Creative Date Ideas Revisited

I originally shared these ideas back in 2009 after my husband and I attended a marriage retreat.  We've been a few times over the years and will be attending again next month.  Any excuse to visit Camp Au Sable is a good one.  It's been a long time since we've been away together for a weekend, and even longer since we've been to Camp Au Sable together.  We are very much looking forward to it.  In the meantime, these ideas truly stand the test of time.  I don't know about you, but we could stand to review this list, as more often than not we end up at the grocery store on our evenings out.  There are definitely more interesting ideas than that listed here!

Ideas for Creative Dates

• Pick up a book of local walks and choose one where you have never been before.
• Take a day course together and learn to do something new like make stained glass, fix car engines, paint watercolor, make baskets, cook a cultural meal, etc.
• Go out to eat changing restaurants for each course.
• Meet in the park with a packed lunch. Pretend you've never met before, and spend time getting to know each other while you feed the ducks.
• Go to a place where there are street performers, and enjoy the show.
• Try a new type of restaurant that you never before have explored like Thai, Cantonese, Tuscany, Vegetarian, Polish, etc.
• Share a spa day together.
• Visit a card shop. Read the funny cards together. Choose one that you would like to give to the other person, and either share it there or buy them and take them home.
• Charter a boat for an hour or two. Take a picnic lunch and a book of poetry or a humorous book about marriage.
• Take a blanket to the top of a hill. Lie on your backs and view the night sky. Bring along a book of constellations so that you can try to locate them. Take a thermos of hot cocoa or soup to share together. You might even see some shooting stars!
• Learn to ice-skate together, try go-karting, or buy a kite and fly it together.
• Find a free concert to attend or special evening at the museum.
• Visit a cathedral together and ask for the children's guide to the building. They often give a lot of unusual facts about the building and interesting details to look for. Stay for evensong for a peaceful and ethereal experience. Enjoy a meal in the cathedral cafe', or a nearby restaurant.
• Go out for dessert and coffee. Take your time, and enjoy the experience savoring your treat and your conversation with each other.

Ideas for Evenings Indoors

• Choose a menu together and cook a meal for two at home. Try cooking an Indian meal and serve it wearing an improvised sari, or a Japanese meal, to eat sitting on floor cushions around a low table. Find some music to suit the culture and enjoy the evening. If cooking's too much for you order takout. You could even watch a relevant film or play regional music to add to the mood.
• Compile a list of videos you'd both like to see together so you know which ones to rent when you have the opportunity. Don't forget the popcorn!
• Play your favorite childhood board games.
• Surf the Internet together for ideas for your next outing or holiday.
• Find or buy some crayons and drawing paper and have a go at drawing each other's portrait.
• Buy some child's modeling clay and try to sculpt a model of each other's head.
• Find a piece of old furniture that needs refinishing and remodel it together, or finish an unfinished piece of wood furniture giving it your personal touch. Sign and date your creation.
• Share five special memories you each have about your relationship and five special hopes or plans for the future.
• Borrow a book about massage from the library and learn how to give each other a massage with fragrant aromatherapy oils.
• Find a modern Bible and read the Song of Solomon to each other. You may be surprised at what you find!
• Make a scrapbook of memorabilia of your fun times together. Jot notes of ideas for more fun times together in a notebook so that you're never short of new ways to have fun.
• Make something nice to drink like lemonade or hot cocoa, depending on the season, and curl up with old photo albums or family films.

With a little time and thought you can begin to put some of the fun of dating back into your marriage.  Try these ideas out for size:

• Think about the things you did together for fun before you were married.
• Think about the things that you always wanted to do but never had the time or the opportunity to try.
• Write a list of 10 places you'd like to go or things you'd like to do on a date together. Swap lists with each other and see what you've each written. Take turns choosing a date idea from you spouse's list. Keep adding new ideas to the list.
• Do all you can to make the dating occasion enjoyable, even if it is not the sort of thing you'd normally do. Focus on your spouse's enjoyment and find little ways to add delight and surprises to the experience, such as secretly buying him or her a special souvenir that they said they liked, or finding a new place to eat lunch, or meeting them with a bunch of flowers.
• At the end of each date, make sure you know when and where the next date will be. Looking forward to something is half the fun!
• Have a list of fun things to do at home too for those times when you don't feel like going out or when you cannot get a babysitter.