The Ultimate Date Idea List - [Always Growing]
By Jimmy Sliwa
The Husbands Club is dedicated to encouraging husbands to date their wife. To do this, we have partnered with companies that share our mission. If you make a purchase through one of our partners’ links, we may receive compensation—at no extra cost to you.
Categories
Creative Dates
Bury a Time Capsule
All you need is a mason jar and some of your most valuable possessions. Spend the day collecting memorabilia and write a letter to your future selves. Don’t forget where you buried it!
Pro Tip: choose a sentimental location to bury the capsule.
3 Course Meal - 3 Different Restaurants
Who says that date night has to be reserved at one restaurant. Make the most out of date night and go for the 3-course meal. Change it up by trying three new restaurants.
Pro Tip: Get drinks at stop #1, an entree at stop #2, and desert at stop #3.
Take your scrabble board and your third-grade spelling bee skills to a new coffee shop for a match off with your mate.
Simply Scrabble Date – The Husband’s Club (thehusbandsclub.com)
Go to a Local Escape Room
Escape Rooms lock players into a room where they have to solve puzzles and mysteries before time runs out. If you and your spouse love puzzles, then a local Escape Room is for you.
Country Karaoke
Go out on the town and have some fun. Choose a country bar that has some karaoke and get to singing. Wear your cowboy hat and bring an adventurous spirit.
Choose Your Own Adventure
Choose 8 fun activities to do as a couple. Go to Instant Street View and print a photo of each location. Group the activities into pairs. For the date, give your wife two options and let her choose where she would like to go. She chooses the adventure!
Pro tip: list of good activities (coffee house, book-store, library, lunch stop, local hike, dog park etc…)
Oh Snap Chat Date
This digital date has you ‘hanging out’ while on snapchat.
Create a list of 10 unique items to take a snapchat of (i.e. American flag, guitar, motorcycle etc…). Start at a cafe and disperse to see who can complete the list by capturing them on Snap Chat. Loser has punishment of your choice!
Lights, Camera, Action.
Show off some of your best talents to your spouse over your favorite takeout food. you will have 10/10 fun!
Take Out and Talent Show – The Husband’s Club (thehusbandsclub.com)
Pamper Day for Her
Make the day about her. Schedule and surprise her with a pedicure or manicure. While she is gone let her come home to a bubble bath while you cook a nice romantic dinner.
Check Out Open Houses
In the spring and fall time many towns will have a parade of homes. Dress up and pretend that you are in the market for some really expensive homes. It’s fun, free, and gives you great inspiration for your future dream home.
Cafe Crawl
If coffee if your love language, then this is a must do date. Research local cafes in your area and jump from one cafe to the next. Together choose which cafe will be your favorite for future morning dates.
Photo Shoot in the Library
Go to the library and perform a photo shoot. Keep the volume down but the fun way up. You can make this more fun by bringing some props along (i.e. mustache, goofy glasses, scarf, crazy hats etc…)
Role Reversal
Go out to dinner and reverse the roles. She drives and pays for the meal. She can open the doors and make reservations. The husband gets dressed fancy and chooses the activity.
Romantic Dates
5 Senses Date - Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, and Sound
Create a date that satisfies your wife’s 5 senses.
Touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing. Prep the date night by gathering supplies. Create cue cards that indicate which sense you are satisfying.
Pro Tip Ideas: foot massage, buy her perfume, bring desert, play your wedding song, get scented candles etc….
5 Love Languages Date
Create a date that meets all 5 of the love languages:
Touch, gifts, affirmation, service, and quality time.
Perform each step one by one and see if she can catch the hint.
Pro tip ideas: back rub, wrap a gift she loves poem with affirmations, perform the household chores, and spend time over a shared activity.
Sometimes the best views are from the back of a vehicle. A little offroad and a little picnic is a sure winner! Create a nice charcuterie to enjoy from the back of your vehicle.
Backseat Picnic Date – The Husband’s Club (thehusbandsclub.com)
Candle Lit Dinner At Home
Send your wife out of the house in the late afternoon. While she is away, cook your signature meal and serve it to her over a candle lit dinner. Don’t go basic on the meal. Cook a savory entree and serve it with fancy drinks. Offer her one of her favorite deserts to top the meal off.
Recreate Your First Date
Take a walk down memory lane and recreate your first date with your wife. My first date was frisbee golf followed by some messy wings at Buffalo Wild Wings. I know that my wife would love to reminisce about the innocent days.
As a bonus, research demonstrates that happier couples often recall pleasant early memories of the relationship! Recreate your first date to serve as a reminder why you and your bride fell in love in the first place.
Out of the Box Dates
Go to a Bingo Parlor
Bingo is way more fun than I ever remembered. Find a bingo parlor near you and mix it up with the old folks. You are sure to get a lot of laughs. Heck you may even win some $$$$$.
Be Sports Bar Superfans
Is your team in the playoffs? Show support for your team at a local sports bar. Go all out on dressing up to make it even more fun. Have some fun finger foods such as nachos or wings to compliment good time you will be having.
Hotel Hot Tub Date
Hotels have hot tubs for their guests. You don’t have to be a guest to ‘sneak’ into the pool area.
Pro Tip: act natural when attempting to get into the pool area. Make it seem as if you just forgot your key card.
Balloons seem to make everyone HAPPY! Go overboard with this timeless toy and fill an entire room up with balloons! Hide notes in specific-colored balloons to leave your wife speechless. Make her search through the balloons to find the hidden messages in the colored balloons!
Balloonatic Prank – The Husband’s Club (thehusbandsclub.com)
Buy Her a Star- and Go Star Gaze
Star Gazing is a classic/ romantic date. To make it more memorable you can literally buy and name a star for your wife.
Name A Star – Buy A Star – The Perfect Gift | Starregister.org
Create a Treasure Map
What’s more fun than a scavenger hunt? A Treasure Map scavenger hunt! Choose 3-4 locations that you and your spouse visit along the map. If you need some inspiration in how to create a treasure map check out this link: DIY Treasure Map
Arcade Night Date
Arcades are fun no matter your age. Challenge your mate to some video games. Choose the games where you can go head-to-head for a little competition. Collect the tickets and buy your wife a cheap stuffed animal to remember the date.
Picnic in the Cemetery
Wait until dark and head out to a cemetery. Bring glow sticks or candles along. To balance out the scary, pack a nice picnic. Choose a location and lay out a blanket with the candles or glow sticks. Share deep conversations like, “what would you like people to say about you at your funeral.”
Garage Drive Up Cinema
Recreate a drive-in movie experience from your Garage. Bring the TV into the garage and stream a romantic comedy. Prepare some popcorn and drink in advance. She will be totally shocked when you open the garage door and have it all set up!
Love Hurts: Birth Simulation
Give your wife the gift of sympathy and laughter. Order a muscle electrical stimulation unit and place the pads on your low abdominal muscles. Give your wife the controls as she simulates contractions.
See if you can recite a handwritten love poem all while being shocked!
First Date in Another Dimension
Meet for the first time again as two totally different people. Separately decide what character you want to portray. Cowboy? Millionaire? Pro Athlete?
Dress the part and re-enact meeting this person for the first time.
Place Googley Eyes on Innanimate Objects while at Dinner
Go out to dinner and place Google Eyes on inanimate objects while out at dinner. Try not to get caught placing googley eyes on the ketchup bottle or the plate.
This date had my wife rolling!
Frugal Dates
Golf too expensive? Try tennis ball golf. All you need is two clubs and two tennis balls. Go to a park and choose objects off in the distance to be the target. See who can hit the target in the fewest try’s.
Pro Tip: Makes bets to make it more fun. (i.e. Lowest score has to “Yankee Doodle”)
Catch a Local High School Football Game
Support the local high school and take your love to the local high school football game. If it’s cold outside, bring a blanket to cozy up under.
After the game go out for some food and take time reminiscing about your high school experience.
Who said you have to be fancy to have fun? Take your bride out to the thrift store and dress each other. Then go out to a brewery or coffee house to show off your new “OOTD.”
Thrifty Still Nifty – The Husband’s Club (thehusbandsclub.com)
Photo Scavenger Hunt
Take your girl and scavenger hunt around town looking for these 10 items. Take pictures of them when you see them!
[1. American Flag 2. Motorcycle 3. Something Pink 4. A sports car 5. Couple Holding Hands 6. Wildlife 7. Something Tall 8. Musical Instrument 9. A dog 10. You choose!]
Breakfast & Board Games in Bed
Surprise your wife on a Saturday morning with breakfast in bed. Make the morning slow down by playing some board games in bed. Yahtzee and Bacon anyone?
Does she like long walks on the beach? Beach combing is a wonderful way to spend the evening with your loved one. You never know what treasures you will find along the way.
Beach Combing Date – The Husband’s Club (thehusbandsclub.com)
Seasonal Dates
Cut a Christmas Tree
There is something nostalgic about having a real Christmas Tree. If you live near the woods, go out and hunt for a Christmas Tree with your bride. Bring some hot chocolate and a sharp axe!
Carve a Pumpkin - Bake the Seeds
Pumpkin carving is the best way to enter the holiday season! Grab your wife and two pumpkins and get to carving.
Don’t stop there…next take the pumpkin seeds and bake them.
March Madness Love Bracket
Fill out a March Madness bracket and have a wager going with your wife. Loser has to do something of the spouse’s choice.
Go Christmas Caroling
This one is best done with company. Memorize 2-3 Christmas carols and hit family homes with some Christmas Cheer.
Pro tip: bring some hot chocolate and look around at Christmas lights.
Sleigh Ride
“Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh. Hey!
Do some research and find a local sleigh ride for the holiday season. Be sure to bring hot chocolate and an extra blanket for some seriously good cuddle time.
Anti-Valentines Day
If you and your wife think Valentines is too commercialized, then this date is perfect. Do everything the opposite of Valentine’s Day.
Stay in, rent a scary movie, eat pizza, wear comfy jammies.
Pro tip: still acknowledge Valentine’s Day with flowers and a love note and then check to make sure your wife is ok with Anti-Valentines Day.
Plant a Tree in Your Yard
Want to have a date that lasts a lifetime. Try planting a tree in the yard. Choose a fruit tree or perhaps a tree that you could decorate every Christmas.
Home-Made Haunted House
While your wife is away, prep an indoor haunted house for her. This can be done with kiddos as a great way to surprise and scare mom! If you need inspiration look here: DIY Haunted House.
Saturday Morning Farmers Market
In Mid-Late Summer many towns have Saturday morning farmers markets. This is a wonderful way to spend the morning. Grab a coffee and go shopping for some fresh veggies. That night use the veggies in a home cooked meal.
Frozen Turkey Bowling
It’s Thanksgiving and you want to get outside before the big meal. Go froezen turkey bowling on the lake! Take 2 liter coke bottles and fill them with water. Place them outside to freeze (these are the bowling pins).
Now head to the lake and bowl that frozen turkey down the ice towrds your frozen bowling pins!
U-Pick Farm Tour
In late summer many farms allow you to pick fruits and veggies. This is a great way to spend harvest time. After picking your favorite fruits and veggies take them home and bake a sweet desert.
In the Kitchen Dates
Chopped - Couples Addition
Go head-to-head with your spouse in the kitchen. Together decide on the key ingredients that must be included in the meal and go for it. Set a 30- minute timer and see who is able to make the best meal.
Cocktail Extravaganza
Try out different cocktails and figure out which is your favorite. Try a classic and try something you have never tried before. Our favorite is the Moscow Mule!
Homemade Kombcha
Kombucha is a light fizzy fermented tea that has huge amounts of health benefits. Plus it’s fun to make and experiment with. The brewing process takes a few days so you get to watch your kombucha and love grow.
Point and Pick Dinner
For this date your meal will be based upon random luck! Go to the supermarket and pick and point your dinner and drinks –> eyes closed and no peaking.
For Example: Pick and Point Meat / Veggies / bread / drinks / desert
Blindfold Baker
Choose a favorite desert to bake together. There is only one catch…one of you is blindfolded while the other gives the directions. No peaking!
Adventure Dates
Love Triathlon- 3 Activities/ 1 Date
Pick 3 outdoor activities and complete them all back-to-back. Here is a list of ideas:
Bike ride, kayak, hike, horseback ride, roller blade, paddleboard, walk, longboard etc…
Take your bride out Frisbee Golfing. It’s a great way to get outdoors and have a little friendly competition. This was actually the first date that my wife and I ever went on!
Get outside and get active. Choose a new place to hike and go for it. Bring a lunch to share at the top. Enjoy your town from a bird’s eye view.
Birds Eye View Date – The Husband’s Club (thehusbandsclub.com)
Run a 5k Together
You can find a 5k in nearly every town. Pick a local 5k and go run it with your bride. Remember this is NOT a competition- its all for fun!
Build a Tire Swing
If you have some left over tires, then you have a date idea. Grab a long rope and construct a tire swing in your yard. Take turns taking a swing.
Tandem Bike Ride
Google ‘tandem bike hire CITY’ to find a bike. On your date, take turns driving and be sure to map out a scenic route.
TIP: keep it a secret until last minute for a romantic twist.
Sharing a hobby with your wife is a great way for her to get to know you. It doesn’t really matter what the hobby is as long as it is something you are passionate about. Passion will get her hooked!
Share Your Hobby Date – The Husband’s Club (thehusbandsclub.com)
Go Larping
What’s Larping? Live Action Role Playing. It’s a game where you dress up in medieval clothing and battle it out with foam swords. Just google search “Larping in (CITY)” to see if there are any events near you.
Shoot Clay Pigeons
Got a 12 guage shotgun? Then you got yourself a date day activity. Bring headphones for the two of you and have some fun improving your aim.
Join the largest treasure hunt in the world! There are literally thousands of areas to explore and treasures to be found. This date takes adventure to a new level. The best part is you can do this date over and over again.
Geocache Together – The Husband’s Club (thehusbandsclub.com)
Our Favorites
The Amazing Race Date!
If you love the Amazing Race you will love this date. First buy these on Amazon. Amazing Race Clues
Now recreate an Amazing Race around your city. Be sure to include activities that you have to work as a team to accomplish.
Bike Ride - Chalk Love Letters
Choose a bike route and write love notes out of chalk along the path. She will be totally surprised to see that you had the foresight to write out love notes before the ride.
Let Fate Decide - Coin Flip Drive
Go out for a drive and let fate decide your destination. As you come to an intersection flip a coin to let it decide which direction you take. Heads for right and tails you hang left. Who knows where you will end up?
Everyone craves adventure. The outdoors are an amazing way to satisfy that longing. Cut back on the technology and rough it for a night (or weekend).
Cozy Cabin Date – The Husband’s Club (thehusbandsclub.com)
Pro Tip: Find cabins for rent here: Find a Cabin
We have all played Jenga. But take this classic game and give it a twist of love. Play truth or dare with Jenga pegs to get to know your spouse more intimately.
I Dare You To Jenga – The Husband’s Club (thehusbandsclub.com)
DIY
Create a Flower Crown
If your wife is whimsical she will love this DIY project. Go out and pic up supplies ahead of time. For a step-by-step process check this out: DIY Flower Crown
Pro Tip: offer to take a photo shoot afterward with her and her flower crown!
Tie-Dye Old Clothes
Get in touch with your hippie side. Gather the supplies ahead of time. For a step-by-step process check out: DIY Tie Dye Shirt
Get together and create art for your home. This is the date that keeps on giving as you will remember how much fun you had each time that you see your artwork.
DIY Chinese Lanterns
Want to make a wish? First DIY a Chinese Lantern and make a wish and let it fly! For inspiration and step-by-step process check out: DIY Chinese Lanterns
At Home
Blanket Fort + Movie Night
The blanket fort is a classic at home date night. It’s like camping but much more comfortable. Turn your living room into a neat blanket fort and snuggle up while you watch movies.
Surprise your wife with a nerf gun war. Go all out and create forts and bunkers for a more fun experience. Then unwind from the action over some root beer floats.
The last time I played twister was just a kid. But this game is way more fun with your wife. Throw a twist to this classic game by adding whip cream to the mix.
Twisted Twister Date – The Husband’s Club (thehusbandsclub.com)
Breakfast in Bed + Board Game
If you have a slow morning then why not make it memorable. Wake up early and make breakfast. Serve your wife breakfast in bed with some of your favorite board games.
Wine and Rock Painting
Wine and paint night is all the craze. Re-create this simple date by drinking wine and painting rocks at home. You can then place your painted rocks in the garden to remind you of how much fun you had.
Old School Video Game
Donkey Kong! Super Mario Bros! Crash Bandicoot! Relive your childhood and dust off the old video game console. A little friendly competition is good for your marriage
You don’t have to be at a PGA golf course to have a blast swinging the irons. Stay at home and create a course throughout your house. There is no better way to perfect your game: golf and love game.
Putt Putt From Home – The Husband’s Club (thehusbandsclub.com)
Minute to Win It Olympics
Choose 5 minute to win it games and go head-to- head with your spouse. Keep score to see who takes home the gold!
Check out this Pintrest board for inspiration: Minute to Win It Games
Garage Roller Rink
If you have roller blades or roller skates you are in luck! Transform your garage into a roller rink. Don’t forget the 80s music and twinkling lights if you have them.
Pro tip: go all out 80s music, twinkling lights, snack and drink bar… you get the point.
Going to the movies is the most classic of dates. If going out is too difficult or there are no good movies playing; then bring the movies home. Make this date more fun by grabbing snacks and movie theater popcorn.
Bring the Big Screen Home – The Husband’s Club (thehusbandsclub.com)
Sexy
Henna Tatoo Your Wife
We know giving your wife a real tattoo isn’t realistic, but a Henna Tattoo is! Order up a Henna set and set up a tattoo parlor in the bedroom. Play after the kids go to bed.
Star Gaze Strip Tease
We all know that star gazing is a classic date. Put a sexy twist on this date by making it a strip tease. For every shooting star, satellite, or airplane that your partner sees, then off comes an article of clothing.
Go Skinny Dipping
Pretty simple. Choose a secluded spot and bring a daring spirit. You should be prepared with towels and maybe a snack and drinks. Oh and its best to have a way to warm up afterward.
Body Paint - Glow in the Dark
For this date you will need to items: body paintand a black light.
Get to know your spouse more intimately with some glow in the dark body paint. It’s like having a rave from your home. Be sure to set up sheets on the floor or prep the garage to keep things from getting to “messy”.
With The Kids
Indoor Laser Maze + Sweets
Grab a string line and create an indoor laser maze. String the line from chair to door to stool etc… See who is the stealthiest person in the house.
Place sweet treats at the end of the maze. When you complete you are an instant winner!
Slip-N- Slide Bowling
Create a flip-n-slide and do some human bowling. Buy from inflatable bowling pins to place at the end of the slip-n-slide.
I hope you get a strike!
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