Big Night In

Big Night In – AD competition entry

disclosure: this is a competition post

As most of you know my OH works extremely long hours and we rarely ever spend an evening together, so when Little Stuff offered us the chance to enter a competition in conjunction with 2 Little Fleas, I was up for the challenge.  If I was offered up to £750.00 to spend on a Big Night In, how would I spend it?  I think I’d demand Daddy P took the night off in the first instance! As a stay at home Mum, we’re on a tight budget, so it would be nice to be a tad flamboyant for once.

Then what to do with ourselves?  I can’t even remember the last time I cooked us a nice meal and we ate by candlelight – it was definitely pre-pregnancy with my son (so over 4 years ago!) so even though we could afford to have a take-away or even an in-house caterer, I think I’d actually like to cook myself.

Now I’m no Gordon Ramsey (have I told you he was in the year above me at school) so don’t expect anything mega complicated, and with Daddy P’s appetite, there is no point in cordon bleu cooking in this house.

Now I could blow the whole budget on a new dining table and chairs, god knows we could do with it, but I will make do with what we have! and just enjoy the evening.

So if I keep the table and chairs, I like our dinner service, but perhaps I could modernise our cutlery with a nice set of Robert Welch Radford – approx £130.00 for a 24 piece canteen.  They’d find a good home here and would be well used so I’d consider that long-term investment.

Big Night In

I’d start with a homemade pea and ham soup, especially as it’s getting a bit chiller these days and serve it with some nice chunky bakery bread. For the main course, it would have to be Beef Stroganoff with brown rice and vegetables, maybe even with some of our own homegrown carrots. For pudding, I’d have to go for Eton Mess or Sticky Toffee Pudding. £50.00 to cover all that?

Now I could definitely push the boat out with a very nice bottle of wine.  How about a nice bottle of Chateauneuf-du-Pape like this one – costs around £65.00 a bottle, but hey, who’s counting the pennies!

Big Night InBig Night In I think if we’re going to be drinking a decent bottle of wine, we really ought to splash out on some decent glasses too, right? These lovely Waterford Crystal Red Wine glasses are around £95.00 a pair.

Better keep a close eye on Daddy P has he has a habit of breaking glasses – he definitely better watch himself with these, that’s for sure!

So, we’ve had a lovely meal and enjoyed a rather luxurious bottle of wine.  What next?

Well, we recently had our new sofa and armchair delivered, and we haven’t actually sat down on that sofa together since it arrived! So sitting down together would be a novel idea.

Big Night In

Watch a film maybe? Now, this is our TV …..

Big Night In

As you can see it’s not exactly state of the art, or even widescreen, let alone HD! How nice would it be to watch a film, or even just a normal TV programme without missing the bits at either end!  So I’d have to do something to bring us into the 21st century.

I think I’d opt for something like an LG HD 1080P Smart TV with a 32″ screen and built-in Freeview HD – I could get one for around £349.00.

This would leave me about £60.00, I’d splash out on a box set of 24 for £15.00 and some nibbles in case we’re still hungry.  If I had anything left I’d put it in my son’s money-box so we could buy him Disney ‘Planes’ on DVD whenever it is released, so we could have another Big Night In with our little boy.

So the money’s all gone and I’ve not been too wild with my ideas, but the memories of actually having a Big Night In of any description with Daddy P would remain, that’s worth more than £750.00!

 

6 thoughts on “Big Night In – AD competition entry

  1. I hope you get to have a night in soon. We do it occasionally. We get the bigger ones to take the little ones to bed and stay in the living room, and we have a candlelit dinner with some nice wine in the kitchen. By candlelight everything is beautiful and your imagination can take you elsewhere so much more easily 🙂

  2. Sounds great! Me and my OH very rarely actually sit down together of an evening so when we do get chance it makes it more special! Hope you manage a night together soon x

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