60+ Fun and Fabulous Date Ideas

Date night with my husband is my favorite way to kick-off the weekend, and I look forward to Friday night all week long as I'm dealing with grumpy hospital patients or mindlessly entering data. I'm always up for trying a new restaurant (or visiting an old favorite), but I love doing things that we haven't done before, too! For example, we scored some cheap tickets to watch our first hockey game together, and I'm hoping I can convince my husband we need to make it to the symphony this year. ;)

Here are some of my favorite date night ideas!

• Go to your local library or Barnes & Noble, find an interesting book to read, and plop down in a comfy chair.
• See if your community puts on free outdoor movies or plays in the park, and hit up one of those!
• Pick a movie to watch at home and make a themed dinner and/or dessert to go along with it. For example: Watch Napoleon Dynamite, serve tater tots and some "dang quesadillas," and have a dance party. Don't forget your chapstick!
• Go for a hike.
• Find a new bike trail and go for a ride.
• Take your laptop to the park and watch a movie. 
• Create a photo scavenger hunt list and find those items/people together. 
• Decorate your home for the next upcoming holiday.
• Go to "Italy." Eat a home-cooked Italian meal, find an Italian Pandora station, and paint like Michelangelo (tape paper to the underside of your kitchen table, but don't forget to wear shirts that you don't mind getting paint on!).
• Go sledding. 
• Play board games.
• Build a fort. 
• Put on a movie but mute it and speed up the time just a little. Together, you create the dialogue for what the characters are saying. You'll be rolling on the floor in tears in no time! 
• Play dress-up at your local thrift store. Put together funny outfits for each other.
• Create a little fire outside and make s'mores.
• Ask each other these questions while stargazing.
• Find a pond and feed the ducks.
• Check out the local farmer's market and sample different foods.
• Hit up a fair or festival going on in your area.
• Volunteer together at a community event.
• "Camp" in your backyard for a few hours. Pull out camp chairs, tell ghost stories, make s'mores, enjoy the stars, then pack it all up when you're done.
• Download a stargazing app and see how many constellations you can find.
• Find out if your community hosts any free 5k runs and do that together.
• Have a YouTube night - take turns sharing your favorite funny clips with each other.
• Look at the pictures on each others' phones and tell the stories behind the photos (or reminisce if you were both there).
• Walk around a free art museum or gallery.
• Go fishing.
• Look up free tourist attractions in your city and tour one you've never been to before.
• Do a puzzle, but don't forget some snacks!
• Learn how to say phrases in another language.
• If you have a GPS, go geocaching.
• Go to the gym together or play on a playground.
• Check out ancestry.com and read up on each others' extended family.
• Stop at garage sales or estate sales, just to see what interesting things you can find. 
• Read a book out loud together.

• Split a meal (take-out) and watch a movie at home.
• Go to a dollar movie and share some popcorn.
• Grab a $5 footlong sandwich from Subway and go for a picnic in the park. Don't forget a baseball and mitts!
• Buy a small bouquet of flowers from your local grocery store and pass out flowers to people on the street who need a pick-me-up.
• Buy a strange ingredient from the store and come up with a recipe using that item.
• Make cookies together and deliver them to friends. (Doorbell ditch them, obviously!)
• Find some postcards of your city and send them to friends or family.
• Walk along Main Street in your town and grab a small treat from a shop you've never been to before.
• Have a little fondue party with just the two of you.

• Go swimming at a community pool.
• Go ice skating or classic skating.
• Check out a local high school's play.
• Mini golf.
• Rent a paddle boat or a canoe and take it for a spin around a lake or pond.
• Buy a small (cheap!) piece of furniture off of Craigslist and fix it up together. (For example: a rocking chair, a nightstand, a small table, a bench, etc.)
• Find a local restaurant that has live music on certain nights and get a meal or treat to share.
• Go to a planetarium (find out if they have discounted nights/hours).
• Pick your own fruit at an orchard.
• Buy a disposable camera and snap pictures of the two of you (yes, selfies) in random places. Get the pictures developed and put the photos up around your home.
• Plant some flowers in your yard. If you're renting, plant them in planters for your porch or inside.
• Go to the pet store and pick out a fish together.  

• Go to a comedy club show.
• Go bowling.
• Check out the zoo if you have one nearby.
• Try indoor rock climbing.
• Have a progressive fast food dinner. Fries at one place, burgers at the second, a shake at the last (or whatever kind of fast food you want!). 
• Take a community class together (cooking, art, dancing, etc.)
• Go camping.
• Go to the shooting range or take a class.