My husband is a pro at coming up with the most creative date night ideas. I remember always having a blast when we were dating, and I know part of it has to do with how fun the activities were.
Eventually we came to a point in our relationship where I was deciding date night every other week. And I am not nearly as creative.
I took to Pinterest and Facebook, scouring for ideas and I learned a lot in the process – mainly that there are a lot of lame date ideas out there.
So below is an original list of date ideas inspired by pop culture, high school friends, and the brain of yours truly. I hope they give you some fun ideas to try or get your mind racing with other things you can do.
Night Hike and Constellation Mapping
Take a hike in the evening (make sure you have flashlights), get as far away from city lights as you can, and sit at the top with your lights off so you can see the stars. There are apps you can download, or you can wing it, but see how many constellations you can find.
My husband and I did a night hike for our second date and it was one of my favorites to this day. We asked all sorts of deep, fun questions, and then we actually just sat at the top and talked.
We forever joke about the fact that he didn’t kiss me because there was plenty of opportunity (and I was not making the first move).
For added fun, collect a bunch of random questions to ask on the way up and back down to really get to know someone. You could talk about the color of your toothbrushes, the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten, and why you like your favorite pair of jeans. Just have fun with it!
Bigger and Better
This is a common game where I’m from and I grew up playing it fairly often, but I loved it because every single time it was different. You basically go door to door, starting with a something small and cheap and trading up the line to see what you can come away with. One time we started with a toothpick and ended up with an old 50-inch box TV – we had to get a truck to move it. Another time we started with a penny and at the last house someone paid us $50 for the fish tank we’d inherited, so we took that and went to a fun restaurant for dinner.
Glow Golf at the Lake
Get a bucket of golf balls and a club, head to a lake or other area with a safe range in the evening (be mindful of our good green earth), dump glow sticks all over the golf balls, and go knock them into outer space. You could turn it into a competition of sorts, pick a target, and have a jar with questions you have to answer anytime you miss the target.
Costume Movie Night
This one is random, and will for sure cause some head-turning. Get a group together, head out to a thrift store and pick out outfits for each other. Then you have to wear them to the movie theater. If you want a cheaper idea, just get some face paint and do some crazy war paint. The point is to put on something that is slightly embarrassing and stay in it all night.
Paint Balloon Dart Wall
You know you’ve always wanted to do this! You’ll need a board, a tarp or area you can spray off, lots of balloons, cheap paint, a stapler, and some darts. You and your date can build the wall together, or just have it ready when they arrive and go to town. If you want to stretch it out a little, put questions or truth-or-dare’s in each balloon (make sure you’ll be able to read them after they are covered in paint) and as you pop a balloon, you have to respond to the prompt.
Fear Factor Picnic
Pull together a picnic of tasty and not-so-tasty things and put them in containers so you can’t see what’s inside. Then play spin the bottle or some other competitive game and the loser has to pick a container and eat all of what’s inside. Make sure your date has a stomach for nasty things (you don’t want to make someone seriously ill) and be considerate of any allergies. This could be extra fun with a group.
Carve Bananas
Um, what? I know, but my parents did this for one of their dates in high school and it was so much fun, they still talk about it almost 30 years later. You can really pick whatever fruit or vegetable you want, just nothing you’d normally carve around Halloween or anything. Head to the store, have your date pick a food item for you to carve and vice versa, then get carving. You could even have a theme for your banana sculpture competition and have a pre-created carved fruit trophy for the winner.
Blow Dart Nerf Wars
This one takes a little coordinating, but if you can do it, it’s so much fun! Get some PVC pipe and cut it in 3 feet lengths. You just need enough for everyone to have one pipe they can use to shoot their darts, blow dart style. Buy any pack of replacement nerf darts (you could have each couple bring their own pack). Then find a park or a gym or somewhere you can have a center line and set up barricades. You give everyone a supply of darts, split up teams, and start letting them fly! You can level this up by turning it into capture the flag. This one is best with a group, but if you’re at a park and feel extra social, you could always invite any couples walking by to join in.
Massive Slip’N’Slide
All you need for this one is a good sized roll of heavy-duty painters plastic (emphasis on heavy duty), some biodegradable soap, a water source, and a big hill. If you wanted to, you could also use biodegradable paint to make things a little more colorful and messy. You’ll be covered in soap suds and totally dirty, but it’s a great time!
Tortilla Frisbee Golf
Here we go again with the random food dates. I’d recommend creating your own Frisbee golf court – considering tortillas aren’t the most aerodynamic they might not be suitable for a full range court, but you can for sure try it!
Random Acts of Kindness
So this is a slightly different vibe from the rest of them, but it’s the greatest date idea! You could make a bunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and deliver them to homeless people on street corners, sticky note cars with words of encouragement, or buy a couple of cheap bouquets and deliver individual flowers to the residents in rest homes. Not only is it fun to get out in the community, but you’ll always come away feeling fantastic!
Progressive Dinner
Plan to have an appetizer, soup, entrée, and dessert all in different places. For example, you could do appetizers at Cheesecake Factory, soups and salad at Olive Garden, entrees at Texas Roadhouse, and dessert at Cold Stone Creamery. If you wanted to take a less expensive route, you could split plates each place, do a group date and have one course at a different friend’s house, or stay home and make an item for each course from all different countries (like the Epcot of progressive dinners).
Art Gallery Stroll in Style
Dress up like you’d imagine a highly cultured art lover would and visit a fine art gallery in your city. I’m talking full-blown stereotype-of-an-aesthete vibe, whatever you think that looks like.
Become the art lover.
You can pull a 70’s vibe, a more sophisticated suit and ascot style, copy Bob Ross, or even find a fun influencer to dress up as. The point is to wear something that’s totally outside your comfort zone and take the art world by stride.
Call the Bluff Game Night
If you’ve ever seen Jimmy Fallon’s Box Of Lies game show you’ll know what I’m talking about here. Have someone pull together a few boxes with some totally random compilations of items. You or your date should not know what is inside any of them. Take turns picking a box and, without letting your date see what’s in your box, you have to describe to your date what’s in the box. Now, here’s the thing, you can either choose to lie about what you’re seeing, or tell the truth. The other person has to determine if you’re being honest or not.
River Rafting
There are rivers and lakes all over the place, but I rarely take advantage of them! You can go buy a raft and oars, or rent tubes and head downstream. Just be careful! Make sure you know the river well enough and be safe.
You could take a spin on this and go kayaking, canoeing, paddle boarding, or boating. All of them are fun and a great way to get outdoors.
