rent a sailboat, powerboat or pontoon boat?
We would take a sailboat up some inland lakes and visit one of the restaurants with docks outside. Do they have those where you go? For a dream trip, we would sail over to Mackinac Island & hang out on the island all day, then sail back at sunset.
Pack some food and find a cozy place for a break. If it happens to be pretty private, all the better! If you can get away with an overnight, stay out late to watch the stars. Don’t forget your night boat gear, though!
Dinner Cruise
If you want to go short & fancy, is there a dinner boat or other boat tour you could buy tickets for? There is a tall ship cruise where we live as well as lighthouse and/or dinner cruises in Mackinaw.
Boating not your thing? Check out our baseball & summer solstice themed dates, too.
You can see all the Serve Your Spouse Saturday Posts here. This link will take you to all the Date Night Ideas for Busy Parents series.
Steve
29 June 2014 at 7:54 AM (10 years ago)These are great ideas. Makes me want a boat. Thanks for sharing.
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jen Reply:
June 30th, 2014 at 8:05 AM
Thanks for the comment. I’m glad you stopped by!!
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