25 Ways to Date Your Mate

Warm up your love life with these 25 great date ideas!

1. Have a candlelit picnic in an unusual location, like your rooftop, a park bench, or overlooking the ocean.

2. Go on a photo date where you snap pictures of each other all over the city. If finances permit it, take them to a one-hour developing location. You may want to frame your favorite and give it to your spouse with a note. The others can be sent as postcards to each other all through the year.

3. Walk or bicycle to an inexpensive ice cream shop or a fancy coffeehouse.

4. Drive to the mountains, arriving in time for a sunset or moonlit stroll.

5. Go to a park, push one another in the swings, and talk. Take turns listing A to Z the reasons you love your mate.

6. Walk the mall. The goal is not to buy, but to test perfume and cologne along the way.

7. Have a squirt gun fight.

8. Write clues on dime-store Valentines and place them around town, then take your love on a car rally or treasure hunt. The date consists of gathering clues and small romantic treasures like poems, chocolates, and other small treats.

9. Go to the library and check out a poetry book.

10. Write a song or a poem and perform it for the one you love. Even an original version of “Roses are Red…” can be a trea­sure when it’s from the heart.

11. Reenact a portion of a timeless romantic drama. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a great place to begin.

12. Celebrate your married romance. Spend the day in bed. Pre­pare ahead and have breakfast in bed. Bring piles of maga­zines and play soft music. Rest in your love.

13. Reminisce over old photo albums or your wedding album. Set the mood by relaxing together and talking by ?re light or candlelight. Another option is to have your children play waiter and waitress and serve a romantic dinner, then tell them the story of how you fell in love. After they are in bed, choose one other idea on this list to enjoy.

14. Go to a local Christian bookstore and buy a book on mar­riage and read it together.

15. Have a living room luau. Often local music stores have island music at rock bottom prices.

16. Borrow plants from all your friends and neighbors and turn your patio into a private garden retreat and enjoy a quiet dinner.

17. Rent an old-fashioned romantic movie. The movies made in the ’30s through the ’50s are a good place to start.

18. Rob the kids’ toy chests. Go fly a kite or play some one-on-one basketball.

19. Work out together. Go for a jog, do aerobics to a video, or visit a gym.

20. Bake something extravagant together. Bonus points if you both help in the clean up.

21. Play a board game together. Classics like Scrabble or the Ungame are good conversation starters.

22. Put on your special song and waltz around the living room.

23. Play 20 questions. Each of you think of ten questions you’d love to know the answer to. Try questions like, “If you intro­duced me to a stranger today, what one thing would you say I do that you really appreciate about me?” or “If money was not a factor, where would you like to go on a romantic get­away?”

24. Anticipate the future. All marriages go through seasons. Consider buying a book to help prepare for the next season of love.

25. Renew your vows (or write personal vows, if you didn’t do that in your original ceremony). This can be a private affair or you can invite the children or friends and celebrate.