Unique Date Ideas for This Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s day comes up every year and you’re looking to make this year feel a little different and a little more special. Whether you’re dreaming of romance or an adrenaline rush, here are some date ideas that aren’t just going out to dinner that you can write into the calendar for this Valentine’s day. Although, if you do want to do dinner you should download the InKind app with my link and get their referral offer (typically gives you $25 off of your order and can be used at sooo many restaurants and cafes)!

Adventurous Couples

1. Go to an Amusement Park

I know, it’s February and freezing! I’m not talking about going to an outdoor amusement park (unless you live somewhere warm!). I’m talking about indoor fun like indoor skydiving, an arcade, trampoline park, go karts, laser tag, escape rooms, obstacle courses. There are soo many different options that can fit a variety of vibes that you’re wanting to experience together!

• Price Range: $$
• Vibe: Adventure/Thrill
• Time of Day: All day (can be for as long or as short as you’d like!)
  

2. Get active together!

(Rockwall climbing, skiing, bowling, batting cages, yoga, HIIT class, the list goes on!) 

• Price Range: Can be free or as pricey as you want!
• Vibe: Adventure
• Time of Day: Anytime of day! Just make sure you check office hours & book anything you need to as soon as possible so you reserve your space✨

3. Take a Mini Road Trip!

• Price Range: Depends on how far you go and if you’re staying overnight! There is definitely room to budget this trip or go all out 🤩
• Vibe: Adventure
• Time of Day: Anytime of day! Depending how far you go you might want to start early.
  • Pro Tip: add to the fun of the day by going to the store and stashing up on your fav snack & trying a new snack/drink together! We love a good first sip/bite rating 😋

4. Enjoy a Sauna + Cold Plunge Together!

(It’s such a vibe at the right place!)

• Price Range: $$
• Vibe: Recovery/Relaxation/But also a little adventurous getting into that cold plunge lol
• Time of Day: Anytime, but you’ll want to book in advance!
  • Pro Tip: If you are looking for an intimate sauna and cold plunge session there are private sessions available for just the two of you at places such as LoftMD in Baltimore or Sweathouz (locations all around the United States). If you’re interested in going to a community sauna and cold plunge and you’re local to the DMV, Annapolis has a great location, The Shed, where they offer day passes and a variety of packages to suit your wellness needs!

5. Go to a Museum

• Price Range: Free-$
• Time of Day: Anytime they’re open!
• Pro Tips: 
  • If it’s permitted, bring a non flash camera/polaroid camera and take photos of each other with your favorite piece of art. Bonus points if you can get a selfie with the two of you in it!
  • Do a scavenger hunt together and choose your “wish” you’d like to be granted if you win before starting! Before going create a bingo sheet or have a list of items/colors/scenes/etc., and see how many you can check off from looking at the artwork. The first one to get bingo or the one to get the most checked off the list (with photos for proof if the museum permits) will be claimed the winner✨

Couples Looking to Create & Document Memories

1. Book a Photoshoot!

(It’s a date experience and memories being captured all in one)

• Price Range: Varies on session type! $$-$$$
• Vibe: There is no category here! The vibes are what you want them to be
• Time of Day: Before Dark Most Likely
  • Pro Tips:
    • Book in advance if you want it to be on Valentine’s day!
    • Make it more than photos, plan a date and have your photographer document your experience together (Hi! Photographer here, I love helping my couples plan custom experiences, so if you need help finding something to do let’s chat!)
    • Click here to get in touch!

Cozy & Romantic Couples

All of these date ideas are made to nurture those intimate moments shared between the two of you. These can stand alone as an activity added to your day or you can stack multiple ideas together to curate a day full of experiences shared together.

1. Book a Spa Day or Create Your Own At-Home Spa Day

• Price Range: Free-$$$
• Time of Day: Anytime!
• Pro Tips: 
  • Don’t know of a spa near you? SpaFinder is a great resource (the website often offers discounts on gift cards that can be used at the listed spas when signing up for emails! Not only are you getting services for cheaper, but a gift card is a great surprise gift, and it’s paired with a planned date?! Incredible 😮‍💨)
  • Looking to do an at home spa day? This can be so much fun and you can really make it unique with the different spa elements you want to include! Feeling crafty? Make a homemade massage oil. ✨ Before your spa session starts, go to a store near you and work together to find a candle that is the perfect spa scent (every time you go to light it again you’ll be reminded of this day, or you’ll have incentive to do more spa days!)

2. Recreate Your First or Second Date!

Your original date might not be something you can do so last minute, if you can that’s great! But if that’s not in the question then try to recreate it at home! Try to think of every detail about this date from the lighting, temperature, background noise, what you were wearing, what time of day it was, and any activities you were doing. Then do your best to make an at home version of this date! Use your tv to help set the vibes, I love a good screen saver on YouTube.

• Price Range: Free-$$$
• Time of Day: Depends what time you had your date 😉
• Pro Tip: Make it a Valentine’s weekend and recreate one of your dates on Saturday & the other on Sunday!

3. Have a Cozy Night in, But Make it Special!

• Price Range: Free-$$$
• Time of Day: Start anytime you want, but if you are planning to add activities to your agenda make sure to set time aside to get everything you need before the night begins!
• Activities You Can Implement: 
  • You’re into tarot readings? Give each other a reading and write little notes from what you take away from it! If you don’t already have a deck, here’s the one I have from Labyrinthos. This company also offers books on tarot meanings, and right now they have a blog post providing Valentine’s Day Spreads that you can follow for your readings! You can also use this guide to help you find the meaning behind each card.
  • Love a good competition or working towards a win as a team? Card/board games are such a great addition for a night in! If you have a favorite boardgame pull it out for the evening or if you’re feeling like spicing things up try a new game (but have YouTube on hand for a good tutorial so there isn’t any added stress figuring out how to play lol). You can prepare and order something different online or go to your local store to pick one out together! There are sooo many good games to play. Some of our favorites include Skyjo & Twice as Clever (this one was a tough one to learn, just putting that warning out there haha). Another activity that closely aligns with this is doing a puzzle. We are obsessed with the Magic Puzzle Company, you might have seen these trending on TikTok!
  • Make a dish from scratch! If you don’t make every meal from scratch on the regular this is a fun way to get together and make something absolutely delicious. You can even start your day off by finding a recipe while enjoying coffee at a local cafe, then heading off to the store to grab what you need! Here are some that we really enjoy: potato pizza boats , creamy vegan wild rice soup, buffalo cauliflower tacos
  • On the opposite end of the spectrum, you can surprise order in food! You could both order a few things from the same place but keeping it a surprise until it arrives, then set everything up and have a taste testing session ranking each dish in the order you enjoy it least to most! Or you could each try to order what you think the other is in the mood for/loves to eat and surprise one another with what you end up picking out.

4. Make a Photo book with Your Mems

• Price Range: $-$$$
• Time of Day: Anytime!
• Pro Tips:
  • If you want something that looks more upscale and less crafty, Artifact Uprising has albums that you can order that are absolutely stunning and easy to make! 
  • If you still want the outside of your photobook to feel custom and expensive but is scrapbook-esc on the inside, Artifact Uprising also offers photobooks that are beautiful on the outside and blank on the inside for you to put your own crafty pieces and photos together inside. This is the one that we purchased and love!
    • The Artifact Uprising website is almost always having a deal! You can also use code: Lacedhoney15 for 15% off at checkout. I will not earn commission on the use of the promo code, but if you would like to support my business please follow any of the links in this blog to the Artifact Uprising website so they know I sent you. ☺️ Thanks!
  • You can also make it a part of your day to go to your local store and pick out a book that feels like the best fit, print your fav photos, and choose any stickers/accessories you want to add inside so that it’s able to be crafted up the same day!
  • There are no rules! If you want to make a photobook that’s handdrawn you can both still choose your fav photos from throughout your relationship and give it a go at hand drawing and coloring/painting them into a notebook or a handmade photobook!
    • Extra tip! You can go enjoy morning coffee together at home or at a cafe and each pick out your top fav photos to print. Once you’re done send them to your local printer before heading out to grab your photobook, that way your photos have time to be printed and you don’t take time away from your crafting! This is also a mini photoprinter you could use if you’d rather do it that way. It comes with a few pieces of paper, but if you are looking to fill a book up you might want to purchase more here!

5. Do “A Twist of Date”, Date Night!

TikTok famous company that provides free & affordable date night ideas/materials!

Some of these date nights include solving cold case files, solving an escape room, deep conversation starters, travel themed date nights (that have a QR code to a curated playlist, recipes to make, phrases to learn that are often used in the culture, table decorations, key info about the country, and themed activities), and more!

• Price Range: Free-$
• Time of Day: Anytime!
• Pro Tip:
  • A lot of the games/dates they offer are things that need to be printed! So if you don’t have a printer of your own, be sure to set time aside to go get these printed after you download!

Bonus Ideas You Can Add to Any Date

• Watch the sunrise/sunset
• Go to a local bookstore and choose a book together, then end your night reading at least one chapter together. 
• Start a journal together, write down a question then each of you can take a page to write your answers on without the other seeing. After, read them to each other!
• Each of you choose your favorite activity on this list, then flip a coin to see which activity you’ll do first!
• Build a playlist together that you’ll enjoy throughout the day.
• You want to plan a surprise for your partner with a day filled with activities? Make a scavenger hunt for your partner with each hint leading them to the next experience shared! This could even be a scavenger hunt for a gift/gifts!
• Make one of these ideas into a double date!

I hope you enjoyed this list of Valentine’s day date ideas! I had so much fun creating it and can’t wait to experience my own day built with these ideas with my partner!