Taking your significant other out on a date is a fundamental part of getting to know one another. You’re testing the waters, and you want to see if they’re into the same things you are. People significantly change when thrown into social situations.
Take me, for example, I avoid them at all costs, and I have to pump myself up to do anything where there are loads of people. I remind myself that I’m the NPC in these other people’s lives, as they are in mine. What they do doesn’t affect me.
My boyfriend and I have our ups and downs like anybody else in the world. But one thing that we don’t lack is wanting to be with each other. I genuinely enjoy his presence. Even at my most introverted, his is the face that will make me smile and get me out of my head.
We’re both trying to dig our way out of the financial holes we got into before meeting each other. He likes to bust my chops, asking where I was ten years ago. Down the street, apparently.
Here are some ideas if you’re in a financial rut like we are and don’t have a lot of spare cash to splurge, but you need some fresh air and want to change things up a bit.
It’s the little things in life that we forget mean just as much as a $1000 dinner, some expensive new gadget, or an overseas trip.
Find joy in those little things with your lover.
- Biking
- Boardgame night (you could even make this a group event where everyone brings a game)
- Dollar pizza, Big Gulp spiked with rum
- Dollar store date: $5 to find something interesting for the other person to use, wear, play with, and then see what you can do with them
- Geocaching
- Glow in the dark golfing or bowling
- Hammock snuggling
- Hookah lounge
- A movie that neither of you has seen and a homemade dinner
- Take in a local museum that you haven’t visited before
- Check out a planetarium
- Rearrange a room
- Splat painting like in The Princess Diaries, where they have balloons of paint hanging on the wall above a canvas and they take turns throwing darts to burst the paint
- Stargazing and booze
- Subs, hike, and picnic
- Thrift shop plates, baseball bats in the desert (exactly how it sounds, but clean up after yourselves!)
- Walkthrough the park
- Watch planes take off at the airport
- Window shopping at the mall
- Wine, pumpkin carving, and a movie
- Make a pillow fort and eat homemade s’mores
- Bake your favorite dessert together (and then eat it afterward, of course!)
- Go to your local shelter and ask to play with the animals. Donate money, treats, or pet supplies.
- Build a sexy scavenger hunt for the other person to solve, for slow-motion foreplay.
- Put together a classic movie marathon featuring specific actors or specific director; I recommend Keanu Reeves
- Indoor rock climbing
- Go to a farmer’s market
- Make something creative together, like a poem or a song.
- Go to a book store and buy each other a new book that you think your partner might enjoy
- Day hiking: somewhere local or take a drive somewhere.
- Kayaking or canoeing.
- Beach Day: pack a lunch, drinks in a cooler, and post up at the beach to soak up the sun
- Plan and cook a fancy meal together.
- Buy a game like croquet or badminton, or borrow one from someone, and set it up at the local park.
- Groupon Night: go Dutch on a Groupon activity
- Easter egg hunt
- Natural hot springs trip with champagne and a sunset
- Crafting
- If you live near old towns, consider visiting old churches nearby
- Take a class together: CPR training, pottery, salsa dancing
- Volunteer
- Netflix Roulette: one person closes their eyes and directs where the other person clicks on the Netflix menu (“up” “down” “right” “left”) until the other says “stop!” Commit to watching 15 minutes of the show/movie. If you don’t like it, start all over again!
- Local cultural festival
- Hot yoga
- Visit elderly family members who don’t deserve to be lonely
- Reverse dinner: start with dessert, have your main course, and then a salad or an appetizer
- Giant slip and slide in your backyard or local park
- Wine/beer/spirit tasting or tour
- Live music/performance
- Taco crawl: go to an arbitrarily chosen amount of Mexican restaurants and eat one taco and possibly a beer at each place
- Participate in a 5K for charity
- Batting Cages
- Tennis
- You pick one fun spot in your town that you’ve never checked out (tourist attractions, nature area, etc) and your partner picks one, and you spend the day or evening checking them out together.
- Shooting or archery range
- Learn a new language
- Sign up to be extras in a movie
- Guided meditation, you could use YouTube or an app
- Progressive Dinner: start with drinks at a lounge, an appetizer at a restaurant, dinner at another restaurant, and then dessert at home or grab a cheap ice cream cone at McDonald’s.
- Day road trip
- Sing karaoke
- Go to an arcade and see who can get the highest score
- Go-Karts
- Have a picnic at night in a place that you’ve don’t normally go to, like your backyard or close to the beach in the summer
- Roller skating or skateboarding
- Go to Build-a-Bear and build a themed bear for each other
- Make your own photoshoot
- Find a cheap piece of furniture on Craigslist and spend an afternoon fixing it up together. Keep it or donate it.
- Have afternoon tea
What looks good to you? Try one, try two, try them all. I’m sure something would be suitable for you.

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