You don’t have to book a reservation at a crowded restaurant or buy tickets for a rom-com at the nearest movie theater to have a great date this Valentine’s Day. You don’t have to go out at all. You can have an incredibly romantic date at home, especially when you have a hot tub sitting in your backyard.
How can you turn your hot tub into the perfect date night spot?
Hot Tub Ambiance Tips
Use Aromatherapy
Scent is very powerful. The right scents can boost your mood, ease your stress and make you feel relaxed from head to toe.
So, use aromatherapy to set the scene for your Valentine’s Day date. Here at The Cover Guy, we offer a variety of aromatherapy products. Get a rain-scented spa bomb, a jar of lavender crystals or an entire set of aromatherapy spa liquids in scents like Hawaiian Sunset and Tropical Island.
Romantic Hot Tub Lighting
For an indoor date, you might set the scene with a dozen lit candles. It might be difficult to keep candles lit outside, especially when those candles are sitting close to a steamy hot tub. Those candles could snuff out minutes into your romantic hot tub date.
You’re better off using waterproof LED candles. With these candles, you can create a beautiful ambiance outside without having to worry about any wicks blowing out.
You can also use your hot tub’s lighting to enhance the romantic atmosphere. Set the lighting to colors like red, pink or purple. If your hot tub doesn’t have built-in colored lights, you can always buy floating or submersible lights and add them to the water whenever you decide to take a soak. These lights will make your hot tub glow with a gorgeous color.
What Else Can You Do for a Romantic Hot Tub Setup?
Decorations
Surround your hot tub with Valentine’s decorations. Tie heart-shaped balloons to the nearby furniture. Sprinkle a trail of rose petals leading to the hot tub. Do not add the rose petals to the hot tub water – you don’t want any petals (whether real or fake) clogging up the hot tub filter.
Music
Set up a Bluetooth speaker to play soft mood music near the hot tub. There are even waterproof speakers that you can bring in the hot tub! Keep it on a floating tray or on the edge of the tub. If it falls into the water, you don’t have to panic – the tech will be just fine.
What music should you play? There are curated Valentine’s Day playlists on Spotify that are filled with classics by Etta James, Elvis Presley and Nat King Cole. If you’ve been with your partner for a long while, make a playlist of all of your favorite songs. Choose songs that are attached to special memories, like going on trips together, so that you can reminisce during your relaxing soak.
Valentine’s Day Hot Tub Date Ideas
What should you do for your Valentine’s Day hot tub experience? These are some easy Valentine’s Day date ideas:
Serve Delectable Refreshments
You shouldn’t serve regular hot tub snacks and drinks on Valentine’s Day. Go above and beyond for this romantic date night!
For drinks, serve champagne or sparkling rose in flutes. Choose plastic flutes for safety purposes. You don’t want to drop glass in or near your bathtub. If you or your date don’t drink alcohol, serve non-alcoholic sparkling wine, cider or juice in the flutes. These beverages can feel just as luxurious as bubbly.
For snacks, opt for a charcuterie board with a series of bite-sized cheeses, crackers, nuts and fresh fruits. For something sweet, choose chocolate-covered strawberries – eat these first so that the chocolate doesn’t melt!
Eating and drinking in the hot tub is easy when you have the help of convenient hot tub accessories, like floating trays and hot tub drink holders. If you’re worried about spills, set up a little dining area near your hot tub.
Cozy Up Under the Stars
You and your date will need to take a break from the hot tub water to avoid getting overheated. On your hot tub break, the two of you can dry off and go inside, or you can bundle up in your housecoats and continue your date under the stars.
If you’d like the option to cozy up under the stars, make your outdoor space as comfortable as possible. Outdoor heaters or a firepit can keep you nice and warm outside of the hot tub. Put out thick blankets to wrap yourself in. Set out refreshments on a deck table that’s covered in Valentine’s Day decor, like a red tablecloth, LED candles and scattered rose petals. With this incredible setup, you won’t want to go inside any time soon.
How to Prepare Your Hot Tub for Date Night
Before you can worry about details like setting up mood lighting and decor, you need to think about basic cleaning and maintenance tasks. You’ll want your tub to be clean, clear and comfortable come Valentine’s Day.
Clean the Water
Your partner won’t want to have a long soak with you in the tub when the water is cloudy and unclean. Nothing will ruin the memories of a good date night quite like getting a bad case of hot tub folliculitis afterward.
Sanitize and shock your hot tub water a day or two before Valentine’s Day. If you’re using a chlorine-based shock treatment, you should wait at least 24 hours before taking a dip in the water. Rushing into the tub after this chemical treatment could lead to an unpleasant soak, where you and your date suffer from nausea, itchy skin and eye irritation.
You should be sanitizing and shocking your hot tub water on a weekly basis, especially when you’re using the tub regularly. Every three to four months, you should also drain and refresh your spa. When the tub is drained, consider deep-cleaning the filter – you can simplify hot tub maintenance by doing these tasks together. Skipping routine maintenance can lead to hot tub problems, like cloudy water that’s teeming with bacteria.
What if your hot tub water is looking a little cloudy? Don’t panic. You can fix that. Read our tips on keeping your hot tub clean and clear to make the water safe for soaking again.
Winterize the Hot Tub
When you live in a colder climate, you will need to take some extra care to help your tub stay in good condition throughout the winter. Otherwise, the frigid weather could freeze the hot tub water.
Frozen hot tub water won’t just ruin your Valentine’s Day date night plans. It can ruin your tubbing plans for the upcoming months. Freezing can damage various parts of your hot tub, like the pump and the heater, and it can cause the plumbing to burst open and leak into your backyard. You’ll have to get extensive repairs and replacements before being able to enjoy a romantic soak again.
What can you do to winterize your hot tub? Get a winter-hardy hot tub cover. If your hot tub cover isn’t built for the winter climate, your tub’s water is at a higher risk of freezing. You should explore durable cover options on our website that will get your tub’s water through the harshest winter weather.
For additional protection against freezing, get an accessory like a thermal blanket. The thermal blanket creates an extra layer of insulation below the hot tub cover, keeping the water beneath it safe.
Learn more winter hot tub tips here to protect your tub this season.
Make Your Hot Tub Safer
Getting an injury will definitely put a damper on Valentine’s Day. You might have to cut your date short to lie down under a pile of ice packs. Or worse – you might have to take a trip to the hospital to get professional medical attention. You can limit any risk of injury around your hot tub by taking a few precautions.
Start by making your hot tub more accessible with a set of stairs. Stairs will make it easier to step in and out of the hot tub. You won’t have to awkwardly climb over the side and risk losing your balance, tumbling out onto the deck.
Place outdoor mats at the bottom of your hot tub steps. Outdoor mats will have treads on the bottom to keep them firmly gripped to the deck floor, so you won’t have to worry about your feet sliding out beneath you – even when you’re still dripping wet from the hot tub. You should also have sets of outdoor shoes that have grippy soles.
Get a hot tub cover lifter. Hot tub cover lifters make it easier to open and close up your tub for the night. Your cover is bulky and heavy! The average cover is between 50 to 70 pounds. Trying to lift that weight off the tub could lead to an injury if you’re not careful. The strain could make you pull a muscle, slip a disc or get a hernia. Again, choosing the right accessories will make your hot tub much safer.
Make Your Hot Tub Cozy
Seat cushions are essential pieces of cozy hot tub decor. Hot tub seats are hard and they can be uncomfortable to sit on for long periods of time. Adding a little more padding will make you and your partner want to soak in the tub much longer.
Always have clean towels and housecoats nearby so that you can dry off the minute that you step out of the water. This is especially important in the winter! For a bit of added luxury, invest in a towel warmer to keep them toasty while you soak in the hot tub.
Your hot tub could be the best venue for your Valentine’s Day date. Follow these romantic spa night ideas to have an unforgettable night.
