How do you keep the spark alive in your relationship?

[MamaMed]

What do you do or your partner does to keep the spark alive in your relationship?

every other friday night we go out.

dp gets dressed and goes to pub leaving me to get dressed on my own and meet him at the pub...like a date.

I know this sounds weird but the look on his face when I walk in is like he is seeing me for the first time every time.

Nothing. We are way beyond spark.

Names, that sounds lovely

Mintyy, what does that mean?

Spark is over-rated. There is much to be said for the beauty of simple human companionship with one's spouse.

I agree, Mintyy.

I don't think you can underestimate time together just the two of you todo something / anything except don't talk about kids / practicalities / house stuff.

Doing something that makes communication easier - so not just sitting over dinner expecting the conversation to be interesting - walking/ going for cycle ride / jog. I keep seeing groupon vouchers for Segway days near us and think that would be brill. Take time to talk about you as a couple - not just domestic stuff!

But love the idea of meeting out at a date location!

We do nice things for each other, spend a lot of time apart, show each other appreciation, laugh lots,.. I don't think 'spark' is overrated at all. :)

As cringey as it sounds, we do 'work' at it.

We try to have a night out at least once a month. Usually cinema and then dinner and drinks and a good old chinwag...occasionally dancing. Just reminds us why we like each other so much and gives us a break from his farting and snoring and my mardy, shouty mum-ness being 'mum and dad'

Also have our cosy weekend nights in every week - no ipads or books or doing chores, just a good film, snuggle on the sofa, a bottle of wine and hopefully a quick shag some hot sex at some point.

DH works from home.

Sometimes I hang my bare boobs over the top of the laptop when he least expects it.

We laugh at anything and everything.

We have trumping competitions some people object to the word fart, but fart it is

He'll treat me to a helicopter show - any old thing for a giggle.

Life is and has been quite serious for some time now. Laughter is our glue cue unicorns' tears

I moon him most nights through the glass living room door as I go to bed

Rarely pass each other at home without touching in some way, sometimes a quick grope we both do this, actually Im guiltier than him, a quick cuddle or just a stroke of an arm, back of the neck.

just asked dp this very question. he said

"bum sex Fridays" hahaha

We go away for the weekend about every other month.

We have "date nights" where we meet at the venue. We always make an effort to dress up.

From about 10pm the children are all banished and the TV turned off. We spend that time chatting, listening to books, music etc.

Hi, We been together 9 years and have 5 children its bit hard to get any alone time but we try and always dedicate Friday night to just been for us the children know that is our night, they do disturb us from time to time but cant be helped :( We watch a film or just tv, have a few drinks, take away or i will cook something and have a nice giggle.

We struggle to get a sitter but mother in law is generally quite good and has them about every 4-6 weeks depending on her commitments and then we will go out cinema, pub, meal etc. In summer we were skint so we just ended up on the moors for a drive sat watching the sunset was the most romantic evening we have had for a while :)

We share the same sence of humour so we always manage to entertain each other in some way. Day to day life does get boring but there is deffinately a spark there lots of effection

OH brings me a surprise breakfast in bed sometimes when we are both off work, or we take turns every other fortnight to plan a day trip for eachother. The last one OH planned a surprise picnic in hyde park, it was a bit cold but we had some blankets and made a day of it. Last one i planned was a trip on the london eye.
Also making eachother cups of tea/coffee or just picking up eachothers favourite chocolates on the way home from work

Have a sneaky cuddle and snog in the kitchen when the kids are watching tv in the living room.

Talk. About anything,no matter how trivial,when you have the time.

Agree it's about making time. We send the kids to my mums every couple of months so we have a proper night out and sex a lie in the next day.

In between that, have our own interests so we're not in each other's pockets, bottle of wine and a film on a weekend night, sit next to each other on the sofa at night and not on our phones on different chairs at opposite ends of the room.

Feel sad at the comments about 'gone past spark'. Life's too short.

We also regularly shag in the summerhouse.

Grab his arse when he least expects it.

Thanks everyone. There are some good ideas here.