If you have grown-up children, how do you spend your evenings/weekends?

[Jazzicatz]

Just that really? I’m 53, with a younger partner, but we never go out in the evenings. If you are of a similar age with older children, how do you spend your evenings?

Weekdays Dh gets home at 8pm, eat and watch an hour of tv before bed or meet up separately with friends.
Usually something planned for us both - go to a pub, restaurant, play etc

I work 4 days a week.
as posted earlier I do a yoga or PT class, mon-Thursday evening. Saturday morning either yoga or park run. Sunday a long walk, normally with DH.
I can’t bear being stuck in the house !

Thank you for starting this thread @Jazzicatz My evenings have been dominated by dc so long, and I’m not quite out of that stage yet, but it’s really cheered me up reading about all these lovely options.

We both still work full time - Me (50) DH (54)

M - Gym
Tu - PT
W - Walk & Coffee after work
Th - Gym
F - Pub together
S - See friends

I'm ill health retired. I'm 53 and my children are 35 and 24. I've had a stroke, have MS and epilepsy.
I go on a lot of cruises, maybe 5 or 6 a year (month long cruises). I go to the gym 5 days a week and go out for a coffee or a drink. I'm tired a lot of the time by the evening and to be honest, all of my friends work and then dont go out in the evening.

I like being at home in the evenings, pottering about, chatting to DH, watching TV or when the weather is nice sitting with the door open listening to the birds singing.
Do enjoy going to see something at the theatre maybe once a month, sometimes a meal out.

I'm not very sociable, I would find some people's evening activity exhausting! Interesting how people are so different

I go to a music group, Pilates and running. Dh cycles.
Together we go for walks (usually with a pub or cafe built in en route) see friends either by entertaining, going to their houses or going out. Cinema infrequently. We should do more but I work long hours and enjoy being in watching a good series or reading just as much as going out.

I work full time over 3 days and husband works full time twilight shifts. So generally we don’t spend evenings together In fact we can go days without actually seeing each other. However we go away at least once a month often more to see live music. It’s a priority for us. Means we get to spend quality time together doing something we enjoy.

Our adult DC have left home and we’re mid fifties. We do a mixture of the following:

Gym x 3 a week
Swim
Go out for a meal
Go for an evening walk
Watch the next episode of a series we’re following together
Read
I might have an evening with my DSis, DH might go out with a colleague or ex colleague for a drink.

Weekends:
We live on the outskirts of a big city so often go in and do something cultural like a gallery or exhibition.
Shopping
Country walk (which we have to drive to first!)
Spend time with friends
Go to the pub and watch a football or rugby game together whilst having a drink/meal
Facetime our kids/parents
Gardening
DIY

We have a lovely life!

I am retired now (dh is still working) but I was doing 3 of the (now) 4 things I do in the evenings when I was working still.

I can't imagine just sitting at home every evening. But I've been the same all my adult life. Even when the dc were tiny, we both ring fenced one evening each to go to something that wasn't work and where we weren't just 'Mum' or 'Dad'.

We do different things on different evenings. A mixture of hobbies, volunteering, interest groups, and meetings - often planning for the volunteering.
Weekends there is Church, and watching sports, or going for walks, or going to things like Christmas Fetes or Summer fetes, or open days at things. Just somewhere to get out the house , have a bit of a wander around, and a cuppa, often whilst supporting someone else's fundraising efforts.

Plus (because we know lots of people from lots of things we do) going to parties or BBQs or fundraiser social things, or even weddings or anniversary dos. Or out for a meal with people or perhaps to watch something one of our friends is in.

The thread title asked evenings/weekends.

I work 4 days, DH works FT and we have one DC at home / one at uni. We do a lot of things separately but a lot together too. Neither of us minds if the other goes out without them, my family are all at the pub without me tonight but I went to my yoga class earlier and felt like relaxing afterwards

God some of you are busy!

This thread seems quite dominated by people who are retired and clearly have a good income to be able to afford all of these activities!

I have older teens and work PT. I go to a gym class in the evening once a week but otherwise I'm either just doing family stuff like making dinner/baking, doing some cleaning, maybe gardening in the summer, housework like laundry, spending time with DC or watching TV in the sofa as Im exhausted after a busy day!

I generally prefer to do stuff in the day snd then relax in the evening watching TV or reading. I find socialising tiring so if I go out in the evening I find it takes me a while to wind down and relax before I can go to bed so I end up going to bed really late.

I also have a very clingy cat who likes a cuddle in the sofa every evening and gets cross if Im not there!

Most posters have said they are still working.

And are empty nesters @Doggodoggo you still have children at home. That’s the biggest difference.

What did you do before you had children @Jazzicatz?

OP you should do things alone if your DP doesn't want to go out to places with you

Find hobbies or groups to join near you

Would he go out to places with you if you asked him or arranged it?

A lot of this sounds very daunting (and expensive!) to me. I go to the theatre maybe 2 or 3 times a year if I particularly like something - I don't want to go all of the time as it makes it less of a special thing. I tend to try out new hobbies like sewing using up bits around the house (I like to try to repurpose things I own), garden tidy usually leads to me considering a new shrub or plant which can be fun to plan, decide I want to learn to make some obscure dish from Japan etc.

I don't have as much disposable income as many on here but I think you can usually find things in the home that need doing or can be used or have fresh life breathed into them, even if you don't have circles of friends and book clubs nearby.

We're still working and DCs at home, but we got back to doing lots of things in the evenings and at weekends gradually as they stopped needing babysitters and doing so many evening activities. In fact that was one of the things, we used to spend a lot of our evenings taxiing them about so the habit of going out in the evenings was formed then. I just prefer being out and about to sitting at home and thrive in the company of other people. Most of what we do doesn't cost much (I have a corporate rate gym membership, allotment is £30 a year, volunteering costs nothing, parkrun is free, we get free cinema tickets with our bank accounts).

I go to the gym one night a week, but other than that it’s clean up after supper, shower and watch TV before bed. I struggle to make it to 10pm these days.

We don't go "out out" a lot. We do go to exhibitions, theatre, dinner etc but certainly not every week. Twice a week in the evening we go to the gym together. I otherwise potter in the garden and house, watch football, read and write, swim and do park run at the weekends (with both DDs at the moment).

OP - would your partner start going out for a walk with you after dinner? DH and I do that all year round. When the evenings are light, we often drive somewhere then walk. Cinema mid week is 2 for 1 with Meerkat discount. Some evenings we'll go out for dinner. Weekends we'll walk in the countryside, go for a coffee, the theatre.

Nothing exciting, just the stuff of life.

I’m 45 and have a 21yo living at home.

My weekends are spent taking him to swim meets, volunteering for his club, meeting friends, reading, housework(!), watching TV, going for a walk to the gym.

I don’t have a partner but if I did I wouldn’t imagine that my weekends would look too different - just with going out with him sometimes!

We don't go out under the week a lot. It's 7.30pm before we have dinner and then I am ready to curl on the sofa, read or watch TV most days.

We will tackle that when the current health issues we both have are over. In Summer (if the elusive good weather reappears) we sit outside with a drink, chat or read.

DH is a group lead volunteer with the Scouts and often 1x a week doing something Scout related. He doesn't have his own pack but helps out or meets with others for practical stuff or does admin at home for them.

Weekends are chores, sightseeing, visiting museums, NT properties/gardens, going for gentle hikes,
I like participating in online lectures and want to extend this into maybe an online degree in 2-3 years.

We are a bit older, in our late 60’s.
Our evenings are full of cooking together; going to live music events at a local cafe/bar; enjoying the garden with friends; theatre; cinema; dance class; walking locally; we are going to London for a long weekend with a show next month; holiday in September; quiet retreat in October.
If we have had a really busy day we relax with TV.