We’re guilty of falling into a rut when it comes to date nights. More often than not, date night involves Thai takeout and a Redbox rental. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, as we both love Thai and relaxing on the couch, but it seems like we’re wasting our opportunity to leave our house and do things pre-baby. Once the bambino arrives in November, takeout and a movie is going to be one of the only options available to us, at least for a while.

So we have a new mission: for the remainder of the pregnancy, we are getting out of the house and actually going somewhere on dates. This means I can’t wear my pajamas, and we can’t order takeout. Here are my other criteria for pregnancy dates:

  • I want a bathroom nearby. I have to pee, like, every thirty minutes. A porta potty will work in a pinch, but I’d rather not have to squat along the side of the road (awkward with a belly, not to mention the poison ivy potential).
  • I don’t want to have to stand for hours. Walking around is fantastic, but I need built-in breaks every hour or so where I can take a load off.
  • The date can’t revolve around alcohol.  That means no wine tastings or beer making classes or meeting friends for a drink at a bar. I can’t drink right now, so that type of date can wait until after November.
  • The dates can’t break the bank, so the total cost needs to hover around $50.00 or less, though maybe we’ll stretch it to $100 on “special occasions.” This rules out extravagant dates like hot air balloon rides.
  • It has to be a new (or at least newer) experience. We can’t do things we do all the time. I want to share new experiences together before bambino arrives, so dinner and a movie doesn’t count.

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Date Idea #1: An Ethnic/Cultural Festival

Mr. Tricycle and I both like to eat. More specifically, we like to try new foods, especially those with an ethnic bent. Although we frequently eat at a local Greek restaurant, we’d never been to the huge Greek Cultural Festival hosted by an orthodox church in the city.

Because the festival is so large, we parked our car in a lot, and rode a school bus provided as a free shuttle. This in itself was a novel experience for Mr. Tricycle – he hasn’t been on a school bus in the last decade, so it was amusing to see him cram his long legs into the seats and wince at the bad suspension as we went over every bump.

The bus dropped us off at the entrance to the festival, and there was no fee to get in, so we immediately got in line for food, because obviously, that’s the best part.

There were TONS of options, but we decided to try the following things:

  • Lamb Combination (Mr. Tricycle), which included lamb souvlaki, mousaka, pastichio, rice, Greek salad, and bread. $12

The lamb combination patter – souvlaki (the meat on a stick), mousaka – eggplant layered with ground beef and topped with a bechamel sauce (top of container), and pastichio (the pasta dish being attacked by the fork)

  • Vegetarian Platter (me), which came with fasolia (Greek beans), feta, eggplant dip, dolmades, kalamata olives, tzatziki sauce, and flat bread – $8
  • Spanakopita (we shared it) – $4


Our spanakopita – a Greek pie filled with spinach and feta cheese

Mr. Tricycle stole my feta, as he was worried it wasn’t pasteurized (I’m pretty sure he just liked it a lot, and wanted more), but otherwise the food was fantastic. We’d never tried pastichio – a baked pasta dish made with ground beef and béchamel sauce, or fasolia – a stewed fava bean mixture.

I don’t think Mr. Tricycle was pumped when I made him stop eating for a photo

And of course we wouldn’t do justice to the culture without sampling their dessert offerings, so we enjoyed both baklava ($6) and loukoumades ($5), which are donuts balls drenched in a honey syrup.

It was a lively atmosphere while we ate; between the Greek dancers and singers and people-watching, we had plenty of entertainment. For a grand total of $35.00, it was a great date that we’ll probably repeat next summer (assuming the bambino can handle a school bus).

Are you taking advantage of date nights pre-baby? What is your criteria for date nights during pregnancy?