10 Unique Date Ideas

What are you going to do on your next date? See a movie? Go to a restaurant or bar? Not that there’s anything wrong with those ideas, but wouldn’t it be nice to mix things up?

Here are 10 unique date ideas that put new life into an existing relationship or get a budding one off to an intriguing start.

1. Take a photo walk. Grab your smartphones or cameras and walk through an interesting part of town. Snap some pics of flowers, animasl, buildings – whatever grabs your interest. Create a digital collage of your date. Post it if you like to share.
2. Attend a small-town festival. Every town has them, and every summer weekend there’s one not far from you. Watch the parade, taste the local food, enjoy games and demos in the park, listen to the bands. Drink in the flavor of the place.
3. Be a tourist in your own home town. Take a bus tour, a Segway tour or a narrated walk through historical buildings. Visit the gallery, museum or other point of interest that you like to show out-of-town visitors.
4. Have a cookout together in a local park. Plan a menu, shop for ingredients and fire up the charcoal on a public grill. Enjoy some tunes on your phone and Bluetooth speaker. Don’t forget the marshmallows!
5. Volunteer together. Enjoy each other’s company and do some good at the same time. The opportunities are endless: soup kitchen, park or roadside cleanup, meals on wheels, lifting and stocking at the local food shelf. Maybe it will be a one-time thing, but it could be a source of satisfaction for one or both of you for years to come.
6. Test drive cars. Maybe one of you is in the market, but if not, so what! Certainly you’ve been curious about how the latest sporty car, SUV or luxury pickup handles. Pick your persona for the occasion: you can act like a couple looking for a car together or an advice-giver helping out a friend.
7. Read a book in a special spot. If it’s a nice day, you can pick a quiet corner of a park, or you might settle in at a coffee shop. You can each bring your own material and read mostly silently, occasionally commenting on what you’ve noted. Or if the setting seems right, one of you might read aloud.
8. People watch. Pick a bench in a park, or even watch from your car in the parking lot. From a car you can comment without offending anyone. Couples are the most fun to observe. What do they see in one another? In what ways are they like you?
9. Attend a workshop at a building supply store. Many conduct classes and teach you how to build a deck, wallpaper or replace the trap under your sink. Enjoy each other’s company and learn something new.
10. Do yoga in the park. Many communities offer class sessions. If you’re self-conscious, take a class in a gym together.