Q: Can you compile a list of ideas for taking girls on dates?

A: Going on dates is fun, but it can be easy to get stuck in a rut of the same old things: dinner, movie, movie, dinner, etc… So here is a list of 96 creative (and for the most part affordable) dates that you can go on. I know some of these dates are seasonal, but I wanted to give you a lot of ideas so that you could pick and choose. I really hope this helps. Have fun and may the odds be ever in your favor!

1. Make and go on a picnic
2. Go to the zoo
3. Drive around and look at Christmas lights
4. Take up a hobby like disc golf
5. Go play mini golf or ‘putt putt’
6. Go to a driving range
7. Set up a projector in your backyard to watch a movie
8. Go for a walk in the park
9. Set up hammocks in the park and hang out
10. Make dinner together
11. Go pick strawberries
12. Go pick apples
13. Go race go karts
14. Go to the arcade
15. Go play laser tag
16. Go to a sporting event
17. Make a fire in your backyard (in a fire pit, of course…)
18. Go bowling
19. Go play pool
20. Go on a church tour – hit up 5 daily masses at 5 different churches a week
21. Take a bike ride around the city
22. Go on a city tour
23. Go hiking
24. Go to a waterfall
25. Go feed ducks at a park (bonus points: have a duck-naming contest)
26. Go canoeing
27. Go paddle boating
28. Go sailing
29. Go for a ride in a hot air balloon
30. Go thrift store shopping (bonus points: pick out what the other person has to wear to dinner)
31. Go to a concert
32. Go get snow cones
33. Do a painting class together (bonus points: try to sell your paintings to people on the street)
34. Go get ice cream or frozen yogurt
35. Find a local art gallery
36. Tie-dye something
37. Volunteer somewhere
38. Go fly kites
39. Hit up a coffee shop with live music
40. Go ice skating
41. Go to a museum (bonus points: play museum bingo – make up a board before you go)
42. Find local community things like a concert or movie in the park
43. Go to a play
44. Go to a bingo night
45. Laugh your heart out at a comedy show
46. Go on a Rosary walk together.
47. Make up a scavenger hunt (can be different every time and works great for museums, public parks, or bookstores)
48. Play ‘Sumo Checkers’ – put on a piece of clothing every time you lose a piece until you can’t move
49. Go GeoCaching
50. Get even nerdier and go GeoHashing (check it out here and here)
51. Make homemade sling shots and have a marshmallow fight
52. Have a silly string fight
53. Have a water gun fight in the park (bonus points: bring extra water guns and invite other people join in)
54. Play Nonsense Scrabble (use fake words and make up definitions for them as you go)
55. Go eye-bombing
56. Play hide and seek in the park
57. Go to a bookstore
58. Bake some cookies (bonus points: take some of them to the neighbors)
59. Plant something together: a flower, a tree, a garden, a farm
60. Set up a free lemonade stand
61. Go to a farmers’ market
62. Go to a flea market
63. Go to a botanical garden
64. Color a whole coloring book – there’s a Harry Potter coloring book now, and it’s awesome.
65. Play in the park: you know, swings and slides
66. Throw a frisbee
67. Kick a soccer ball
68. Play chess
69. Get a tour of a cathedral
70. Play Monopoly all the way until someone wins
71. Build a snowman (you know you want to)
72. Go sledding
73. Make your own pizza night
74. Visit a chocolate/candy factory (this usually means you get to eat some, too)
75. Go rock climbing
76. Do a puzzle
77. Make ice cream sundaes
78. Go to a local fair or carnival
79. Go horseback riding
80. Drive somewhere new using paper maps – leave your phones in your pockets for this one
81. Take turns showing each other new music
82. Hit up a paint and bake pottery studio
83. Grab some sidewalk chalk and make a masterpiece or play hopscotch
84. Play War with 3 decks of cards
85. Go to a haunted house
86. Go to an elderly home and hang out with the residents
87. Sit on a bench in the city and make up stories about the people who pass by
88. The King Midas Date: Find things from a thrift store and spray paint them gold
89. Buy a pack of Post-it notes, write positive things on them and stick them around town
90. Learn a magic trick (bonus points: impress your friends)
91. Go on a backwards date. Start with dessert and end with dinner.
92. Buy flowers and give them to random people on the street who seem like they need pick-me-up
93. Go to your local animal shelter and play with the animals
94. Film and edit a Western in your backyard
95. Go to adoration
96. The Choose Your Own Adventure Date: have 3 options for each part of the date, put them in envelopes and let her choose (hint: they can be things from this list)

Do you have a question about dating and relationships you’d like to ask David and Rachel Leininger? Email them at Itscomplicated@lifeteen.com and your question could be the next blog post!