Mormon Life - Date Night tag

Is Dating Really Necessary for Healthy Marriages?

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:05:00 -0700

by Jonathan Swinton, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
source: MormonLife.com

Mormon Life says: Lots of people stop "dating" their spouses when the kids come along. But in my experience as a family therapist, dating is absolutely crucial for a healthy marriage.

Do you and your spouse go out on dates? If so, how frequently? If not, why? One of the most common things couples stop doing over time is regular dating. In counseling, I generally ask couples if they go out together. I am often met with a laugh, or some comment about how that stopped when they had kids. So, this begs the question: Is dating really necessary for healthy marriages?

In my professional opinion, the answer is a resounding yes. I am not trying to say that couples who go on dates regularly are guaranteed to have a healthy relationship, nor am I suggesting that dating is the solution to all marital problems. However, dating provides an excellent forum that can foster healthy emotional connection--a necessary ingredient for healthy relationships. That is why they are so important.

Early in your relationship with your spouse, did you date much? I imagine so. You wanted to spend time together, and life was simpler then--making dating more manageable. You likely fell in love as you dated, resulting in a marriage commitment. You wanted to be with this person you were dating all the time. The trouble is, now you may not be dating that person anymore. Yet, you fell in love because of the dates and one-on-one time. If dates worked to help you fall in love in the first place, they can be instrumental in re-kindling or maintaining that love long-term.

Does it count as a date if you just get in the car, look at each other and say something like "well, where should we go eat?" or "well, let's just go to a movie"? My answer would be no. That is not a date. Most couples are not good at dating and courting each other as much as they should. Alone time is less frequent, and romance pales compared to what it was early in the relationship. Effective dates that work for your relationship can help remedy this. If you are great at dating in your relationship, I commend you. Keep it up! If not, here are some ideas that may help.

I have compiled a list of what I consider to be the keys to dates that will work for your relationship:

Go out every week. I know this can be difficult with crazy schedules, taking care of kids, etc. However, if you really make your marriage a priority (which is necessary to have a healthy relationship), you can find a way to go out. Try to get out for at least a couple hours. The date does not have to be at night if it is difficult to schedule it. You could meet up for lunch during the week or go out for breakfast on Saturday morning.

Take turns planning a date you know your spouse would enjoy. You don't need to go over the top, but do something you know would help them see you were thinking of them in the planning. This is mutually beneficial because each week you will either be working to help make your spouse happy or receiving the efforts from your spouse to make you happy. The person planning the date should also be in charge of finding a babysitter.

Get out of the house. Staying home has too many distractions to really give your undivided attention to each other. It can also provide a healthy break from the pressures at home.

Engage in emotionally connecting activities. Select activities that require you to engage in conversation or have some type of interaction. For example, going to dinner requires you to look at each other and engage in conversation. Going to movies does not provide emotional connection. I like movies, and I am not suggesting you can't go to movies and still have good dates. However, sitting in the dark for a few hours does not do much for emotional connection. If you do go to a movie, make sure there are a few hours of other emotionally connecting activities in addition to the movie.

No tech toys. I love my smartphone and tablet computer, but they need to stay off for dates. Put your gizmos away, and don't give in to the temptation to check your email, send a text, or call a friend. It can wait a few hours. Give your undivided attention to your spouse.

Be creative. I imagine you were better at planning creative dates early in your relationship. After all, you wanted to woo your spouse. Well, keep on doing it. You don't need to spend a lot of money to do this. In fact, one of my favorite things to do with my wife on a date is to go for a drive up the canyon (though this has become a bit more costly in recent years), or just go for a walk in a park.

I am sure there are some reading this article who don't agree with some of these ideas. If so, I would ask, are your dates doing everything they could to help the emotional connection in your marriage? I am a huge believer in dating. I have seen it help countless couples struggling with a host of issues, and it really helps my relationship with my wife. Give it a real honest effort. You and your spouse will be glad you did.

Do you need other ideas on how to help your relationship? Or, would you like a free speaker on relationship issues for your ward or relief society function? Visit my website at www.swintoncounseling.com or give me a call at 801-647-9951 to discuss how I can help.

Dr. Jonathan Swinton, PhD is an LDS Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist at Swinton Counseling in Salt Lake City.

{Single Saints} Free Dates Don't Make You Cheap - They Make You Cool (+ Poll)

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 07:10:00 -0600

by Kaela Worthen
source: MormonLife.com

Mormon Life says: Last week I talked about first date ideas. This week it gets even better. Free date ideas—whether for your first date or your fiftieth. Don't forget to take our poll at the bottom! Some guys seem to have a complex about free or low-cost dates. They worry that if they don’t throw wads of cash around, women will think they are cheap. If they use a coupon at a restaurant, it’ll be tacky. Etc.

I am here to disagree. Gentlemen, not only will you not seem cheap, you will probably become more attractive in my eyes. Here’s why:

1. Free dates take planning and creativity. It’s easy to just pick a random restaurant and movie and fork over the cash. But coming up with something that doesn’t require money means you’ve put a lot of thought into the date—and me—and that you’ve got some creativity and romantic tendencies buried in you somewhere. I like that.

2. Free dates prove it’s the company and not the excitement that matters. If you’re off to the prom in a limo and a big, fancy dress or being flown off to Disneyland in a private jet, it’s easy to be swept off your feet by the magic of the moment. Sometimes it’s easy to mistake those butterflies of excitement as indications of romance when, had you been with the same person in any other situation, you wouldn’t have clicked. If all we’re doing is going for a drive or cooking dinner together and I’m still enjoying every minute of it, it proves you are what’s making the date so special.

3. Free dates really are fun. Really. And just to prove it, I’m going to give you some ideas for starters.

Some of these dates may require a little money in order to purchase supplies prior to the date, but they should still be cheaper than eating out or catching the newest movie in theaters (or especially both!). Courtesy of Blair and Tristan Tolman, authors of The Ultimate Dating Idea Book.

Ice Cream Sculpting
Peel the carton away from a frozen block of ice cream and place the block on a clean cookie sheet. Then use knives, forks, spoons, and other utensils to sculpt a unique piece of art. Or course, as you cut ice cream away, feed it to each other. Supply an assortment of candies to use for the sculptures’ features—eyes, ears, nose, appendages, etc. This can also be a great group activity to do as a competition, with awards or prizes for the best sculptures.

Geocaching
Geocaching is a high-tech and fun game of hiding and seeking treasure. Geocachers all over the world have placed logbooks and sometimes small treasures in waterproof canisters and then have hidden them in interesting locations for other geocachers to find. Geocaching websites give the coordinates to these caches and descriptions of their difficulty levels so you know where to hunt for them. Go with a date or a group, using a GPS to direct you to the coordinates of the cache. If you find it, be sure to log your names in the logbook.

Dinner Among Spies
This date will require the help of a host. Invite several couples to a host’s house for a nice dinner. During the meal, the host gives each participant a folded card that says: “Welcome to Dinner Among Spies. Below is a list of five tasks you should try to complete during dinner. You will score one point for each task completed. Your tasks are unique to you. Do not let anyone else know what they are, and try not to let others accomplish their tasks. When dinner is finished, you will be asked to reveal your tasks and your score, and a winner will be declared.”

Each participant’s card should list five unique tasks, created in advance by the host. Here are some starting suggestions:

Get someone else to pass you the water pitcher.
Get the person directly across from you to laugh at a funny facial expression you make.
Get the person two people to your left to pass you the salt and pepper shakers.
Get someone in the group to ask if you are feeling okay.
Get your date to ask if you are cold.
Make a male member of your groups say “Ouch!”
Get someone in your group to ask you if you would like another napkin.
Get someone in your group to say, “No more water, please!”

Free Movie Screening
Schedule a viewing room at the public library. Take your date to the library, check out a movie, and watch it together in your private little theater.

Cookie Decorating
Bake sugar cookies together. While they’re in the oven, mix up multiple batches of frosting in different colors (or buy it!). Decorate with the frosting and additional candies, chocolate chips, nuts, etc. You can eat as many as you like and then deliver the rest to someone in need of some extra cheer.

30 Days to a More Romantic Marriage

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 00:05:00 -0700

by Alice L. Beesley
source: MormonLife.com

Mormon Life says: Here are some of the creative, inexpensive ways to show your love for your spouse. When my husband and I were dating, he brought me a rose every week. He promised to bring me one each week for the rest of our lives and continued to do so for the first few months of our marriage. Then, he decided it was more meaningful to do the dishes. So, after two months of marriage, the romance went down the drain--so to speak.

Twelve years and three children later, we have found that it takes a conscious effort to keep the love alive. In his book 1001 Ways to be Romantic, Gregory J. P. Godek says that romance is about the little things. It's much more about the small gestures—the little ways of making daily life with your love a bit more special—than it is about the extravagant, expensive gestures.

His ideas include doing something romantic for your spouse every day for thirty days. I decided to give this idea a try. It was fun surprising my husband and seeing his reactions. Here are some of the creative, inexpensive ways I showed my love for him and the results I saw.

1. First, I made a card and put it under the windshield wiper of his car. He thanked me as soon as he got home from work.

2. The next day, I left a treat and note on the seat of his car. After I did this, my husband said he was going to have to keep an eye on me.

3. On the third day, I sent a card in the mail. When it arrived, I stuck it in with the rest of his letters. Upon finding the card I sent him, my husband said that all these little surprises made him feel special.

4. I put a romantic movie from the library and some licorice on his pillow on the fourth day. After the kids went to bed, we watched the movie together, but he fell asleep half way through it.

5. The following morning, I wrote "I Love You" and drew a big heart on the bathroom mirror in red lipstick. When my husband discovered the message I wrote on the mirror, he showed it to our children. Later that day, my three year old son scribbled on the mirror with red fingernail polish. I guess he wanted to show me how much he loved me too. (Note: "Goo" cleanser removes lipstick.)

6. I taped red paper hearts all over his windshield and wrote titles and lines of love songs or poems that I liked and wrote, "I love you" in several different languages on different hearts. My husband caught me taping the hearts on his windshield, but later I could hear him laughing as he read them.

7. Right before my husband left on a trip, I taped some of our favorite love songs and stuck the tape in his car stereo. Later, he called to thank me.

8. While he was away, I called his voicemail to sing lines of love songs like, "I just called to say I love you" and "Have I told you lately that I love you?" It made me feel closer to him and he said he laughed when he got the messages.

9. The night after he returned, I read him some poetry by Robert and Elizabeth Browning.

10. The next day we started reading a book on improving marriage relationships.

11. One day I printed and framed a poem I wrote and put it on a side table in our living room. As soon as my husband walked in the door, my children pointed out the poem I had framed and my husband sat down to read it. You can also use a poem that's already been written or print and frame the words of a love song.

12. I sent him an e-mail that said: "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." Then listed all the reasons why I love him.

13. On a subsequent evening, I checked out a dance instruction video from the library. My husband was very reluctant to try it so, the first night we watched it together and, while he lay in bed, I practiced the steps. The next night he agreed to at least try it. We learned the swing and once he got it down, he admitted that he actually liked it.

For the next several nights we learned to waltz, do the Foxtrot, Jitterbug, Cha Cha, Electric Slide and others. For a crash course in dancing, try Cal Pozo's Learn to Dance in Minutes series entitled "Party Dancing."

Joining in the Game

By that time I thought, being the competitive person that he is, that he would have gotten into the game and started doing sneaky, romantic things for me too, but not so. Still, I persisted because I was having such fun surprising him. Besides, following the first two weeks of these little surprises, our love and appreciation for each other increased.

A few months later my husband came home with a bag of dishtowels because he noticed that we were running out of them. I took one out of the bag and put the rest in a drawer. Later my husband asked me if I had taken all the rags out of the bag. I told him I hadn't and wondered why he cared. He told me to take them all out. Feeling a little irritated by his request, I pulled the rags out of the bag. Along with them came one of my favorite candy bars. I hugged and thanked him. The little surprises I'd done for him had paid off after all.

Six months after my romantic experiment, my husband and I attended a Christmas dance. He usually doesn't care to dance much, but we did the few swing dance steps we had learned and ended up dancing to every song and staying until the dance ended.

If you want to rekindle the romance or keep the love alive in your marriage, try doing something nice for your spouse every day for one month. You can try some of the ideas listed above or come up with your own. Either way, by the end of the month you are sure to rekindle that old spark!

Date Night Makeover

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 00:06:00 -0700

by Jamie Cline
source: MormonLife.com

Mormon Life says: When did you last have a little away time for you and your spouse? A month ago? A couple months ago? A year ago? Placing aside special time for you and your spouse may seem like a lot of effort, but it’s like making an investment—something that will pay off in the end. “My belief is that date night is extremely important to a marriage,” says Gary Lundberg, a popular marriage and family therapist and the author of several books on marriage. “Too often, I will ask couples in therapy what they do for fun, and they say, ‘We do nothing for fun.’” You chose your spouse—why not choose to have fun with him or her and strengthen your relationship? Here are some key suggestions for enhancing your bond.

Make time for your date.

How did you find time for dates when you were younger? You made time. And that’s what you have to do now. “You make time for that which is important to you,” says Lundberg. “Jobs and even church callings can take big precedent over the marriage. It comes back to priorities. If marriage isn’t a priority, then everything else takes priority.”

Even though you are busy with kids, work, church callings, fixing the car, feeding the dog, and a million other things, think about how important your spouse is compared to everything else. Hopefully, your partner ranks high on your list! And though your spouse promised to be yours forever, you still need to put effort into your relationship to make it a good one.

Decide how often you want to go out, at least once a month. Set aside a time in advance, and don’t schedule anything that will interfere with it. And don’t assume that all date nights need to be on a weekend—if a weekday works better for you, set your date up for that night instead. Treat that block of time like you would any important appointment—don’t cancel except for an emergency and leave extra time beforehand to get ready. This way, your date won’t begin with a stressful rush out the door.

Make plans for your kids.

You may think that you and your spouse need to spend more time with your kids than without them. After all, they are growing, developing, and they need their mother and father around. But in reality, your kids will benefit from your going on dates with your spouse. They will see the importance that you place on your marriage and will hopefully emulate that same effort someday. This will also give you a chance to see how your kids are internalizing the family rules—it’s a great opportunity for building trust between you and your (older) children.

Lundberg says that he often sees people do activities with the family, but not with the spouse alone. “That’s all right, but date night between husband and wife is important to keep the marriage alive. Too often people don’t understand how important it is [to spend time alone].”

When you plan out our monthly budget, add in the cost of a date and a babysitter for three hours. You are investing this money in your marriage—and your marriage should certainly be as important as groceries and your house.

If you absolutely cannot afford a babysitter, ask another couple if they would like to swap babysitting. If your kids are friends, this works out well—they can just play with each other for entertainment. You can take the kids on Friday while your friends go out and then swap on Saturday, or you can switch off every other week.

Put some effort into it.

When you were dating your spouse, you cared about how you looked when you went out with him or her. You might have spent hours looking in the closet and deciding how you were going to dress to impress. Going on dates after the marriage shouldn’t be much different. Yes, you have your spouse forever, no matter what you wear, but don’t you want him or her to find you attractive?

Style your hair, put on your best outfit, and spray on a bit of perfume or cologne. If your spouse knows that you are making the effort to make your dates special, they might step it up a notch, too. Dressing up will also make you feel good, which will enhance your date night with your spouse.

You might also want to consider giving your date a small present every once in a while. This might be some flowers or a small, inexpensive piece of jewelry for a wife or a batch of favorite sweets or a sports magazine for a husband.

Keep it exciting.

Remember how you used to feel when you were single? Every date was exciting! You didn’t know where you were going or what was going to happen. And because you didn’t know the person very well and weren’t quite sure how the relationship was going to end up, it was always interesting.

Ask your spouse if he or she would like to go on a date with you, even if you have that time already set aside. This will make it feel more genuine, and it will show that you really care—it’s not just something you have to do because it’s on your calendar. Being asked out was always exciting, even if it was just a call on the phone. Asking your spouse out doesn’t have to be elaborate unless you really want it to be.

Lundberg, who has been married for 54 years, says that dates will never get boring if you try new things. “There are some things my wife likes to do more than I do. I go with her to do those,” says Lundberg. “I enjoy her enjoyment of it. The idea is to enjoy being with each other. If you focus on each other, then what you are doing is less important than who you are doing it with.”

Take turns planning your dates and keep the event a secret from your spouse. This will increase anticipation of the date and add something extra to your night out. Make sure you stay within the planned budget. If you are considering a date that goes above the budget, ask your spouse if he or she thinks it would be okay to go over. It might be fun to plan an expensive evening out, but depleting the family income without discussion is not the kind of surprise you want to give your spouse.

Date on a budget.

Perhaps you think that you are just too poor to take your wife on a date. If you are in financial trouble, now you need the support and love of your spouse more than anything else. “It doesn’t take much money to buy one root beer float and two straws,” says Lundberg. “The whole idea behind the date is being with each other. What you do is superfluous.”

Even if you can’t budget cash for the date night, challenge yourself to come up with some cheap, or even free, date ideas. Remember, if you are staying home for your date night, the kids need to be out of the house!

Here are a few ideas to consider:

Jackson Pollock painting. Cover the floor with old sheets and pull out some poster paper and paints. Drizzle, drop, and splatter paint on your paper, let it dry, and then do it again. Repeat until you are pleased with the result, and let your kids admire your work when they get home!

Couples massage. Purchase an inexpensive massage book for beginners (these can be purchased for around $8 on Amazon.com) and some inexpensive massage oil, and take turns giving each other half-hour massages. You can add something extra to this date by covering the house in lit candles and playing soft music.

Dinner for two. Comb through those cookbooks you’ve had for years and choose something that sounds exotic and that neither of you has tried. Go shopping together for the ingredients and then cook the meal together.

No money at all? Go on a walk and enjoy the beautiful nature around your home, whether it be the ocean or mountains or plains. Play tennis at the park, and end with a picnic. Check your local paper for free entertainment. Your community, local bookstores, and other facilities often have free concerts, speakers, or activities.

Daddy Daughter Date Night

Sat, 05 Feb 2011 00:04:00 -0700

by Dana Alan Koch, LDS Living staff & readers
source: MormonLife.com

Mormon Life says: What begins with a prayer and ends with ice cream? If you ask that question at our house you'll hear three young girls enthusiastically shout, "Daddy-daughter date night!" That response would quickly be followed with, “Whose turn is it next?” While Monday night is set aside for family home evening at our house, Thursday night is set aside for dad to have some special one-on-one time with one of his daughters.

Daddy-daughter dates can positively influence a young girl’s emotional and spiritual life. President Ezra Taft Benson taught us that daddy-daughter dates are one of the ways “fathers can give spiritual leadership to their children.” A young girl’s sense of self worth, sense of acceptance, and understanding of how males and females interact, are all significantly influenced by the relationship she has with her father. This relationship carries on into adulthood and influences other relationships she will form later in life.

Getting Started

Our approach to daddy-daughter dates is simple. Each Thursday night, one of my daughters and I have a simple activity –a date. We rotate whose turn it is from oldest to youngest. Here’s what we do:

1. Early in the week I remind one of my daughters that this coming Thursday is their turn for a daddy-daughter date. I ask if she has some ideas on what she would like to do.

2. When Thursday evening comes we kneel down in prayer and ask Heavenly Father to bless and strengthen our relationship and to help us have fun!

3. We enjoy our activity.

4. We have a treat, usually ice cream with toppings.

We have found that daddy-daughter dates don’t need to be long. Recently my three-year-old daughter, Rebecca, and I made a simple craft that took about twenty minutes, the ice cream took as long as the craft! Usually the activity is the choice of my special date. It should be something she enjoys and something she wants her Dad to be a part of.

Date Ideas:

Run errands together: “Going to the hardware store to pick up random things for Saturday projects, then getting a milkshake on the way home was always my favorite growing up,” Ashley Jones said on our Facebook page.

Have a tea party: Invite her and her dolls to have “tea” (aka lemonade or hot chocolate) and dessert. You can even dress up for the occasion!

Go to the driving range: “My dad was a big golfer and he used to take me to the driving range. I was horrible at golf but I had fun and loved spending that time with him,” said Ashley Evanson, the Online Editor at LDS Living.

Have a picnic at the park or playground: Pack a meal together and head out to the playground. Play on the swings, throw a Frisbee, or see what kind of shapes you can make out of the clouds.

Try a new restaurant: “When my mom went out of town every once in a while, my dad would take me out to dinner to an exotic food restaurant. We would go eat Indian food, Moroccan food, and stuff like that. It was fun to feel like we had our own little tradition, and that we were trying new things together,” said Kate Ensign-Lewis, the Associate Editor at LDS Living.

“Pinewood Derby!” Katijo Allred Meyers said on our Facebook page.

Visit the library: Have her pick out a stack of books, find a quiet corner, and read them together. See if you can find some of your favorite childhood books and show her what you used to love.

Play a sport: “My dad and I would play basketball or go on bike rides together,” said Ruthann Cunningham, the Circulation Coordinator at LDS Living.

Go bowling: This is a great activity for young girls or teens. Make it fun by having silly contests: who can get the most pins down by rolling the ball through your legs, who has the best warm up routine, etc.

*What is your favorite daddy daughter date? Leave a comment below.

Dave Says: Dating on a Dime

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 00:04:00 -0700

source: MormonLife.com

Mormon Life says: Should I have a dating budget even though I'm trying to get out of debt? Dear Dave,

I’m a recent college graduate, and I’m determined to follow your plan and get out of debt. My biggest problem is when it comes to dating. Things aren’t cheap today, so aside from not dating, how do you handle this area of your life when you’re trying to get your finances in order?

Roland

Dear Roland,

First of all, you definitely need to date people. I couldn’t have gone without dating, especially at your age. So, I’m not going to tell you to do something I couldn’t do.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with dating inexpensively if you’re thoughtful. Just don’t be so cheap that you’re freakish about things. There are plenty of nice, stylish places that don’t cost an arm and a leg. A picnic and a Frisbee will go a long way on a pretty day! Your efforts to be a gentleman and make things happen in creative ways will be a lot more charming to any lady worth dating than throwing down an extra $100 at a snooty restaurant you can’t afford.

The other thing is to make dating part of your monthly budget. In your situation, it’s a legitimate expense, and you need to make it part of your financial game plan. Then, if you’re seeing someone on a regular basis, and the money in the “dating” envelope is getting low, you can explain to her that you’re working hard to manage your money properly so you’ll be wealthy one day.

This will make you even more attractive to the right kind of person, because it shows that you’re mature enough and responsible enough to be thinking toward and planning for the future!

—Dave

* For more financial advice, please visit daveramsey.com.

The 12 Days of Christmas Romance

Sat, 04 Dec 2010 00:05:00 -0700

by Ashley Evanson
source: MormonLife.com

Mormon Life says: Twelve ideas that will fill your holidays with more romance. Let the 12 Days of Christmas make your holiday season a little more romantic. Here are some ideas to show your sweetheart how much you love him. Even if you don't have time to do them all (who am I, superwoman?), pick out two or three that will brighten up your spouse's day.

On the first day of Christmas: Cook your sweetheart his number one, favorite meal.

On the second day of Christmas: Buy two tickets to a movie or other event. Date night!

On the third day of Christmas: Enjoy three meals together. Try having breakfast in bed, a picnic lunch, and a candlelit dinner.

On the fourth day of Christmas: Enjoy the four elements—earth, water, fire, and wind—by getting outdoors. Take a scenic drive together, go for a walk, or plan an outdoor activity.

On the fifth day of Christmas: Use your five fingers to write your spouse a love letter.

On the six day of Christmas: Give her a half dozen of her favorite flower, or give him a half dozen of his favorite sweets.

On the seventh day of Christmas: Go stargazing into the 7th heaven. Too cold outside? Visit your local planetarium.

On the eighth day of Christmas: Eight is the sign for eternity. Take your eternal spouse to the temple to do ordinances.

On the ninth day of Christmas: Cats may have nine lives, but the one you and your spouse share together is priceless. Spend some time looking through old photo albums, watching home videos, or reading old letters.

On the tenth day of Christmas: Massage your spouse’s aching shoulders for ten minutes. Throw in a back scratch or a foot massage if you’re feeling extra giving.

On the eleventh day of Christmas: Don’t let the eleventh hour before Christmas sneak up on you. Buy or make your spouse the Christmas gift they really want or need before it’s too late.

On the twelfth day of Christmas: Bake your sweetheart a dozen of his favorite cookies or Christmas treats.

An Evening of High-Class (and Low Prices)

Sat, 06 Nov 2010 00:10:00 -0600

by Ashley Evanson
source: MormonLife.com

Mormon Life says: High-class date nights don't always require high price tags. Try one of these classy dates for less. Symphony and style: Dress up in your most elegant attire and attend the symphony. Tickets are generally a little pricy, but there may be some discounts you are entitled to. Students and seniors often get tickets for a significantly discounted price. Ask about matinees, special performances, or other promotions that may get you a cheaper ticket.

Classy cuisine: Take a mock cooking class. Invite a friend who loves to cook to host/teach a cooking demonstration in your kitchen. Make sure to invite other couples to your “class.” Learn to prepare a gourmet dish together and then enjoy your new skills by eating your culinary masterpiece.

Couples book club: Ask around your group of friends, ward, and through e-mail to gather an eclectic group of people to join a couples book club. Book clubs have generally been a solo activity, but hosting and attending monthly book discussions as a couple might become your new favorite evening of the month.

Art appreciation: Visit a local gallery or museum - many of which are free - to experience the beautiful, the strange, and the modern forms of art. You can even stroll the streets of your downtown area and visit a whole slew of galleries in one evening.

Poetry night: Attend a poetry or book reading at a local bookstore for free. Snacks are occasionally provided. Get in touch with a bookstore near you for a calendar of events.

Theater for less: Local universities put on a number of fantastic plays and musicals every semester for cheap, cheap, cheap. It's a perfect date: dinner and then to the theater – very classy. The university’s theater department should have a list of productions on their website.

Date Night: Restaurant Crawl

Sat, 09 Oct 2010 00:05:00 -0600

source: MormonLife.com

Here's a fun idea that springs from a popular European tradition: the restaurant crawl. Pick three restaurants in your city that are near each other and visit them all in one evening.

Begin by eating appetizers at one restaurant, and then moving on to the next one for entrees, and finish off with dessert at yet another venue. This is a great way to experience the different flavors and cultures each restaurant offers. You might even discover your new favorite joint!

This would be really fun to do with other couples, each couple getting to pick a restaurant for your crawl. Picking a theme is another way to spice things up. Some fun themes might include:

Hole-in-the wall
Foreign (choose a specific country)
Bakery/Cafe
Diners
Fancy Shmancy (dressing up is fun!)

Date Night: Get Your Blood Flowing

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 18:00:00 -0600

by LDS Living Staff
source: MormonLife.com

Active date nights are popular, but sometimes it can be hard to think of all the options. Read through these common and obscure activities and see if any could make a fun (and new) summer date night for you and your sweetheart.

Swinging at the park
Biking
Skateboarding
Hiking
Kayaking
Canoeing
Tubing
Rappelling
Rock climbing
Walking
Running
Skating
Jumping on a trampoline
Playing at a water park
Surfing
Body boarding
Wakeboarding
Parasailing
Paragliding
Golfing or hitting golf balls
Playing tennis