Adding it all up

When I first got married, I delusionally thought Jeff and I would be able to have a date night every Saturday.  In my dream of what it would be like to be married, we'd have a babysitter on retainer and some Saturdays we'd go out with other couples and some Saturdays it would be just Jeff and me.  I had no idea just how much I was in a fantasy world, until I realized how expensive it would be to pull this off.  Not only do Jeff and I not go out every Saturday, we don't even go out one Saturday a month.  More than likely, our need for a babysitter has dwindled down to when we HAVE to have one.  For example, a party invite that is not kid-friendly, an office holiday party, etc.  Getting a babysitter for Jeff and I to go do something just for fun, for us is a luxury indeed.  It involves careful planning; who wants to go to restaurant that ends up having lousy service or a long wait, or a movie that you want to walk out of?

This past Saturday, Jeff surprised me with lining up a babysitter, just because.  I can't remember the last time we went out, just because.  I thought it would be fun if we did something other than dinner and a movie.  We went to a comedy club and saw two very funny comedians.  Well worth the ticket price.  But it all adds up:

Pizza for kids/babysitter = $14
2 Tickets = $50
Parking at garage in D.C. = $22
Food at comedy club (dinner) = $60
Babysitter from 5:15pm to 10:30pm = $60

Total for the evening:  $206. 

Seriously, is this crazy or what?!?!  Why does it have to be so ridiculously expensive to go out for an evening with your husband?  Even if we did the dinner and movie combo, we'd only be saving about $40.

It would be so nice to live close enough to family where babysitting wouldn't be an issue.  I am not a jealous person by nature, but the one area I really wish we could be more like some of the other families we know is when the grandparents live close by.  How nice it must be when they can take the kids for the evening, even just going out for dinner.  By the time we get a babysitter, I feel like it needs to be this great event and well worth the energy and money invested in to our evening out.  Who wants to spend $150+ on a movie that sucks?

Fortunately Jeff and I enjoyed our evening out.  Good thing too, because it will be many, many months before we can do that again.