Planning a fun date night isn’t always as easy as it sounds–especially when you feel like you’ve been there, done that. So if you are like me and tired of the same ol’ same ol’, check out my list for some great date ideas to spice things up.
1. Movie Theme Night
If you’re in the mood for good southern cookin, rent Sweet Home Alabama and cook up some fried chicken and mashed potatoes. Or throw some steaks on the grill, some tots in the oven and watch Napoleon Dynamite. If Italian foods are what you are craving, watch The Italian Job while eating a plate of spaghetti. And don’t forget you can also watch The Pirates of the Caribbean while eating Jamaican Jerk Chicken, or go ahead and gather up your favorite “game foods” and watch The Blind Side. The possibilities and the creativity for this date night are endless!
2. Thrift Shopping
Head to your local flea market or thrift store and have a contest to see who can find the most unusual item. The only catch? You can spend no more than $10 each. Winner gets to choose their choice for dinner. Or a free pass on dishes.
3. Restaurant Hop
Grab some appetizers and drinks at one location. Your entrée at another. And then end the night sharing a dessert somewhere cozy. It doesn’t have to be expensive as you can always mix and match between fast food and casual dining.
4. Wal-Mart Bingo
Here is out it works: Head on over to The Dating Divas website and print out your free Wal-Mart Bingo Card. Then make a trip to Wal-Mart (or any local shopping center) and separately look for the scenes described on the Bingo Card squares. The first person to get Bingo WINS! And if you think your man won’t want to play, make a wager. Cookies and a massage. Movie of his choice. One pass to not do the dishes. The higher the stakes, the more he will want to play.
*You can make this a great double date activity and see which couple can get BINGO the fastest!
5. Mall Dare
Much like Wal-Mart Bingo, head on over to The Dating Divas website and print out your free Mall Dare Score Card. Next up, head to the mall and take turns picking and completing a dare and recording the score. This date will for sure have you laughing like crazy as you reconnect in a whole new way! But don’t forget, before you begin, set a wager!
*You can make this a great double date activity and see which couple can get the highest score!
6. Try a new restaurant and pick each others entrees
If you are anything like me, you probably go to the same restaurants and order the same entrees. So why not shake things up a bit. Pick a new restaurant to try and let your spouse pick your new entree too.
7. Play Jenga
Why Jenga and not any other game? Because in Jenga, you can take the Jenga logs and write simple messages for your husband to read as you play. Remind him of your first date and how much you fell in love with him. Tell him thank you for helping around the house. Compliment his eyes. And if you want to give him the ultimate surprise, you can always write on a few logs, “take off one item of clothing.” The possibilities are endless and it’s a game he will most likely never forget. (And more than likely want to play every night.)
8. Black Out
After the sun goes down, ditch the tech! Shut your computer, put away your phone, turn off your tv, and do everything by candle light. Attempt to live in the days before there was electricity and spend the evening just focusing on each other.
9. Pottery Painting
Okay, you won’t exactly be able to recreate the hot and sexy love scene from Ghost (or I guess you could try…bow-chicka-wow-wow), but you’ll be able to paint some awesome coffee mugs!
10. Dessert only date
Now this is my kind of date! You can keep it simple and low-budget by venturing to Dairy Queen for your favorite Blizzard or dress up in your “fancy” clothes and head over to a famous Italian Restaurant to share a Creme Brulee or Tirami Su.
11. Play a Childhood Game
14. Coffee Shop Date with a Deck of Cards
Venture out to your local coffee shop with a deck of cards and while you sip on your cup of Jo, play a card came or two.
15. Relive Your First Date
Where did you eat? What appetizers did you order? Did you go dancing or watch a movie? Try to replicate your first date right down to the flowers he brought you, the outfit you wore, and the food you ate. And if you watched a movie in the theater, rent it and watch it from home while snuggling together on the couch.
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Every year my husband and I celebrate our first date by going to the same restaurant we went to and ordering the same dishes we had that night 🙂
Great list, E!
Me and the Hubs used to do this too! Until I kinda stopped liking Olive Garden. hehe! But I think this year we will venture back out there again and order that cheese fondue that we thought was going to be like mozzarella sticks and I’ll order my typical Lasagna while he gets chicken Marsala 🙂
I’ve never been to Olive Garden. They apparently have good breadsticks, or something, right? Or unlimited pasta? Either of those sounds delish lol
hahaha! They do have awesome breadsticks and their salad is amazing too! And as far as the unlimited pasta, I think they do this a couple of times a year. I went once. I had to also be rolled out.
Very cute list. I think some of the “bingo” type games would be more fun if you had another couple participate and battle against the other couple. That way you can spend time together and work as a team. 🙂
oh my goodness! Thank you for the reminder! I meant to include that at the bottom and totally forget :/ Thanks, girl!
I LOVE #15! Such a good idea. Taking notes as we are so boring!! Thanks for these ideas
So looking forward to doing the fort for two… We actually have a fort set up in our spear bedroom for our nieces and they love it… Now we can use it! ❤️
Yes! So fun!
I would love to reenact our first date but the restaurant he took me to is now closed 🙁 but I love the fort idea!! That will be our next date!
Bummer the place is closed :/
These are such great ideas! I wish that B was more of a game person, he really isn’t into playing any sort of games (board games, cards, etc). We always say that we’re going to do the restaurant hop thing, but then we get lazy lol. We should really try some of these though!!
We get lazy too :/ I think that me and the hubs are going to pick a new one to try every month. I figured that can’t be too hard, right? hehe! We shall see!
I got mad at B once because he went to a brewery and was playing Jenga with his two friends there. I was like “I bought Jenga and you won’t play with me at home, why will you play with your friends!?!?” It was sad lol.
Love these, Elisha! Thanks for sharing.
#2 – Thrift shop! Sounds like a BLAST and is such a great winter idea!!! Thank you!
I think it sounds like a lot of fun too!!!