Date Ideas
Unique plans for days out, kitchens, workshops and new skills, one idea at a time.
- Time
- An hour to a whole day
- Players
- Two people
- Best for
- Weekends, days off and any week the usual plans feel familiar
- Deck
- 72 ideas in 6 categories
How to use these date ideas
- Pick a category from the menu under the card, or keep “All categories”.
- Read the idea on the top card. If you both like it, put it on the calendar.
- Swipe the card away, or tap “Next idea”, for another. Ideas do not repeat until you have seen the whole category.
- Tap the heart to save an idea on this device, or tap “Make a 10-idea list” for a list you can copy.
When to reach for a new date idea
Most couples have three or four dates they come back to, and they come back because they are good. A new idea now and then adds a story you did not already have.
A wide-open weekend
Day dates and Active dates fill a free Saturday from the morning to late afternoon.
A rainy day
Make something and most of Food dates happen indoors, at a kitchen table or in a workshop.
A week that needs a laugh
Silly and playful and Learn together, for evenings when being bad at something is the whole point.
Ways to pick your next date
One category each
Each of you picks a category from the menu and draws until an idea sticks. Then let a coin decide between your two cards.
A different category every month
Work through the categories in turn, so a year of dates covers active days, kitchens, silly nights and a few new skills.
Save a backup
Next to every outdoor plan, save one idea from Make something or Food dates, in case the weather changes its mind.
Tips for a date that feels new
- Book classes and workshops a week or two ahead. Beginner spots are usually the first to fill.
- Pick something neither of you is good at yet. Being beginners together takes the pressure off both of you.
- Leave a little time after the plan for a walk or a snack, so you can talk about how it went.
All 72 date ideas by category
The complete list, grouped by category. The cards above draw from the same list, so you can read ahead here and pick there.
Day dates
Daylight plans with somewhere to be, for a Saturday you want to fill.
- Give each other ten dollars at a flea market and hunt for the strangest treasure the other will actually keep.
- Wander a big craft fair and each pick the stall you would love to run one day.
- Watch a lumberjack show and each pick the event you would try, from log rolling to the crosscut saw.
- Wander a maker fair and try every hands-on demo that lets two people have a go.
- Drop a pin at random within an hour’s drive and spend the day finding the best thing near it.
- Watch a sand sculpture contest and each vote for the piece you would never have thought of.
- Visit an aviation museum and take turns in the open cockpits, pointing at dials neither of you can name.
- Spend one hour in a giant used bookstore, browsing only the sections neither of you would ever choose.
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- Take a guided walk through a neighborhood’s hidden courtyards and the gardens behind its gates.
- Spend a day at a book festival, each going to one talk alone and reporting back over lunch.
- Dig through the crates at a record fair and buy each other one album judged by its cover alone.
- Ride a ferry to the last stop on its route, eat lunch where the locals do, and catch a late boat back.
Active dates
Climb, paddle, swing and sweat a little, side by side.
- Paddle a two-person kayak around a lake, with whoever sits in back calling the turns, then switch seats.
- Book a pickleball court and count your longest rally together instead of keeping score.
- Walk or jog a free Saturday morning 5K in the park side by side, and get pastries at the finish.
- Float in an indoor skydiving wind tunnel, then watch the other’s turn from the window.
- Try every obstacle once at a ninja gym’s open session, then pick one to conquer before you leave.
- Swing from a flying trapeze at a beginner class, with a harness on and a net below.
- Book a squash court for a beginner hour and see how long you can keep the ball alive.
- Take a boxing fitness class and take turns holding the pads while the other throws combinations.
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- Climb a big old tree with ropes and a guide at a recreational tree-climbing session.
- Enter a beginner triathlon as a relay team: one of you swims and runs, the other rides the bike.
- Try your first scuba breaths at a pool session with an instructor, and trade an OK sign underwater.
- Take a beginner judo class, where the first thing everyone learns is how to fall safely.
Make something
Afternoons that end with something you made together and get to keep.
- Make papier-mâché masks of each other’s favorite animals and wear them to dinner once they dry.
- Design a small rug at a tufting class, choosing one color each, and decide where it will live.
- Paint one canvas together, swapping brushes and sides every five minutes until it feels finished.
- Paint a pair of plain canvas sneakers together, one shoe in your design and one in the other’s.
- Make your own paper from shredded scraps and a window screen, then write a note on the first sheet.
- Pour small concrete planters in plastic molds, then pot a succulent in each once they set.
- Turn an old glass bottle into a table lamp with a simple lamp kit and a shade you choose together.
- Paint a blank jigsaw puzzle each, then swap and put the other’s picture together.
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- Fill a shadow box from your last trip with tickets, a map and one small thing you picked up there.
- Build a pinhole camera from a shoebox and take one slow photo of each other with it.
- Bend a flexible LED light strip into a word you both like and hang it over a shelf.
- Sculpt a tiny clay version of your favorite meal together, then go out and eat the real one.
Food dates
Markets, kitchens and cook-offs, with a good reason to eat together.
- Do a coffee crawl of three cafés: the closest one, the oldest one and the one with the longest line.
- Fold dumplings from scratch with one filling invented by each of you, and eat both kinds hot.
- Walk a night market with one rule: at every stall where you stop, you split a single thing.
- Go to a community pie contest and vote for the pie you would never think to bake.
- Make pancake art with batter in squeeze bottles and eat the funniest ones first.
- Make mochi from rice flour and fill half with fruit and half with sweet bean paste.
- Roll potato gnocchi by hand, press each one with a fork, then cook the whole wobbly batch.
- Try hand-pulling noodles from a video tutorial, and eat whatever lengths you manage.
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- At a spice shop, each pick one spice the other has never cooked with, then use both in dinner.
- Make baklava together, brushing butter on every sheet of pastry and taking turns with the layers.
- Roast green coffee beans in a pan at home, then brew a pot of the coffee you roasted yourselves.
- Build a tower of homemade cream puffs, filling them in turns and stacking them as high as they hold.
Silly and playful
Dates built for laughing, with rules nobody takes seriously.
- Play mini golf with a new silly rule on every hole, like putting backward or with one eye closed.
- Race through a big-box store with a list: ugliest lamp, softest towel, oddest gadget. Photos only, no buying.
- Try a laughter yoga class, where the fake laughs turn real within about five minutes.
- Bowl three games, each with a new silly rule, like granny-style throws or a spin before every ball.
- Try on the most ridiculous outfits at a costume shop and take one photo in each.
- Roll a die for every course at a diner and order whatever item number it lands on.
- Have a water balloon fight in the yard on a hot day, then dry off in the sun with ice pops.
- Write three ridiculous phrases for each other to slip into conversation at dinner without getting caught.
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- Get matching temporary tattoos of something silly and wear them to dinner without explaining.
- Drop in on a retro aerobics class, with headbands and leg warmers strongly encouraged.
- Learn to fold a fitted sheet from a video and celebrate the first neat one like a gold medal.
- Paint the worst picture you can in ten minutes each, then hang both in the hallway for a week.
Learn together
One new skill at a time, learned side by side from zero.
- Take a knife skills class and practice on a pile of onions, tears included.
- Spend a day at a beekeeping intro, suit up and lift a frame from a real hive.
- Take a beginner bushcraft class and learn to light a fire without matches.
- Join a public archaeology dig day and learn to brush the soil away from something very old.
- Learn to play mahjong at a community center’s beginner table and finish one whole game.
- Bake macarons from a video tutorial and count every cracked shell as practice.
- Learn to twist balloon animals from a video and make a dog, a swan and a giraffe each.
- Learn to solve a cryptic crossword from a beginner guide and crack your first clue together.
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- Learn to play the spoons from a video and keep the beat through one whole song.
- Learn to ride a unicycle, holding a wall or each other, and celebrate the first pedal on your own.
- Learn the basics of beatboxing from a video and perform a ten-second duet.
- Learn to fly a two-line stunt kite in a windy park, and keep going until you each land a loop.
Thanksgiving Date Ideas: the full deck of 100 ideas →
Christmas Date Ideas: the full deck of 100 ideas →
Valentine’s Day Date Ideas: the full deck of 72 ideas →
Date Night Ideas: the full deck of 100 ideas →
At Home Date Night Ideas: the full deck of 100 ideas →
Cheap Date Ideas: the full deck of 100 ideas →
Double Date Ideas: the full deck of 60 ideas →
Romantic Date Ideas: the full deck of 100 ideas →
Outdoor Date Ideas: the full deck of 100 ideas →
Rainy Day Date Ideas: the full deck of 100 ideas →
Picnic Date Ideas: the full deck of 100 ideas →
Morning Date Ideas: the full deck of 100 ideas →
Date Ideas for Introverts: the full deck of 100 ideas →
Fall Date Ideas: the full deck of 100 ideas →
Winter Date Ideas: the full deck of 100 ideas →
Staycation Ideas for Couples: the full deck of 100 ideas →
Weekend Getaway Ideas for Couples: the full deck of 100 ideas →
First Date Ideas: the full deck of 100 ideas →
Second Date Ideas: the full deck of 60 ideas →
Frequently asked questions
How many date ideas are there?
There are 72 ideas, 12 in each of six categories: day dates, active dates, make something, food dates, silly and playful, and learn together. The cards and the list on this page use the same set.
Where are the ideas for a night in, a small budget or a new relationship?
This page holds the dates that do not belong to one situation. For a particular kind of date, start with at home date night ideas, cheap date ideas, second date ideas or double date ideas. Every date idea page on the site is linked below the full list.
What makes a date idea unique?
Usually one small rule or twist, like choosing three cafés by three different rules, or bowling with a new silly rule every game. The twist gives you something to laugh about and remember, whatever the activity is.
Do we need to be sporty or crafty for these?
No. Every active and creative idea here is written for beginners, and most classes lend the gear. If one of you loves a card and the other is less sure, draw again until you find one you both want.