Your home can also be a place of retreat.
Having a great date night doesn’t always require going out .

Indoor date nights are perfect for rainy days, lazy days, and all reasons in between.
Whether you don’t have a sitter, or are saving on expenses, going OUT for date night may not always be an option.

This indoor date is great because it can be tailored to any budget and taste. You can have a range of low end or high end flavors and price tags.

Let’s Chat

To start off, it’s important that you make the space feel different. Choose a space in your home that allows you to lay out all of your tasting options and provides a level surface for making notes during your tastings.

Decluttering the date night space sets the tone for the evening. Try to remove as many items you can that are reminiscent of day to day living. Shoes tucked in corners, dog beds, kids toys, that pile of junk mail…all those things need to find a new home. Try lighting a new candle so the room smells different for your date. Simple things like surprising your sense of smell can help achieve a transformation for your room.

Print Materials

The ability to print pre-made tasting sheets was a game changer for this date night. By printing these sheets I was able to have everything neatly laid out and easy to follow. Here are the links for the sheets I used. Hover and click the name of the document and it will take you to print.

Wine

Bottle Wrapper

Wine Tasting Score Sheet

Cheese

I could not find a cheese score card that was laid out like I wanted. But I ended up using this one and cutting the wine part off.

Cheese Tasting Score Sheet

Chocolate

Chocolate Tasting Score Sheet

Gather Cheese

I ended up getting 7 different cheeses for our tasting. I would recommend getting at least 4 for variety.

We had:

•  Craft Beer Cheddar
•  Purple Moon Cheddar
•  Ghost Pepper Cheddar
•  Brie
•  Gouda
•  Garlic Herb Goat Cheese
•  Cranberry Wensleydale

As you see, I stuck with fairly familiar cheeses and focused more on different flavors rather than different types of cheese to prevent waste. All of the cheddar cheeses were winners. As for the new flavors; the goat cheese was a first, and last. The Wesleydale would have been great with apple slices.

Gather Chocolate

We had 6 chocolates to taste.

•  Dark Chocolate with Chili
•  Dark Chocolate with Orange
•  Honeycomb
•  Potato Chip
•  Oat Milk & Rice Crisp
• Dark Chocolate Domes

I hadn’t planned on the majority of the chocolates being Dark but they were, and they were amazing with the wine because of this. My absolute favorite of these was the honeycomb bar. It had bits of caramelized honey in the bar. My husband’s favorite was the dark chocolate and orange. That one was good too, but no honeycomb bar.

I know, I know… How was the potato chip bar? While it wasn’t a fan favorite, it did make the tasting, a TASTING. I recommend getting something you aren’t sure about to get the full tasting experience. What fun is it if you only get things you know you like?!

Gather Wine

I grabbed 4 bottles of wine from Aldi. I was able to get these for about $6 a bottle. You can absolutely spend more and get high quality wines if you wish but this date night was more about the experience than the quality of wine for us.

We had:

•  Sauvignon Blanc
•  White Zinfandel
•  Shiraz
• Sweet Red Blend

This date night taught me I like my wine with SUGAR. I am not a dry wine girl, at all. Unless I’m braising short ribs, I don’t see myself purchasing a dry red wine again.

Create a Fun Night

I grabbed fancy disposable glasses, gift bags and filled them with a few random things from the dollar store to complete the night. We were able to put on a playlist in the background and spend the evening laughing and making mental notes of cheeses we would never eat again.