In the hurly burly of everyday family life, it’s easy for romance to fall by the wayside.

Who has the time to plan a special evening when there are soccer matches to attend, dishes to wash, reports to write and bills to pay? While it is important to stay on top of the household chores, we would argue that maintaining an intimate, emotional connection with your partner is even more critical to a healthy and happy home life than finishing every, single task on your plate.

Alicia on ‘The Importance of Dates’

‘Happily ever after doesn’t just happen. It takes attention and nurturing to make a relationship work over the long term. One of the best ways to keep your relationship interesting and full is through regularly scheduled dates. They can be breakfast dates, lunch dates, or formal Saturday night dates. The important thing isn’t when, but that you set aside the time for the two of you each week to be alone and that you use that time to truly relate to one another. Pick a day and time that works for both of you and mark it in ink on the family calendar. Once you have a regular day and time set up, stick to it.’

Sarah on ‘Planning for Fun’

‘While you are in the throes of daily life, it may seem difficult, not to mention a bit of a pain, to plan for quality time with your significant other. But a few minutes spent mapping out some fun things to do early in the week makes all the difference. My husband and I both think of ourselves as highly spontaneous people and resisted planning dates for a long time. But unfortunately that meant our date nights quickly got stuck in a rut — movie, dinner, dinner, movie…(you probably know the drill). The fact of the matter is that it’s hard to find creative, fun, memory-building things to do together at five minutes to six on Saturday night. A little planning can go a long way.’

Fan the Flames

Here are some simple ideas that might help you and your loved one keep the romance alive week to week.

#1: Share the Planning
It takes two to tango, so planning date nights cannot fall entirely on the shoulders of one person in the relationship. Once you have scheduled the standing date time, divide up planning responsibilities in a way that is roughly equal. For example, you might want to trade who comes up with the date agenda form week to week. Week one, you plan, week two, your partner plans, and so on. If both of you participate, chances are you’ll do more interesting things and ultimately get to know one another even better over time.

#2: Make Time to Daydream
Remember how much time you spent daydreaming about your spouse when you were dating? Remember the care and thought that both of you gave to planning fun excursions? Take the time to dream a bit about what fun things you might do together on your next date. Keep a running list of the dream date ideas you come up with in a otebook or in your journal and then make them happen!

#3: Schedule Time to Plan
Once you have some ideas of what you’d like to do on your next date, set aside some time, preferably a few days in advance, to organize the details. That way when you are together, you can concentrate on each other, not the details you forgot to handle beforehand. In addition, try to plan onedetail on every date that will make your significant other feel really appreciated and loved.