Finish the Sentence Friday: The Best Parents' Night Out Is…

Finish the Sentence Friday is our weekly writing column. We start a sentence, our editors finish it, and you are invited to finish it too in a notebook, a journal or an email to us. This week's prompt: The best parents' night out is…

…one you don't have to plan

Someone else books the table, someone else arranges the sitter. The single biggest obstacle to a night out is the organising, so take turns with another couple: one month you plan, the next month they do.

…a book club with good snacks

It counts as a night out even if it is in a friend's kitchen. Pick a book everyone will finish, such as The Marriage Lie, set a start time and an end time, and the evening will be the highlight of the month.

…a card table and four friends

A poker night at home is the most affordable grown-up evening we know. Children asleep upstairs, a grazing board of real-food snacks, a stack of chips and a modest buy-in. Nobody has to drive, and the conversation is better than at any restaurant. Our guide to hosting a grown-ups' poker night has the rules and the snack list.

…a weekend at the seaside, with a casino on the boardwalk

For a bigger treat, there is a lot to be said for Atlantic City. It is an easy drive from much of the East Coast, it has the beach and the famous boardwalk, the restaurants are good, and the casinos make a night feel like an occasion even if you only play a few hands of blackjack. Our Atlantic City weekend without the kids plan covers where to stay, what to eat and how to set a gambling budget you won't regret.

…the one where you talk about something other than the children

Try it. It is harder than it sounds and worth every awkward silence.