40 Creative Date Ideas

Are you bored of your usual dinner-and-a-movie date nights? Are you looking to get some more creative date ideas in your life? Well, you’re in the right place! Here at The Adventure Challenge, we are all about out-of-the-box date ideas to break people out of routine and get them truly connecting.

All of our best date ideas are The Adventure Challenge: Couples Edition, but to tide you over, we’ve put together a list of 40 creative date ideas that you absolutely have to try!

#1 - Set up a romantic picnic

Couple share a toast with each other while out on a picnic date

Whether this looks like chocolate covered strawberries and champagne or pastries and a thermos of amazing coffee, a romantic picnic is a creative date idea that you just can’t go wrong with.

#2 - Have a stay-in date night

Close-up shot of couple having dinner during their stay-in date night

You don’t even have to leave the house to have a creative date night. Arrange an amazing table, light a few candles, put on your favorite music - and settle in for an amazing night in.

#3 - Have a baking competition

Boyfriend guiding girlfriend as she prepares the dough blindfolded

Are you or your partner into baking? This could be the most playful (and delicious!) date idea for you to try out. Crown a winner at the end of the evening, but only after some extensive taste-testing.

#4 - Craft a scavenger hunt

This could be elaborate and fun or just really simple and sweet. Hide a few different notes with ‘clues’ for your partner to discover, and lead them to a little gift waiting at the end.

#5 - Take a workout class together

If you’ve never done this before, it’s definitely time to try it! A workout class can be such a fun, energy-boosting date idea.

#6 - Try a dance class

Boyfriend planting a kiss on the girlfriend's cheek as they do a dance class together

You’ll burn calories like you would in a workout class, but a dance class is much more of a romantic date idea. Whether it’s a passionate salsa dance or a tender waltz - or just something super fun - a dance class is a great creative date idea to try together!

#7 - Have game night

Keep it to just the two of you or invite another couple over for a double date night - then get a pile of your favorite games, a bunch of great snacks, and have a fun evening together.

#8 - Kick-off a monthly book club

Love discussing stories and ideas together? Add a little intentionality to that and start a book club to give you space every month to discuss what you’ve read.

#9 - Make a museum bucket list

Get a list of the things you want to see: the Mona Lisa? The Declaration of Independence? Start ticking them off the list and make some memories along the way.

#10 - Go on an adventure

Couple doing the scratch-off Adventure Challenge date

The Adventure Challenge: Couples Edition has a bunch of scratch-off adventures designed to make incredible date ideas! Pick a page and go on an adventure for you next date night.

#11 - Have a roaming dinner party

This is a dinner party where each course is eaten at a different house - get a bunch of friends together and cook for one another!

#12 - Make sushi

If you’ve never done this, now is the time to try! It’s easier than you’d think, and it looks super impressive.

#13 - Go wine tasting

Couple smiling at each other while enjoying glasses of wine during their wine-tasting date

Whether you take them out to a vineyard or just to a local wine bar, this creative date idea is sure to be a great time.

#14 - Watch the sunset

If you want to pair this date idea with creative date idea no.1 on this list, you’re in pretty good shape.

#15 - Go to a paint and sip class

A paint and sip class is a casual painting lesson in a fun environment with music and drinks - the perfect creative date night! Keep it to just the two of you or go with a group for some fun quality time.

#16 - Have a chocolate tasting night at home

Did someone say chocolate? Buy a kit or just bring you own stockpile of chocolate and decide on a favorite together for a delicious and creative date idea.

#17 - Do a bar crawl

Plot out the best places in town and hit them all in one night.

#18 - Go on a food truck tour

You could attend an event with a bunch of food trucks or you could make into more of a challenge and research the best food trucks across the city. Either way, tour the community’s best food trucks and crown a winner for a super fun date night.

#19 - Go ice-skating

The queen of Christmastime date ideas, ice skating is sometimes romantic, sometimes just hilarious, but always a fun time.

#20 - Go to a farmer's market

Mix up the way you shop and try something new together. Does heading to the farmer’s market together make you #couplegoals? It just might.

#21- Go hiking

Couple posing as they sit and embrace on a log in the middle of a hiking trip

Grab a water bottle and some snacks and set off to explore!

#22 - Go camping

Forget date night, this a whole date weekend. Going camping with your partner is going to bring out different sides to your partner and help you enjoy life together in new ways!

#23 - And make s'mores

Girlfriend feeding her boyfriend s'mores during their camping trip

What camping date night would be complete without a s’more?

#24 - Watch the sunrise

Getting up early in the morning to watch the sunrise together is such a sweet, creative date idea. Make it even more fun with a flask of hot chocolate or a thermos of coffee.

#25 - Go star gazing

This is one of those romantic date ideas that could create precious memories you cherish forever.

#26 - Travel to the closest beach or lake

Whether it’s a cosy, bundled-up walk on the shore or a full-on day swimming in the water, beaches and lakes make for incredible date ideas!

#27 - Volunteer together

We’re such big fans of volunteering as a date idea that we even have a blog on How Helping Others Helps Your Relationship - check it out!

#28 - Head to a drive-in movie theatre

Close-up shot of couple lying on a picnic blanket and enjoying popcorn and sweets

Old-timey romance and perfect privacy - a recipe for an amazing date night.

#29 - Have at at-home spa day

Get the face masks out, buy some massage oil, maybe cut up a cucumber - a day of pampering each other is a great way to spend some quality time together.

#30 - Take a bath together

If your spa day takes a turn for the steamy, so much the better!

#31 - Choose a date you would have done in high school

Couple having a fun time riding on go-carts at the arcade

This is a such a fun and creative date idea: turn the clock back to when you were in high school and think about the kind of dates you went on then. Recreate them with your partner today! Roller rinks, arcades, or time just spent hanging out and listening to music - give your partner a glimpse into what life used to be like for you.

#32 - Go to an amusement park

Rollercoasters, anyone?! Amusement parks can be the most creative date ideas because they capture our imagination so well.

#33 - Go to an escape room

These fun challenges force you to problem solve, work together, and play to each other’s strengths. They can be a little bit stressful, but if you thrive under pressure, an escape room is the best date idea for a fun evening!

#34 - Go bowling

Raise the stakes here and agree on a prize for the winner.

#35 - Surprise your partner with concert tickets

This is so fun - picture the joy on their face when you hand them tickets to their favorite artist!

#36 - Go to a comedy show

The best date ideas are the ones that make you laugh until you cry, so a comedy show sounds like a great idea.

#37 - Fill a Mason jar with ideas and choose a date

This creative date idea lets you have a spontaneous date night crafted from a bunch of random slips of paper. Write a collection of date ideas - activities, places, and foods - and pick a selection of slips of paper out. Whatever you choose is your creative date for the day!

#38 - Rent paddle boats

Take them out onto the water for a peaceful, rejuvenating date idea.

#39 - Go rock climbing at a rock gym

Rock climbing is actually a lot harder than it looks! Spend a few hours attempting to climb those walls: you can impress each other with your strength and entertain one another with your falls. It’s an adventurous and fun date idea that breaks the mold!

#40 - Roller skating

For the most fun roller skating, head to a rink on a night with some themed music. Rock out to a bunch of 80s power ballads or Britney bops and have fun together under the disco ball!

Coming Up with Creative Date Ideas

Each of these creative date ideas would be great as-is, but they also all work as a simple base. Only you know your partner best. Creativity really kicks in when you use what you know about your partner’s likes and dislikes to create an experience that feels personal to them and to your relationship.

Incorporating inside jokes, references to previous experiences that you’ve shared, and personal details that make your partner feel known and loved: that’s the real skill to creating amazing date ideas. Once you start elevating these date ideas into something unique, there’s no stopping you!

The Adventure Challenge: Couples Edition is designed to help you boost your connection - and have a lot of fun doing it! And if it’s creative ideas for a very FIRST date that you’re after, our Blind Dates Card Deck is for you - check it out.

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Collage of couple cooking in the kitchen and having dinner together; image overlaid with text that reads 40 Creative Date Ideas

Collage of photos of couple having a campfire and feeding each other s'mores; image overlaid with text that reads 40 Creative Date Ideas