Many of those who know me know that I very much enjoy creative date ideas. Back when I was single, I used many of the following techniques to woo potential girlfriends. Now that I’m married, I still enjoy just about every one of these activities as an opportunity to strengthen my relationship with my wife.

I guess this marks a new chapter in our blog. I’ll go ahead and list the ideas that I’ve accumulated over the years here, but stay tuned because as Katie and I actually do the date ideas, we’ll take pictures and document the whole thing for you to see just how it turned out.

Simple

  Play Frisbee
  Go Ice Blocking
  Fly a kite
  Go bowling
  Play air hockey or other arcade games
  Play ping pong, pool or other games at a local community center or institute
  Play guitar hero or other video games
  Play croquet
  Play frisbee golf
  Play laser tag (Me and Katie's first date!)
  Go to a concert
  Play with legos, erector sets or k'nex
  Play board games
  Go for a bike ride
  Go roller blading/skating
  Go to a skate park or roller rink
  Go ice skating
  Go to a sports event
  Go to a roller derby
  Watch a little-known sport event (lacrosse, cricket, hockey in some places..)
  Visit a nearby landmark (Grand Canyon)
  Watch or play with fireworks
  Play a computer game
  Play a card game
  Watch the DVDs of your favorite show (like 24!)
  Make home made ice cream
  Go to the local science center
  Visit a planetarium
  Watch a movie outside with a projector and a sheet
  Carve a pumpkin
  Go to a comedy club
  Watch some belly dancers
  Go to an opera or symphony
  Watch a spring training baseball game
  Go to a racetrack (horse race, drag race, etc.)
  Go to a car show
  Go to an air show

Romantic

  Go to the drive in
  Go to the airport and watch the planes
  Watch the stars with a telescope
  Go on a picnic or picnic in the woods
  Visit the Christmas lights at a zoo
  Rent a paddle boat on a small pond
  Take a horseback ride

Adventurous

  Go camping, if not overnight then at least to a bonfire
  Visit a nearby, quaint little town like Sedona, AZ
  Raft or tube down a river
  Go boating
  Go cliff jumping
  Sneak in to a ritzy hotel to go swimming in their pool
  Go Paintballing
  Build a fort or tree house (best over multiple dates)
  Play on a rope swing (preferably in to water)
  Build and shoot a potato gun (more fun for the guy than the girl)
  Go hiking
  Go across the border in to another state/country (Mexico!)
  Go to the sand dunes
  Ride in a hot air balloon
  Play with a remote control airplane (or go watch others who do)
  Build and fly a model rocket
  Go toiletpapering 

Religious

  Do a service project (like the canary)
  Walk around a beautiful building (like the LDS temple)
  Help the local missionaries
  Go to the local rest home and visit

We would love to feature your story if you try any of these! Enjoy!

Dallin

hello hello!

so we had some friends over for dinner and fhe last night, and they asked us what we had done for some of our date nights. the more i got to thinking about it, the more i thought that this would be a great thing to blog about! it’s not always easy to find something to do when you’re a newlywed. i mean, it’s a friday night (or…tuesday, as the case may be) in chandler, az, and you’re a newlywed who doesn’t want to spend a ton of money. i think the majority of our nights, we end up just “hanging out,” playing a game or watching a movie or working on separate stuff. that’s all fine and well, but it’s great to go out (or stay in) and do things, with time that is specially set apart for your spouse. dallin and i love hearing new ideas of things to do, so i think i’m going to start adding posts about date activities dallin and i do and enjoy.

the first is what we did tonight, and it rocked-pun intended. we’ve currently got my parents playstation 2 on loan, so we played guitar hero!

oh, he’s a rocker, make no mistake

we had a ton of fun, playing our favorite songs, trying out levels that were way to hard for our skill level (as impressive as that may be), and getting just a teensy bit competetive

dallin blamed his losing on his arm being sore…riiiiight.

i, however, just shrugged it off (i mean, it didn’t happen very often…)

so basically, we had a grand old time! it was a great way to hang out and have fun together, without going out and spending money. if you don’t have the system and/or the game…i bet you know someone who does! borrow it and ask them to come play with you! then you’ve got a real party on your hands!

if guitar hero isn’t your thing (like, really isn’t your thing), any video game or computer game will do. just play!

-rock on-

-katie