Great Date Ideas

Great Date Ideas to Eliminate the Doldrums

Great date ideas are easy to come up with in the beginning. After a few weeks, though, it gets harder to entertain yourself and your date. Dinner and a movie getting dull? Getting over the point in your relationship where going to the post office with your significant other brings a gleaming smile to your face? You're experiencing the not-so-new-relationship slump. We all get them. Those slumps come and go, but you can combat them with just a bit of creativity and willingness to try something new.

Here are a few ways to get over the hump:

Themes

• If movies are still your thing, watch movies at home, but with an added twist. Netflix is an inexpensive source for thousands of movies, and you can hold movie marathons with a theme. For example, you could watch 80's B-movies and eat cheesy chili fries and burgers, or you could watch some foreign films and have Chinese take-out. Themes are great because they force you to think in a certain direction. You're not overwhelmed by choices, you have a definite creative inspiration, and you wind up with great date ideas you never would have considered.

• Try new foods. If one of you has never had sushi, be adventurous and give it a try. Try making up a theme night, and go out to a Southern-style steak house, then go line dancing, boots and all.

Play Pretend

• Pretend you don't know each other. Seriously, no kidding. This is actually a great date idea and a popular way to add a spark back into a sleepy relationship. You get the thrill of meeting someone new without hurting or leaving your partner. Get ready in your own homes or in separate areas of the house if you live together. Fancy up like you're single and on the prowl because for tonight, you are. Agree beforehand on where you want to meet, and drive separate cars. Once you get there, don't immediately make eye contact or run to meet your significant other. Pretend you don't know each other and smile seductively. Flirt like you've never met, then spend the rest of the evening together eating, drinking, or hanging out at home.

• Pretend you're kids and go to a park or a zoo. Push each other on the swings. Get dizzy on the merry-go-round together. Throw caution and adulthood to the wind.

New Experiences, New People or Old Friends

• Take up the arts. There's just something so intimate about self-expression. Try a painting class together or just take a drawing class if painting seems like more than you're ready for. If you can't afford a class for both of you, you can check out books from the library that explain artistic techniques, then all you have to do is buy the paint, brushes, pencils or whatever else you feel inspired to use. The two of you could spend a quiet, yet romantic evening drawing, painting, or sculpting statues of each other.

• Go out on group dates. Once our parents stop making it mandatory, it's easy to forget how much fun group dates can be, and we opt for one-on-one dating instead. Break out of the rut, call your friends and paint the town red!

• Volunteer together for some community service projects. It may not sound like one of the sexiest great date ideas, but helping others boosts your self-esteem, and it's bound to boost the way you feel about each other as well. It'll be hard to resist cozying up together, once you've seen each other at your best.

• Get active! Go for a walk, take a karate class together, or if you're feeling crazy, try rock-climbing. You could also just hit the gym together if you both have memberships to the same place. If neither of you have a membership, perhaps it's time to purchase one together?

The Bottom Line

When things start to get a little stuffy, you need to let some fresh air into your relationship or it's going to stagnate. Now that we've given you some inspiration, why not try coming up with some of your own great date ideas?

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