Break Your Date Night Routine With These 5 Ideas

Whether it’s a Sunday movie matinée or a Saturday night on the town, we can all agree on one thing: Date night is the best night. There’s nothing quite as special as those few sacred hours each week where you set work drama, parenting exhaustion, and general life stress aside to win back some quality time with your significant other — over a bottle of wine, of course. Still, when those precious hours finally come around, we can all get lazy with planning. It’s too easy to get sucked into settling on the same Italian restaurant or 2-for-1 Happy Hour that’s become your go-to.

Thankfully, upgrading your plans has never been so easy. We’ve come up with five simple ways to elevate your evening, all of which include that beloved bottle of vino.

Rather than watch a movie on the couch…

Throw it back to those good old college days of sneaking booze into forbidden spaces with your significant other and head to the movies. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show — with some wine and snacks. Pro tip: A bottle of crisp Rueda Verdejo paired with salty, butter-bombed popcorn is to die for. The naturally fruit-forward character of this wine is delicious with the infamous flavor rainbow from Skittles, too.

Rather than hitting up happy hour…

Create your own wine and cheese spread at home. Put together your own cheese and charcuterie board incorporating all those favorite spreads, jams, and crunchy nuts. Not sure where to start? Get some serious cheese-spo from these crazy charcuterie spreads.

Bring It On…

Find a quiet, hole-in-the-wall restaurant that lets you BYOB. Generally speaking, many ethnicities that don’t have their own winemaking scene (like some of our restaurant faves — Indian, Thai, and Chinese) will often let you bring your own bottle. You’ll save money by not buying a mediocre, astronomically marked-up bottle on the restaurant’s list anyway. Bring a bottle of Rueda Verdejo for an affordable wine that pairs with nearly everything on these delicious menus. You can drink the bottle from start to finish – right alongside spring rolls and sticky rice.

Rather than scrolling through filters on Instagram…

Make some actual art and hit up a BYOB craft night. These low-key paint, pottery, and other events are happening all over the country and in your city. You and your SO will have a blast laughing over one another’s artistic incompetence, all while savoring a bottle (or two) of delicious wine. Bonus: You’ll have a set of souvenir paintings to take home with you.

Rather than cooking your go-to meal for dinner…

Shake up your routine with a simple yet elegant dish that you’ve never made before — like this gorgeous shrimp scampi. This simple recipe is easy to make, and will make you look.like a stellar chef by impressing your date with your culinary abilities. Best of all, you can use Rueda Verdejo — already a part of the cooking process — to drink alongside the meal.