10 Things Happy Couples Do On The Weekends To Refuel Intimacy
As a relationship coach with over 10 years of experience counseling hundreds of couples, I cannot stress enough the importance of setting aside quality time on the weekends to reconnect and nourish intimacy in your partnership as happy couples.
The daily stresses and distractions of work, children, and other obligations during the week can easily erode emotional closeness with your spouse or partner if you aren’t careful. You wind up collapsing into bed exhausted each night, defaulting to vegging out in front of screens with little meaningful interaction. But relationships require ongoing investment – they won’t thrive on autopilot!
The good news is making minor adjustments to ensure you and your partner restore intimacy every weekend can make a major difference over time. You’ll enhance communication, deepen your friendship, spark new passion in the bedroom, and sustain your happiness as a couple long-term.
Why The Weekend is Critical For Refueling Intimacy
- The faster pace and busyness of weekdays tends to drain mental energy and attention. It’s harder to be fully present or affectionate when you’re distracted or worn down by work problems.
- When you’re rushing between obligations during the week, it leads to poor sleep, less sex, heightened conflict about chores/parenting duties, and general relationship disconnect.
- By contrast, weekends offer needed breathing room from the chaos and responsibilities of each person’s individual career and obligations. No pressure to be anywhere – just time for you and your partner.
- Research demonstrates that couples who capitalize on weekends to nurture their bond are significantly more content in their relationship. It’s that ongoing investment that counts.
- Making intimacy a priority on Saturdays and Sundays prevents it from perpetually falling to the bottom of your to-do list and being neglected.
So whether you’ve been married 2 months or 20 years, establishing intentional weekend couple time focused solely on each other – not kids or work – is essential.
Here Are 10 Fun And Meaningful Things My Happy Couple Clients Do To Maintain Intimacy Every Weekend:
1. Plan Regular Date Nights
- What: Schedule a recurring, dedicated date night – either Friday or Saturday evening – to indulge in quality one-on-one time as a couple. Give each other your undivided romantic attention for several hours.
- Why: It’s critical that couples maintain novelty, variety and focused attention on each other. Don’t just become complacent, boring roommates!
- Ideas: Splurge on a fun new activity like couples massage or dance class; try a new trendy restaurant; pack a surprise picnic dinner and go stargazing; take paint and wine classes; schedule carnival, comedy club, or concert dates. Alternate who plans each week.
2. Explore New Places Together
- What: Use weekends to get out and actively explore your own community together. Discover new hidden gems close to home and enjoy novelty and adventure as a twosome.
- Why: Our brains release dopamine and oxytocin when we try exhilarating new experiences. Seeing your partner enjoy new activities also deepens fondness.
- Ideas: Check out fresh farmer’s markets, local museums or art walks; take mini-road trips to nearby towns or beaches you’ve never visited; test drive the hottest new VR experience.
3. Indulge In Physical Touch
- What: Soak in a bubble bath together, give each other leisurely sensual massages, cuddle up skin-to-skin for a nap, slow dance in your PJ’s, hold hands during walks, kiss…touch intentionally!
- Why: Physical intimacy promotes production of bonding and relaxation hormones like oxytocin. It also maintains sexual chemistry between partners.
- Tips: Initiate affection often. Greet your partner with a 30-second kiss, stroke their arm as you pass by, intertwine legs during movie time.
4. Communicate Openly
- What: Have those substantial conversations that you don’t make time for during the busier weekdays. Check in on the status of your relationship, share future plans and goals as a couple, divulge sexual desires or fantasies, disclose inner worries.
- Why: Self-disclosure and vulnerable communication enhances intimacy and understanding between partners.
- Tips: Unplug devices, establish eye contact, ask thoughtful questions, paraphrase their responses to demonstrate genuine listening.
5. Partake In Shared Hobbies
- What: Engage together in those recreational passions you both enjoy in order to tap into the pleasurable brain chemicals released during flow states. Get creative!
- Why: Joint participation in novel, exciting activities floods your brains with dopamine and adrenaline. It also gives you future memories to bond over.
- Ideas: Play chess, cook together, tend garden boxes, do arts-and-crafts projects, dance together in the living room to favorite songs, play board/video games, put together puzzles.
6. Turn Off Devices & Remove Distractions
- What: Establish sacred digital-free times or zones where you consciously tuck away smartphones, disable wifi, and direct attention fully to each other without scrolling or checking notifications.
- Why: Mobile devices severely undermine intimacy and connection between partners when they are constantly stealing our attention – even if just glancing at them briefly.
- Ideas: Stack phones away from sightlines during long morning coffee talks; institute no-screen guidelines after 8 pm.
7. Cook and Dine Together
- What: Prepare yummy healthy dishes side-by-side in the kitchen together on Sundays – float around each other pouring drinks, chopping veggies, simmering stews. Sit down and linger over leisurely homemade brunch or dinner without rushing.
- Why: Collaborating on cooking fosters cooperation and ease of interaction between couples – you both accomplish a shared goal. And lingering over meals facilitates deeper talks.
- Ideas: Find new intriguing recipes to break you out of a dinner rut; take turns selecting what to make each weekend.
8. Get Moving Together
- What: Get those endorphins pumping together! Just because it’s the weekend, don’t be couch potatoes. Go for long walks around the neighborhood chatting; try a couples yoga or HIIT class; hit the hiking trails or beach for vigor.
- Why: Exercising together gives you extra energy, lifts your moods, and allows you to admire your partner’s hot sweaty physique in action!
- Ideas: Level-up neighborhood walks by doing inspiration scavenger hunts where you snap pics of things the other person points out as interesting or beautiful.
9. Plan Low-Key Nights In
- What: There’s something extra cozy about lounging around together in pajamas or sweats when there’s no pressure to be anywhere else fancy or high-energy on a Saturday night. Light candles, give each other leisurely massages, ask probing questions while cuddling.
- Why: More easygoing nights facilitate emotional intimacy. Without an agenda, you can relax into deeper talks, affection, reading aloud together and general low-stakes pleasure.
- Ideas: Craft cocktails and drink wine while playing card games; listen to records from your youth; take a perfumed bubble bath by candlelight; slow dance.
10. Maintain Intimacy Through Highs & Lows
While I’ve offered many specific tips for spending happy weekends nurturing intimacy together, the most important principle is maintaining laser focus on each other no matter how many years go by – through job changes, moves, health issues, deaths of loved ones, periods of conflict or times when the passionate spark wanes. Hold onto fondness and don’t lose your friendship. Continue carving out couple time on weekends even when emotionally depleted. Seek marriage counseling if communication falters. The flame can be reignited with consistent kindling!
Key Takeaways:
- Make your relationship a priority by protecting time for just the two of you on weekends
- Escape routines and responsibilities of weekday life
- Discover new activities; alternate planning date nights
- Tap into novelty, variety and deeper bonding
- Communicate more substantively without distractions
- Maintain intimacy through ups and downs over the years
Prioritizing intimacy every single weekend is the secret sauce for going the distance happily as a couple!
Frequently Asked Questions:
Why do happy couples spend quality time together on weekends?
Happy couples recognize that it’s crucial to invest in nurturing intimacy on a weekly basis when you don’t have the daily grind obligations competing for your time and attention. They vigilantly carve out unstructured couple time.
What special things do happily married couples do?
From my experience successfully counseling hundreds of satisfied couples over the past decade, here are five key things really happy spouses do:
- Schedule regular date nights
- Travel and seek out new adventures together
- Split household responsibilities equitably
- Maintain active listening and empathy skills
- Prioritize weekend couple time
What rituals keep couples emotionally close?
Research shows that couples who consistently practice small rituals like frequent hugging/kissing, regular check-ins, saying “I love you” daily, planning getaways, waking up cuddling, sharing meals often, and who know how to actively resolve conflicts in a healthy way report far greater emotional intimacy decade after decade.
How do you nurture intimacy in a long term relationship?
The key intimacy habits for long-term couples include: embracing variety and novelty together over the years, trying marriage counseling when needed, being willing to work through challenges, maintaining non-sexual affection and praise, staying present on dates, exploring mutual sexual fantasies, traveling to new places and making new memories.
What are some fun things for couples to do on the weekends?
Weekend date suggestions range from active adventurous dates like rock climbing, ziplining or dancing to more lowkey indulgent dates like couple massages/soaks, lingerie shopping, wine/beer tours, double date game nights, crafting together at home, and sensual activities like tantric workshops. Get creative!