This Is How To Create A Romantic Quarantine Dinner Date
It’s quarantine day… err.... who knows anymore? You’ve either been living in your softest T-shirt and sweatpants or got around to buying a cute loungewear set and have been donning it for at least 7 weeks now. There’s really no reason to put on that cute dress you got right before lockdown. Maybe you’re putting on the fiercest eye makeup when you go to the grocery store because that’s the only thing anyone can see above your mask. Either way, you might be craving a special occasion to get a little fancy, or you know, just put on pants for once. I know I was.
My significant other is a cardiac nurse and life has been looking pretty stressful for both of us lately. Our anniversary was coming up and I kind of assumed that we were just going to down a bottle of wine and scroll through Netflix as we cheers-ed to our love. After some thinking (there’s a lot of that going on these days), I knew I had to do something special for him. And I went ALL OUT. I knew that I wanted to be outside because the weather was going to be nice, but you can follow these tips to create your romantic dinner date inside as well.
(Me in my new favorite dress that I got right before quarantine by Princess Polly)
Lighting
My back patio isn’t very aesthetically pleasing. I have a simple patio dining set with an umbrella in the middle… and not much else. The lighting is minimal with just one outdoor light that’s probably filled with moths and needs to be changed out, but when I think of cozy patios, I automatically think string lights. I ordered these lights from Target, but any old string of holiday lights would do. When they came in, I started thinking… how in the world am I going to hang these? I had some Command strips meant to hang string lights, but I didn’t end up using them. Instead, I was able to thread the lights through the ribs of the umbrella (see photo below). The perfect lighting can set any mood. Don’t skip out on this step.
Candles
While “cozy patio” conjures up images of string lights, “dinner date” makes me think CANDLES. I mean, c’mon, every fancy schmancy dinner date has candles… ya know, like a “candlelit dinner”. Basically, candles are a must for setting the mood. Being a home stager, I already had a ton of candleholders to choose from. I opted for tall, slender black holders and shorter, gold ones with some curves. I waited until actual dinner time to light them, which was a good move because the taller candles were basically gone by the time we finished eating. I’ve had the candlesticks forever and don’t remember where I got them, but here are similar black ones, and here are similar gold ones.
Table Setting
This is the part that I think really gave our date the WOW factor. Best part is, it was so simple! I’m talking tablecloth, garland and flowers. Had it not been for those three items, this would’ve just been a table with some candles. That would’ve been fine, but I was going for romance. I got the vases and white and pink flowers from Ikea and the linen tablecloth and Magnolia Leaf garland from Target. I was so excited about having a simple white tablecloth, but I had to make a tweak to it to accommodate the umbrella. I could’ve taken the umbrella off completely, but then there goes my string lights! I simply folded the tablecloth in half twice (once lengthwise and once widthwise) to find the middle, where I channeled my inner paper snowflake making monster and cut a half circle on the edge so that a full circle would be revealed when unfolded. I had to disassemble and reassemble the umbrella to slide the tablecloth on, but it worked like a charm.
The garland was simple. I just unpackaged it and laid that bad boy on the table. Done. The flowers in the vases are artificial… remember, I’m a home stager. We don’t use real plants. Feel free to get some roses or other flowers that scream romance to adorn your gorgeous table setting. Maybe even some rose petals to toss throughout. I used what I had and it added just the right touch. Every stager knows how important plants are to a design. They breathe life into a space. They add movement and excitement while also providing peace and stillness. Basically, do not forget to have some kind of plant on your table.
Comfort
Sometimes when things look good, they might not be comfortable (I’m looking at you stilettos and waxed eyebrows). Unfortunately, it’s not very romantic to be uncomfortable. It kinda messes with the mood. The temperature that day was in the 70’s, but was going to drop in the evening as we wave goodbye to the heat-giving sun. To be honest, I didn’t check the weather for that night, and I would definitely recommend that you do in case you’re not as lucky as I was. Even though I didn’t check if we were going to be freezing or even rained out, I still anticipated it to get a bit colder, so I draped the chairs in a few throw blankets. These are all ones that I had in my staging inventory, but I’ll link some cute ones here that you can buy online. These really came in handy when we got cold after eating food for a king’s army. I’d also note that I already had cushions on the patio chairs, but if you don’t and the evening might be chilly, your booty might get cold and you should probably get some kind of padding for it.
Throw Blanket Options:
Place Setting
For the place setting, I like to think “more is more”. Your day-to-day set up usually consists of a plate, some cutlery and maybe a piece of paper towel to use as a napkin. To make your dinner date stand out, you need to take it up a notch. Add a placemat, a nice plate, proper dinner napkin and cute cutlery. You can do even more by adding a charger plate and a napkin ring. I didn’t have chargers on hand, but I bought a wooden charger and used it as a serving plate because the take-out containers weren’t going to cut it. I’ll link the place setting items for you here:
Placemat (Not exact, but very similar)
Food
Last but not least, let’s talk about food! This is totally up to you, but I ordered from our favorite sushi place, Taka, in Asbury Park, NJ. For all my local readers out there, if you haven’t tried Taka yet, get on it immediately. The first year that he and I were together, we went out for sushi maybe once a week. It was insane. We went to Taka on our second date and it’s possible that we fell in love either with each other or the food, but either way, there was love. I ordered so much food thinking we’d have leftovers for days, but we consumed the whole dang thing: pork spare ribs, gyoza, and 4 sushi rolls. I would have taken better pictures if I wasn’t so excited and hungry at the time.
So, go get your romance on and make it look awesome! Scrounge around your house to find all these crucial pieces for pulling together the perfect table setting. Order from your favorite restaurant or go beyond I ever could by cooking the most delicious meal. Share your romantic quarantine dinner date with me by tagging @opalhomestaging on Instagram! Most importantly, stay inside and stay safe. I can’t wait to see you all when the world turns back on.
