Looking for date night ideas that don’t feel like the same dinner-and-a-movie routine? These tried-and-true ideas from our team at Lifeway swap the usual date with some fun, unexpected memories for you and your significant other—whether that’s blind taste-testing milkshakes, dressing your partner in a Goodwill mystery outfit, or painting each other’s portraits. Pick whichever fits your mood and get ready to laugh at yourselves a little!
- Go to Target, buy a new board/card game, pick up takeout, and figure out how to play the new game together at home, the park, or the library.
- Build a massive Lego structure together!
- On a budget? Have a “Goodwill” date night. Go to Goodwill, blindly pick clothing for the other person, and whatever you each land on, you both have to wear for the rest of the night.
- Order a cookies-and-cream (or whatever your favorite flavor is!) milkshake from multiple spots and have a competition to see who can blindly guess correctly and decide who ultimately has the best milkshake!
- “Paint your date!” Get a canvas and some paint and sit across from your date while attempting to paint a portrait of him. The reveals are a delight.
- For an at-home date night, make a movie night a little more interesting by making or ordering themed food that goes with the movie. For example, when my husband and I saw Paddington in Peru, we went out for Peruvian food! You could also choose food that just appears in the movie if there’s not a specific region featured in the film.
- Pick one thing from the acronym DATE (pick one thing from the acronym)
- Dinner
- Activity
- Treat
- Exclude or Engage (exclude would be things like no phones, no work talk, say no words starting with the letter L / engage would be something like pick an engaging topic to discuss)
Looking for more ideas? Check out our date night ideas after 20+ years of marriage.
