50 Creative and Inexpensive
Dating Ideas For Married Couples

A list of 50 Date Your Mate ideas was originally published in the February 1992 issue of
Focus On The Family Magazine.  We have modified the list to make it more specific
to living in Ohio.

Dates do not have to be elaborate or expensive.  The important thing is to regularly take 
time out of your busy schedules and spend time together as a couple

1. Sketch your dream-house floor plan and talk about the possibilities of each room.
2. Write the story of how you met. Get it printed and bound.
3. List your spouse’s best qualities in alphabetic order.
4. Tour a museum or art gallery (Admission is free to the USAF Museum in Dayton).
PERSONAL NOTE:  Approximately 6 times per year the Air Force Band of Flight conducts FREE concerts at the museum
Click on http://www.ohiomuseums.org/  for a list of museums in Ohio
5. Kiss and hug in the dark while watching for the International Space Station to make its daily
visible pass over Ohio.  For sighting info, go to http://www.heavens-above.com/
6. Attend a fall festival together.  (You name it, there is a festival for it somewhere in Ohio. Did you know there is a Duct Tape
Festival in Avon, Ohio?)  Click on http://www.ofea.org/  to find a festival.
PERSONAL NOTE:  One of my favorites is the annual Twins Festival in Twinsburg, OH, 1st weekend in Aug.
7. Take a stroll around the block - hold hands as you walk.
PERSONAL NOTE:  Carol & I walk every evening.  Our neighbor says "There go the lovebirds again."
8. Spend a night together at the Quaker Hill Conference Center Solitude Room.
9. Give your spouse a back rub.
10. Rent a classic love story DVD, microwave some popcorn and watch the movie while cuddling.
PERSONAL NOTE:  Carol & I have a movie date night once each week.  We alternate who
gets to choose the movie.
11. Build a fire in the fireplace, turn out the lights, cuddle and talk.
12. Take a shower together.
13. Go swimming in the middle of the night.
14. Write a poem for your spouse.
15. Remember to look in your spouse’s eyes as he/she tells you about the day.
16. Walk the mall together with the goal of not to buy, but to test perfume and cologne along the way.
17. Hug your spouse from behind and give him/her a kiss on the back of the neck.
18. Stop in the middle of your busy day and talk to your spouse for 15 minutes. 
19. Take a free tour of a local factory.  Available tours range from candy factories to a motorcycle
manufacturing plant.  Click on http://factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=OH
PERSONAL NOTE:  Carol & I have made dates out of the following factory tours:
 Airstream, Dayton Daily News Printing Plant, and KitchenAid.
20. Do something your spouse loves to do, even though it doesn’t interest you personally.
21. Send your spouse a love letter.
22. Build a snowman together.
23. Watch a sunrise or sunset together.
24 Sit on the same side of a restaurant booth.
25. Picnic by a pond
26. Give your mate a foot massage.
PERSONAL NOTE:  Social scientists tell us that massage causes the body to generate oxytocin,
which leads to increased sexual arousal in women.
27. Put together a puzzle on a rainy evening.
28. Take a bike ride on one of the Ohio bike paths.  Click on
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/trailresources/trails-index-ohio.html  for trail information
29. On a hot summer day, wash the car together, with the intent of splashing each other with water.
30. Whisper something romantic to your spouse in a crowded room.
31. Have a candlelight picnic in the back yard.
32. Perfume the bedsheets.
33. Serve breakfast in bed.
34. Reminisce through old photo albums
35. Have coffee together at a coffee shop.
36. Share a milkshake with two straws.
37. Kiss in the rain.
38. Brush his/her hair.
39. Ride the merry-go-round together.
40. Dedicate a song to him/her over the radio.  PERSONAL NOTE:  For Carol's 40th birthday
I dedicated the country song "She's A Little Past 40, But a Long Way From Over The Hill."
41. On your anniversary, renew your wedding vows with family and friends.
42. Have a hot bubble bath ready for him/her at the end of a long day.
43. Buy new satin sheets.  PERSONAL NOTE:  Red Satin!!!
44. Tenderly touch your spouse as you pass one another around the house.
45. Reminisce about your first date.  PERSONAL NOTE:  We watched "Airport" on our first date,
so we watch it and reminisce each time it plays on the American Movie Classics channel.
46. Plant a tree together in honor of your marriage.
47. Raid the kids' toy chest and go kite flying.
48. Attend a sporting event you’ve never been to together.
49. Take time to think about him/her during the day, then share those thoughts.
50. Create your own special holiday.