FOOD...where you eat is more impressive than what you're eating...<BR> Hotdogs and fries on a table cloth laid out on the floor is simple, cheap and romantic! Make a tent out of a sheet for that campin' feeling on a rainy day.<P> Blind fold your partner, take them to the first place you met and have a to go meal ready for eating there.<P>BEDTIME...make it out of the ordinary...<BR> Buy some fruit, one rose and cheap candles. Decorate the bedroom with the candles, cut up the fruit and chill it on ice, remove all the rose petals and spread them on the bed. The rest is self explanatory I hope.<P>MOVIES...who cares about the movie...<BR> Go during matinee time. Play an arcade game, buy something from the concession stand, unless you manage to sneak in some great treat instead! When is the last time you made out in the movie theater?<P>RELAX...<BR> Go someplace relaxing like a park. Give eachother a 10-15 minute back massage with some baby oil.<P>KIDS...got kids? get some help from them!<BR> Kids love to help decorate...get them to cut out a bunch of hearts from construction paper and help you decorate a room where you'll be enjoying a date. Get a babysitter or have them lock themselves in another room for a couple of hours where their job is to come up with your next date.<P>DIFFERENT...do something you haven't done..<BR> Most of the time dating is difficult in marriage because it seems you've been on every date you can go on. But it's far from the truth! There are a lot of cheap places to go, like plays and theaters. The front of your local telephone book is a good place to look for events. How about a stand up comedy show, the zoo, a church festival?<P>READ...contrary to popular belief, reading can be fun..<BR> The public library in our area has different workshops that can be interesting. Recently they had something on cooking. Sometimes just being in a library where you have to whisper and where there are plenty of books to get you talking about something is romantic and a great secret hideaway together!<P>PLANNING...there are planners and doers..<BR> Sitting down for a "planning date" is fun. Plan your future, review your past, plan another date! It's amazing what bond you can build between two people when you sit down and plan something on paper. Brainstorming and following through with ANYTHING makes you a better team. Just remember, make plans and God laughs...things don't always turn out the way you think they should, but accepting and responding differently to change is great!<P>

yvonne, <P>Thanks those all sound like a lot of fun. We are always doing fun stuff, but I've never thought of these....Thanks again. Hope my husband likes them all.....

Thanks for the ideas! To add to your last entry - each year we use my husband's frequent flyer miles to go on a trip together. We choose a place neither one of us has been and spend hours and hours researching on the net and sending away for any information offered. Just researching and receiving and reading the literature in preparation for the trip is as much or more fun than the actual trip turns out to be.

I loved all your ideas!!!

Neat things to do for your spouse.

1. Buy a sticky note pad and on each one write down something you want to do together eventually. Like a hiking trip. Camping in the rain, dancing in the rain, buying a new home, skydiving, mountain climbing, visiting disney land, having many kids, sitting together your porch when you are both old and grey, having christmas with your children and grandchildren, going fishing, golfing, walking in the park, skinny dipping, going on a long all day bike ride, etc, etc. Brainstorm an extensive list and put each idea on a seporate sticky note. Surprise them at work or when they are shopping or out with friends (sometime when you know where they are but they are not expecting you). Put them all over their car and when they come out of whichever building they were in they will be surprised and impressed with your efforts. Meet them at home or wherever.


2. Buy a lot of bags of balloons and rent an air pump. Sometime when they are not near their car (maybe sneek out at night when they are asleep or while at work) blow up each baloon and fill their ENTIRE car top to bottom with baloons. Inside each baloon there will be a little note with a quality about them that you like or admire or are thankful for. Leave a note on the car door with a needle instructing them to pop all the baloons and get each note out to find out all the qualities you admire about them.
For example: I love it when you give me messages. You are handsome (or pretty), thank you for doing the dishes the other night, You are strong, you are smart, thank you for helping me daily with the children, thank you for going to work everyday to support or family, thank you for caring for the kids, I respect you, I love you, I adore you, I admire you, I am thankful for you, etc, etc.
A thesthorous is a great help in making this list.

Things I think you should do for your spouse often and regularly:

1.Leave notes for them thanking them for something they did
for you. Like the dishes or a foot message or emptying out the garbage, etc, also reming them of how much you love them. Tell men how much you RESPECT them (this is so important to them). Leave notes in the car, on the pillow, in lunch kits, by the computer, in breifcases, in walet (if they wont get mad). Anywhere and everywhere. You can even write it on the mirror with a lip pensil.

2. If they like foot or back massages give them as often as you physically can without putting too much stress on yourself. I find this a good way to make love deposits into their bank account.

3. Take baths together whenever possible, even if you must squish into a tiny tub. It is still sexy and romantic. Chat in there a bit.

4. Make a point to hold hands in public or put an arm around each other, even lay a kiss on them out of nowhere. Cultivate this for each other and it will become a part of your normal everyday life together.

5. FOR WOMEN: I have found that sex is very important to men. Make time to surprise them sexually in any way possible.
EX: Arrange a sitter for an evening and jump on him when he enters the door from comming home from work. Or lay lingerie or underwear to your bedroom where you await him. Or lay out chocolate kisses for him to follow to where you are waiting for him in a bath. Be creatinve and he will apprechiate it.