Online Dating Magazine > Features > Creative Dates

Creative Date Ideas and Unique Dating Concepts
by Joe Tracy, publisher of Online Dating Magazine

Creative Date Idea #1: Drive in Movie with a Twist
Move your TV and pedestal into your garage. Set it up with a VHS or DVD player and insert your partner's favorite movie into the player. Pull your car into the garage (if it isn't already there) and make sure you can view the TV great from both seats. Now hook up speakers, making sure each is perfectly aligned with both car windows so that the sound will come right into the windows when playing. Test the setup. To really go out, rent an old-fashioned popcorn machine and set it up in the garage along with candy (make sure your partner's favorite is there) and some pop.

Now call your date and tell her (or him) that you are going to take her to see to see a drive in movie. Pick her up at her house and drive her to your house. Open the garage and drive right in. Park, shut off the engine, the close the garage door. Have the remote already in your car and use it to turn on the movie. Ask your date if she'd like some popcorn, pop, and candy then get it for her. Enjoy the movie!

pretending to drink ocean water on a photo date. Commented I was thirsty and pointing to the ocean, my date said, "there's lots of water," making memorable picture opportunity. Be creative and entertaining. The more fun the photos, the more enjoyable they will be to look back upon.

Creative Date Idea #2: Picture Perfect
The concept behind this creative date is simple, yet a lot of fun. For this date, you arrange a trip, hike, or beach experience and each of you brings along a digital camera. Spend time finding interesting (and fun) things to take pictures of. Make sure your partner is in several of the pictures (and hopefully vice versa). If there are other people around, have them take some pictures of the two of you.

The more creative places you go (or things you have to play with), the more fun this experience will be. Take lots of pictures then go back home and jointly decide which ones you like the best. Now digitally print out those pictures or use an online digital photo printing service like Kodak Prints. You may even want to build, through a service like Kodak Prints, a 12 month calendar using your 12 best photos. In addition, you could create a special scrapbook to forever remember your creative date of photo fun!

Creative Date Idea #3: New Beetle Bugavan
One of the most fun and creative dates I've taken someone on was when I was a member of the Southern California New Beetle Club. About three times a year they would do a bugavan (caravan) where all the members would get together in their New Beetles and meet at a location around 8:00 in the morning and spend the entire day driving around historic areas, towns, a cities. So for one of these I invited the girl I was dating to ride with me in my New Beetle (see picture below) and we had an absolute blast. Here were 50 New Beetle cars driving in a line and people everywhere honking and waving at the caravan. We were able to view a lot of great scenery and visit a lot of historic places with a group of fun Beetle lovers. Now, if you don't own a New Beetle, this could be a rather expensive date!

In all seriousness, though, many large cities have car clubs - active groups of members who own a particular vehicle. It's not unusual for some of the clubs of the more creative-type cars (Beetles, Mini Coopers, PT Cruisers, etc.) to arrange fun caravan outings. If you live in a big city, you can find car clubs by going to Google and typing in (with quotes), "New Beetle Club" or "Mini Cooper Club" etc. If you don't find a club and are passionate about clubs and meeting other car enthusiasts, consider starting your own.

Creative Date Idea #4: Glow Sticks at the Beach
If you live by a beach, this is a really fun creative date idea. First, go to a party store and buy two glow in the dark sticks and one frisbee that lights up when you throw it. Now plan a night-time date to the beach with your partner. When you arrive, pull out your glow sticks and frisbee. Give your partner one of the glow sticks and have him/her activate it. Now go to the beach, spread apart, and throw them at each other, trying to catch them. It's a lot of fun and creates a great "night glow" display. You can also throw the glow sticks as far as you can into the ocean. The waves will bring them back to you! And the glow they make in the water is also cool to watch.

Activate your light-up frisbee and enjoy throwing it to each other and watching it as it lights up the night in a multi-color display. When you're done with this night-time adventure, be sure to properly dispose of the glow sticks! And make sure you bring a flashlight to remember where you put your shoes. One of my dates and I spent 20 minutes looking for her shoes when I didn't bring a flashlight. There was no moon that night!

Creative Date Idea #5: These are a Few of My Favorite Things...
One thing that makes relationships endearing is when your partner knows that you pay attention when he/she speaks. When you ask your partner questions, be sure to keep a list of things you discover are his/her favorite. For example, if you're looking for a movie together and you come across one where he/she says, "I absolutely love this movie - it's one of my favorites" then take a mental note and write it down. If your partner looks at your shirt and says, "that is my favorite color on you," take note. Learn what his/her favorites are - food, color, musical, activity, drink, etc.

Now take the time to creatively plan an entire date around your partner's favorite things! Wear his/her favorite color and take your date to have his/her favorite dish at their favorite restaurant. Go to an activity he/she particularly enjoys and when you return home have his/her favorite candy/drink/snack waiting along with a DVD of his/her favorite movie to watch! Treat her like a queen or him like a king and make it a night of "favorites" that your partner will always cherish.

Conclusion
The key to putting together a unique date is the thought and planning you put into pulling it off. The woman (or man) will quickly recognize the extra effort you put into creating the experience and that will raise his/her opinion of the relationship. Take some time to put serious creative thought into what your next date will be. Creative and unique dates are likely to always stick out in your partner's mind forever, even if you eventually part ways. It shows you as a fun, creative, and thoughtful person and soon you may find your partner inviting you on a creative date!

Share Your Experience
If you are the type of person that enjoys doing creative dates and you have done one that has worked especially well, then email me a detailed write-up of your creative date idea, along with your name. I will take these and publish them in a future Online Dating Magazine feature article, fully crediting you with the idea.

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