Grow up in the surrounding Chicagoland suburbs, one thing I didn’t realize until I left, is how many activities and attractions I had around me to keep me busy all year-long. Once summertime rolls around you can add the plentiful music festivals and other outdoor activities to the mix. However, my husband and I are currently based in Montana, and although Montana in general has really exciting and fun cities/towns, we unfortunately don’t live in one of those fun towns. I know, it sucks, but what living in this town has taught me is how to be creative and think outside of the box.

My husband and I have only been married for two years, and we hadn’t been on a date that wasn’t dinner and a movie, for quite some time. I don’t know about you, but as much as I love a good meal and movie, I want to do something else for once, or twice, all the time. I believe repetition is good to a certain extent, I wouldn’t categorize date night with the person you’re going to spend the rest of your life with in the “good” section of repetition though.

When you don’t have a variety of established places to go for date night, you have to become creative and bring your own versions of the perfect date nights to life. These five creative date night ideas, are some popular date night ideas I recreated so couples in any location, are able to participate, and shake things up a bit. After all, who doesn’t love out of the box ideas that can be done in your own home or surrounding area? Exactly!

I know, I know, this isn’t a new date night idea by any means. However, why not take cooking together to the next level and create a couples cooking show? How can you recreate a cooking show? Get out the webcam and/or what ever device you use for making videos, and create a “fake” couples cooking show while making dinner. Pretend you have a loyal audience who enjoy watching you two bicker back and forth about how to cut certain vegetables, and/or share a few cute memories about prior dates you two have been on. If you’re a shy person, it can be a video you two save to watch on a day when you need a good laugh. If you aren’t so shy and/or willing to put yourself out there, share the video with your social network family. Let everyone get a good laugh as well as a few “awww’s” in there while you two enjoy watching the reactions and replays of the night.

*If you would like to take it a step further: name your “cooking show episode” and make it bi-weekly or monthly entertainment for yourselves and loved ones.*

I’m sure you’re thinking the usual buy something sexy and wear it for your significant other, but…that’s not quite the purpose of this date night idea. Most places, even smaller towns, have some type of store “adult store” nearby. (For example: Adam & Eve, Spencers, etc.) You will take a trip to your local adult store and each buy something for the other person. You will have the item gift wrapped at the store and present it to your significant other. You can both go into the store at the same time and buy your items at different registers, or one person can sit in the car while the other shops. Either way the anticipation itself is enough to keep you anxious and smiling from ear to ear thinking about being able to see the gifts. And clearly this usual leads to a happy ending for both of you…who wouldn’t enjoy this date night?!

*If you don’t have access to these stores where you live, you can order the items online earlier in the week and present them on the evening of your date night.*

How does one make game night romantic? By lighting a few candles and watching the sunset while you play, that’s how. This one is pretty simple, but makes such a huge difference. Instead of playing games inside in the house, why not take your UNO or LIFE games outdoors? If there is a favorite park or location in your town, take a blanket, some candles, some wine (drink responsibly) and set up a romantic game night. Make sure you get there in enough time to have everything set up so you can enjoy the beautiful sunset as you play. This even works if you have a backyard and want to do your romantic game night without having to leave the house. Either way, it’s hard to beat nature’s beauty and fun with your significant other.

*For those who live in climates where it is cold most of the year (like where we live) you can set this up to do in the car. Find a nice place to park the car and where you can see the sunset. If you have an SUV set up your romance in the trunk area (fake candles of course). If you have a car lean the seats all the way back so you two can face each other in your seats to play your game(s). I would suggest only card games if you don’t have a larger area for a board game.*

Is there a movies genre or series you both enjoy watching? For my husband and I, we LOVE the Harry Potter series. (Who doesn’t?) For our first wedding anniversary we actually watching movies one through six before we decided to give our eyes a break and go to bed LOL. It super simple and really takes no effort, but it’s one people tend to forget about. If you want to make it a little more fun, go to your nearest store, buy your favorite movie theater candy, some microwaveable popcorn, and drinks. Remember you’re going to be home so you can even buy alcoholic drinks to watch with your movie ;-). If you have tons of blankets and comforters, set up a comfy theater area on the living room floor while you watch. Movie the couch(es) if you have to make more room. Just make sure you watch and enjoy!

*If you start to run out of movie ideas to watch, you can even pick a new show to binge watch on Netflix or Hulu. Also, during the holidays try to do themed movies for the particular holiday being celebrated to get you in the spirit.*

One of my bucket list items is to learn how to ball room dance. I particularly would love to learn how to samba and tango. They are such intimate and sexy dance styles. My ultimate bucket list dance item is to samba on a beach in South America to a live band. Ahhh yes. Okay, back to reality, where we live we don’t have options for these dance classes, but thankfully it’s 2015 and we live in the age of technology. You and your significant other pick one dance style (or you can each pick one) and lookup the dance on YouTube. Pick your favorite instructional video and get to learning! Not only do you get to learn something new with your significant other, you’re exercising and having fun doing it.

*Once you’ve gotten a little handle of the dances moves, start learning about the best music to dance to and discover new artists and music together.*

If any of you try out these date night ideas, leave a comment or send me an email about what you loved and didn’t love. I hope you couples enjoy these ideas, and always remember, date night is supposed to be fun!

Fun fact: all pictures used for this post are personal pictures I have taken, except for the “YouTube Dance Lessons photo, which happens to be my husband and I, on our wedding day. 🙂

Brie <3

[08.09.15]