Dinner dates are totally overrated and boring. They’re also almost impossible to book based on where you live due to restrictions.
The thought of paying $50 for an overpriced scrap of meat, while guzzling down wine to try to cure the nauseating pain of your dates whining voice because they just don’t understand why they can’t find a decent partner totally doesn’t excite me.
I want to be entertained and do something with this potential new partner that I can brag about for months with all the girls while they tell their tales of failed dinner dates. Let’s look at the best first date ideas from a female’s perspective. Since life has thrown us a curveball, we had to update this article to include quarantine date night ideas…
Everyone these days seems to be looking for date night ideas at home and virtual date night ideas.
What are quarantine date ideas worth trying?
Do a fun activity to break the ice.
You don’t really know this person right? Picking a fun and random activity to do is the best way to break the ice, as well as providing you with endless amounts of small talk with your date after about this cool new activity.
A great break the ice option is going to an indoor trampoline park. My partner and I did this as one of our first dates back in Australia.
Being the overly clumsy person that I am, I basically just jumped up and down for an hour, scared to break a bone or not look totally pretty at all times, while he was doing every move under the sun to try to impress me.
Just recently we went again in Toronto and now being overly comfortable with him, I totally showed him up with all my acrobatic moves and style.
Other cool ideas for activities to up the excitement that I have done include Axe Throwing, Mini Golf and outdoor mazes.
Get active together.
“Hey, you want to come and pump some iron with me at the gym?”
This question is never ever met with a yes answer and basically guarantees not getting a second date.
When I first met my partner and we were still in the “getting to know you stage” he asked me what my interests were, to which I replied with hiking.
He exclaimed how much he essentially lived and breathed for hiking and that he would really love to go on one with me one day.
At the quarter-mile mark of my first (reluctant) hike with him, I came to the realization that he was in fact not a hiker at all; cue heavy puffing, panting and excessive sweat.
Although he struggled to keep up, the realization that he was only saying it to impress me gave us both such a laugh and as corny as it sounds, something to bond over and the conversation just flowed amidst the laughter.
Other cool ideas to get active for an active date include cycling, rock climbing and obstacle courses.
Go on a day trip.
Scared to go on a date with someone in your town because it’s still new and you don’t want every Tom, Dick and Harry to see and spoil it?
Day trips are the best method to both explore somewhere new and escape all the peeping eyes that will totally text your mum and tell her to start making wedding arrangements.
It’s best to pick somewhere that you both haven’t been because then you can bond over exploring this new area.
Living in Toronto there is so many great spots for day trips within close proximity of the city.
If you really want to make an impression, Niagara falls is a great idea and provides multiple locations for a) selfies with your new bae or b) long lines to the washroom to avoid them if you find out that they are secretly into collecting strands of hair or something else totally weird.
Pick an activity or gift for each other.
This is a great, inexpensive way to spice up your date. When I first suggested it to my partner, he was totally not keen so I went first.
We were each allowed fifteen minutes in a store to buy a cheap (but thoughtful) gift for each other with a price limit of ten dollars.
He totally skipped the thoughtful part of the brief and got me a Hawaiian skirt and a shower cap (they were probably the two closest things to the register!).
I being the thoughtful person that I am got him an “I love you” key ring which I forced him to put on his keys and insisted he must show any girl who even blinks in his direction to indicate that he was taken.
Mysteriously the key ring “broke” within a few days but we still had a great time doing it; well I know I did!
Take a class together.
Taking a class together is a great way to learn something new and have a laugh together.
Also, having an instructor do most of the talking for you helps a lot if you have the awkward first date jitters.
Cooking classes are great options as most of us are too scared to cook for our new beau/belle but really want to give them a great meal other than that from a drive through.
Whilst travelling in Vietnam a few years ago, we decided to do a traditional Vietnamese cooking class.
There is definitely a sense of satisfaction involved when you cook something new for the first time and being able to share it with my partner on a tropical island made for a pretty cool story.
Also, our cooking instructor, ‘Dragon’ as liked to be called said that my Spring rolls were top of the class, so I feel like I have bragging rights forever now; Thank you Vietnam!
Get outdoors.
Living in Toronto, I’ve come to really treasure the nice weather and think anyone would be stupid not to go on a first date in the great outdoors when Mother Nature is providing us with the goods to do so.
Some cool outdoor dates ideas that I have done include:
- Canoeing.
- Going to theme parks.
- Boat cruises.
- Swimming.
- Outdoor concerts.
Although the above dates were totally fun, my favourite that I have done would be Stand Up Paddle Boarding.
Being the arrogant (but charming) person that I am; I loved Paddle Boarding because I was surprisingly so good at it; in all other aspects of life I’m the most uncoordinated person you will ever see.
What made my skills even sweeter was the sheer fact that my partner couldn’t even stand up without falling headfirst into the water a few seconds later.
I say this experience made us stronger, he says he wants to go back to all other co-ordination based activities that he totally destroys me in.
Go to a comedy show.
Comedy shows are way better than the classic movie date that so many of us fall victim to for first date options, as well as still providing ample conversation for the after show dinner and drinks.
A real bonus is that there is someone else making a fool of themselves to entertain your date, rather than you.
These comedians also help to bring up all of the inappropriate topics that you would perhaps wait to bring up until later in the relationship and help to indicate whether you share the same sense of humour with this person.
My partner and I are basically the same brain; we found everything at the Comedy show that we attended in Toronto hilarious, whilst another couple seemingly on a first date sat next to us, with one of them laughing and the other completely blank face and boring; I doubt they had a second date.
Comedy shows are also super cheap and can allow you to splurge a little more on drinks for your date rather than setting them a strict $5.00 limit on all beverages.
What are you waiting for?
Check out the Studenomics TV episode on this topic…
Stop sitting at home and being a (not so secret and somewhat) creepy admirer! Ask the man/woman of your dreams out knowing that they won’t be falling asleep at the dinner table listening to boring first date conversation.
Go on an adventure! Book a class! Climb a mountain! Anything!
The world is your dating oyster; you just need to stop being so boring!