Maintained by Wellness & Recreation Services

Contact wrs@uni.edu for questions, comments or concerns

WRC101|University of Northern Iowa|Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0201

Phone: (319) 273-6275 | Fax: (319) 273-7130

Last Update: July 16, 2008

Whether in a long-term dating relationship with a significant other or just starting out in a new dating relationship, it can be difficult to come up with new dating ideas. Some struggles in making dating fun might be feeling like you don't have enough money, trouble getting your schedules to coincide, interests don't match up, or the seasons: what do we do in the winter??? What do we do in the summer??? Hang in there! Help is on the way! Give these dating ideas a try:

• Fix a meal together at home and then go out for dessert. Great ideas include Perkins, The Village Inn, Dairy Queen, or if you want to go a little fancier, try Applebee's or the Olive Garden.
• Scavenger hunt for picnic food. You and your date or friend co+uld go to homes of people you know (or if you are really daring, those you don't know!) and tell them you are on a scavenger hunt for picnic food. Ask them if they might have some lunch meat that you could take to make a sandwich. At the next home, you might ask for slices of bread or chips. At the end of the meal, together you could write thank-you notes to those who fed you so well and deliver the thank-you notes with a plate of cookies or fun sized candy bars to those visited homes.
• Have an indoor picnic. Lay a blanket on your living room/dorm room floor and bring a picnic basket! If it is in the middle of winter, you may even want to blow up a beach ball or serve chips in a sand pail to give the picnic a summer touch!
• Visit the Outdoor Recreation Department in the WRC and rent a canoe to take out on a lake complete with candles and a battery operated radio.
• Get a group together and go camping! Again the Outdoor Recreation Department can help you with the needed items from tents to lanterns!
• Take a stroll around campus in the fall and take pictures of one another in the leaves. You could even ask passers-by to take some photos of you together. Afterwards, head to the 23rd Street Market for some cappuccino, hot cocoa, or hot apple cider. If the market is closed, go to a nearby coffee shop or convenience store.
• Have a progressive dinner. For example, you could start at Pizza Hut with breadsticks, go to Wendy's for a frosty, head over to Arby's for a chicken sandwich, and end up at Village Inn for a piece of pie.
• Visit significant places for one another and explain why.
• Look at each other's baby pictures
• Visit other colleges
• Try clothes on in an exclusive store.
• Test drive a sports car together.
• Carve pumpkins
• Feel like a kid again…Make a fort out of cushions and blankets like you did when you were a kid. End the day with warm cookies and milk...great idea for a rainy day!
• Take a night-time walk/drive during the holiday season and look at the lights.
• Get up early and meet to watch the sun rise. Then go to a diner for breakfast.