It’s a simple idea really. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner. This year I took my wife on a Shopping Date.

We started off by going to dinner at the place of her choice. Then we went to various stores and purchased things I knew she would like. I already had a list… I just took her with me shopping so she could pick out exactly what she wanted. She ended up with two books, a candle and a full length mirror. I offered ice cream… but she was full from dinner.

The benefits are plenty:

• Spending time along with husband
• Kids-free time
• Shopping!!
• Guilt-free spending (I saved for it)
• No guesswork on my part

We’re still going to do the cake and presents thing for the kids. I’ll take them to Walmart and let them pick out something… but I think this is going to become a new tradition. She loved it!