# Unconventional dating ideas

If you want them to see you as interesting, do something more interesting than a conventional dinner-and-a-movie.

Or, at the very least, have dinner *after* the movie to discuss it with them.

If you're sociable, bring a friend with their date to set up a double date.

Try anything you or they haven't done before:

- Go bowling or visit a golf driving range.
- Go target shooting with guns or archery.
- Rent motorcycles or bicycles.
- Go hang-gliding.
- Rent kayaks or a canoe.
- Hike in the woods or mountains.
- Play in the snow or go skiing.
- Visit a museum, conservatory or zoo.
- Go roller or ice skating.
- Visit local festivals, concerts, art presentations, and community events.
- Try wine tasting.
- Ride in a hot air balloon or helicopter.
- Go sky diving or bungee jumping.

Some date ideas are risky because they'll interfere with your date's social standards:

- One person drives while the other person flips a coin at every intersection to turn left or right.
- Set up a treasure hunt with clues on pieces of paper hidden around the city with a gift at the end.
- Go [geo-hashing](https://xkcd.com/426/).
- Volunteer together.
- Go yard sale or thrift store shopping.

Show you're serious with more intimate venues:

- Share a spa treatment and massage.
- Go stargazing.
- Have a photo shoot together.
- Travel on a long-distance train.
- Tour Christmas lights in your area.
- Go to the park and talk.
- Have a picnic.
- Take a college, dancing, or art class together.

To be *very* intimate, stay at home:

- Bear in mind that any time alone with them in a comfortable environment can easily turn into sexual foreplay.
- Make a home-cooked meal with romantic candles.
- Watch an old movie marathon.
- Play board games.
- Blow up a kids pool and fill it with blankets or pillows for an outdoor date.
- If you're *very* serious about the relationship, offer to give a massage.

If you're married, make it special:

- Revisit how your first date or dates went.
- Have them run an errand, then decorate the place into something romantic while they're gone.
- Plan a weekend trip, but surprise them by having a couple you both like to to be there as well.
- Go visit a store together but don't buy anything, but pay attention to what they like and get it for them as a gift later.
- Renew your wedding vows.

Whatever you do, it can be [frugal](money-4_spending.md), but not cheap.