ABCs of Date Ideas

My husband and I have gone on hundreds of dates. We love mini getaways and nights to ourselves. Here is an ABCs list of date nights we have done.


Amusement Park: We have gone to Michigan's Adventures, Cedar Point, and Six Flags. All super fun, even with a motion sickness spouse who must take Dramamine beforehand.
Book Stores: We can spend hours browsing through books at used book stores, thrift stores, Barnes & Noble, Schuler Books, and libraries.
Coffee Shops: We love going to the coffee shop to get our caffeine high on and talk endlessly about the future, controversial issues, and inspirational ideas.
Drive-In Movie Theaters: When we first started dating, we went to the Getty Drive-In Theater in Muskegon, Michigan several times. It's a lot of fun especially when you make the car super cozy by bringing tons of blankets and pillows and bring lots of snacks.
Eat Out: One of our favorite, frequent date nights is simply eating out at restaurants. We are food people. Isn't everybody?
Fairs & Farms: We LOVE looking at all the animals and petting them any chance we get. Maybe that is more me than him? I don't know but we love going to farms during autumn to pick pumpkins, apples, and gourds. We are also obsessed with honey sticks, to the point where we would like to raise our own honey bees one day.
Ghost Hunting: Yes, we have done this. Look up historically haunted areas and take a night time adventure.
Hotel: We have stayed at random hotels just for the fun of it. Sometimes close to home, other times hours away. Some fancy, others not so fancy at all.
International Wine, Beer & Food Festival (in Grand Rapids, Michigan): We went last year and have been looking forward to the next one since it ended. This is an annual festival that leaves your taste buds craving for more and more. We tried so many delicious wines, cheeses, salsas, and dips. It was fantastic. This year we hope to bring the festival to the next level by dressing formally and staying at the Amway Grand Plaza afterwards.
Jazz Club: We have hit the occasional Jazz Bar for drinks & appetizers. It's always a wonderful atmosphere.
Kayaking: Always a romantic activity with someone you love. Bring a cooler filled with drinks and take a relaxing trip down the river.
Learn Something New: One time, we spent an evening learning how to juggle. Lame? To each their own. I had a blast.
Movie Theater: My husband's favorite thing to do is go to the movies. We have to see every superhero movie, regardless if I want to or not. It's also required that we spend a fortune and buy popcorn and a drink every time too.
Nap Time: Before the baby, there was nothing better than just cuddling up together and taking a good, old fashioned nap. To make it count as a date, go on a picnic, then nap together on the blanket. It's very relaxing if you find a quiet, peaceful park.
Outside Concerts: Downtown Grand Rapids, always has free, live music you can watch. It's usually entertaining and many people dance.
Plays: Go watch a play at your local theater. If you don't want to pay for one, try and find an open dress rehearsal. We've enjoyed the occasional play or two, here and there. After all, we did meet by performing in the same play in high school.
Queen of Hearts: Stay in and play cards together.
Road Trips: Drive to an unknown destination. We once ended up in Benton Harbor from Grand Rapids on a trip where we intentionally decided to get lost and take odd roads. We started our journey close to midnight too. Don't forget a map... or smart phone. ;)
Swimming: Hold off on the negative self body images and wander over to the local beaches. We used to try and find as many new places to swim as possible. Sometimes, we'd even find nice hiking trails as well. We like pools too.
Travel: Drive, take a train, or bus for an hour or two and you'll have a new city to explore. There's nothing more exciting than adventuring onto unknown territory.
Underwear Shopping: For him & for her. Yep, we've done that too.
Videos: Make home videos of yourselves doing whatever. We have videos of us singing karaoke that my husband insists I delete. They are worth millions. No one will be seeing them.
Workout: Yes, we like to workout together. We both like going to the gym to do some cardio, weight lifting, and ab workouts.
X-hibits: Exhibits are fun if you like educational dates. We went to The Bodies Exhibition, which is a highly interesting way to learn about the human body.
Yard Sales: My husband actually enjoys looking for yard sales to find treasures. We also go to flea markets too.
Zoo: We have been to, not only our local zoo, but have traveled several hours in each direction to visit other zoos. We even toured zoos from around the world. Our zoo list (thus far) includes,
John Ball Park Zoo in Grand Rapids
Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek
Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago
Barcelona Zoo in Barcelona, Spain
The Citadel Park and Zoo in Lille, France

We've been on so many more fun dates, not listed here... such as camping, ice skating, concerts, rollerblading, dancing, boating, biking, snorkeling, window shopping, going on walks, fishing, picnics, and more. I hope you've been inspired and found a good date idea for yourself!