It turns out that it is possible to have a romantic, low-risk pandemic date night and still follow CDC’s guidelines. All it takes is a little planning and creativity — and I’m lucky that my wife, Ann, has strength in both those areas. Note: This post contains affiliate links. As Amazon influencers, we earn from qualifying purchases.
After preparing and eating more than 800 meals at home this year, we really wanted to go out for dinner. We’ve done takeout a few times during the pandemic and dined at a couple places with well-spaced outdoor seating during the warmer months, but have not been out since the temperatures dropped.
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The question was, how could we eat out with low-risk this winter given Ann’s serious health concerns and recommendations from the CDC? Lincoln, Nebraska, has one of our favorite Indian restaurants, The Oven. But it’s too cold to eat outside there in December and it’s a 40-minute drive from our house. Takeout just wouldn’t be warm or fresh by the time we got it home.
But Ann had an idea! Last year, we bought a Chrysler Pacifica for a bunch of reasons, and at the time we had no idea just how versatile the vehicle really is. On a drive through Wichita, Kansas, last month, we had takeout pizza in the front seats in the restaurant’s parking lot and an idea was born. We were going to have a pandemic date night in our Pacifica!
Planning for a pandemic date night
First, we had to determine if it would really work. To do this, I grabbed one of our four-foot folding tables from the garage and a footstool from our deck. Next, I dropped the middle row of seats in our minvan (gotta love the stow-n-go seating). Then, I set everything up in our driveway to give it a dry run.
The result? Perfection! Because I’m taller, we decided that it would work best for me to sit on the back seat while Ann would sit on a footstool. This way, we could both comfortably reach the table.
Bring a romantic atmosphere to a pandemic date night
Next, we hung up a string of color-changing LED lights to set the mood. Ann found these on Amazon, and they are even powered by the minivan’s USB ports.
We took some time stringing these around, so that we’d have some great mood lighting once we got to the restaurant in Lincoln. Of course we never turned them on while driving as we wanted to be safe.
Preparing for our meal in the Pacifia
Once that was done, Ann went to work making sure we had everything we needed. She packed a table cloth, placemats, cloth napkins, napkin rings, real plates and even silverware. That’s right, we weren’t going to use that plastic stuff provided by the restaurant. No. Nothing but the best for our first date night out in months!
She put everything we needed into a bin, and even included stemless wine glasses and battery-powered flameless candles. She wrapped the wine glasses in dish towels to keep them safe and to give us something handy to clean up any accidental spills. We also included a couple of empty grocery sacks for the dirty dishes after dinner.
Taking in a Nebraska sunset on our pandemic date night
While Ann packed the tableware we needed, I put together a cooler complete with plain and flavored sparkling water. We’d be in a car, after all, so no open containers of alcohol for us this night. Then, near sunset, we headed to our favorite Indian restaurant. About halfway there, we called and placed our order: chicken and shrimp vindaloo, papadum, roti, and mulligatawny soup. Yum!
The setup in our Chrysler Pacifica minivan
We pulled into the parking lot and looked for the perfect spot. It was chilly, so we didn’t want to be too far from the restaurant, but we also wanted a little privacy. We chose a spot toward the back of the parking lot. It had a great view of a line of cars waiting at the drive-thru of a nearby fast food restaurant. Suckers. We were about to enjoy fresh, hot, Indian food from the privacy of our Pacifica while they took home cold, greasy fries.
Next, we turned on the LED fairy lights, switching them to green mode to match our table decor. We got out the table and stool from the back where we’d safely packed them away for the trip to the restaurant.
After I installed the furniture, Ann went to work setting the table while I masked up and went inside to pick up our food. Just look at this beautiful table setup! So romantic. Pro tip: Even though you’re getting takeout food, please consider doing like we did and leaving a normal tip for the staff at the restaurant. In these times, more people than ever are getting takeout meaning that the incomes of restaurant staff has gone down.
And to complete the atmosphere, we even fired up the Pacifica’s stereo and played some relaxing instrumental Christmas music. The van’s surround sound system truly gave us far better music quality than we’d get at most restaraunts. We turned off the dome lights and ate by the light of the LEDs. The mood was perfect.
Time to eat on our pandemic date night
As I walked into the restaurant, our food came out of the kitchen, fresh and hot. Instead of a long drive home, I walked about 100 feet to our minivan where we quickly opened the containers and were able to dive right in. We loved that steam was still rising from our food, and everything tasted so fresh! We started with our appetizer of soup and papadum.
Next, we moved on to our main courses, chicken vindaloo for me, and shrimp vindaloo for Ann. We just love the spicy flavors of this curry dish, and we took our time eating and savoring this romantic date night experience together.
Clean up was a snap
When dinner was done, it was time to clean up. We just grabbed the plastic grocery sacks and wrapped our dishes in them. This kept the mess confined until we got back home.
Then, we packed everything back into our bin, along with the table and stool in the back of the van. Yes, we got a few interesting looks from passersby, but we just smiled and waved. We think they were jealous.
A Christmas light tour
Finally, we set off for the final part of our romantic pandemic date night: a tour of area Christmas lights. With the soft Christmas music still playing on the stereo, we drove through a few of the neighborhoods in Lincoln checking out all the beautiful light displays.
By the end of the night, we’d had a wonderful time together. We connected a little more, shared a unique experience, and had gotten out of our house for a bit. And you know what? We can’t wait to do it again.
Have you done something creative for a date during the pandemic? Let us know in the comments below.
I am always amazed at the things you two come up with. I really enjoyed this story. Hope you both have a great New Year. Will be looking forward to more great stories.
Awww…thank you, Mary! For what it’s worth, we had a lot of fun doing this post and look forward to more van dining adventures. Happy New Year to you and yours, as well!
It’s fun following you and learning ways to have date night and enjoy stays in hotels safely. Wishing you both a very blessed 2021. Happy New Year!
Thank you! We’re glad that you’re enjoying our blog and are happy to have you along with us on our journey! Happy New Year to you and yours, as well! 🙂
This is such a cute, safe, and fun Idea.
It was a lot of fun! Can’t wait to do it again.
Well, I’d been wondering about the “Date Night” that you teased about a while back. At this point I thought I’d just missed the post. That looks like so much fun! I’m not sure I’d get my Hubby to agree to it since he’s the type that would be embarrassed by “the looks” from others. Plus we don’t have a van. 🙂
Good for you guys, I love your creativity!
If you did it in a car without all the lights I’m sure no one would even notice! I hope he’ll give it a try.
Great idea!! It looks like you had a wonderful and special night. Good for you!
Happy New Year!!
p.s. Was the picture of the Lincoln Christmas lights taken in the Ridge? It looks a bit familiar.
Thank you, and Happy New Year to you, too! And we aren’t exactly sure where we took the picture, but we did drive through the Ridge that night, so it might have been there.
What a great night!! Thks for sharing. Gives me ideas. You two are something else!!
So glad you enjoyed this! Give it a try and let us know what you think.
Oh – I thought we needed to be away from city lights to see the Christmas Star on Dec 21 so we loaded up, packed a picnic and binoculars and telescopes and drove to Chalco HIlls. Lots of folks had my same “great idea” but it was fun and a great place to see this once in a life-time occurrence! As it turns out, we could see it from our front sidewalk just fine but the 21st was much warmer than the 22nd!
Take care!
Seeing the Christmas Star was neat…and it must have been fun to find a bunch of folks with whom to share the experience. Have a Happy New Year!
What a terrific idea!
We have thoroughly embraced Gov RIcketts’ idea of Takeout Tuesday, trying to support local business! But we’ve also used drive thru as it is safer than carrying in. Our Bellevue Panera will carry to the car – they even watch and when a vehicle that matches what you have typed in – so we have rarely had to call.
We think most restaurants have adapted pretty well – that first week we ordered from PF Changs which is almost a hour and our food was relatively warm but not steaming but was :mushy”; since then they have adapted so that now, even an hour way, its just a bit mushy. We have eaten in the Durango too just not quite as elaborate as you two!
What fun! And pretty ingenious! We vacationed in northern MN (We go every year and we were able to remain pretty distanced in our house-keeping cabin and on the beach and of course our boat on the lake, but we weren’t able to enjoy our vacation routine especially our favorite ice cream fountain so we’d order take-out and head to the city park. If it was too busy, we’d eat in the Durango!
Wishing you a happy, healthy and safe 2021!
Take care!
So glad you liked our idea. You definitely need to try this at PF Changs. Maybe we could meet in the parking lot for a double date?
Love the creativity and the simple, yet elegant planning!
Merry Merry Happy Happy!
It was so much fun! Do you have suggestions for other Lincoln restaurants/parking lots we should try next?
Very creative, back ground music was a plus! When you do this again a movie on an iPad or other devise would be fun!
Thanks for your suggestions!
I note the star between the two houses featured in your tour of Lincoln Christmas Lights. Is that the “Star of Bethlehem?”
Lol. Something like that!
How FUN! Glad you found such a great way to enjoy your night out!
It was a lot of fun! We even wore real (not lounge) clothes for a change! So glad you enjoyed this post.
You two do some of the neatest things! So glad that you can do that. Hopefully 2021 will work out better for everyone. Happy New Year to you both.
Thank you, Ron! And we agree, we hope that 2021 will bring many new, exciting experiences. Happy New Year to you, too!