Being creative with your weekly date nights can get difficult over the years. This is why we put together 11 date night ideas for you. 🙂
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– Hey, we’re Aaron and Jennifer Smith with Marriage After God.
– Helping you cultivate an extraordinary marriage and today, we’re giving you 11 fall date ideas. We’d like to take a moment just to invite you to subscribe so that you get notified every time a new episode airs.
– And if you have any ideas for date nights that fit into this theme, go ahead and leave those in the comments. We love seeing those. Hey, thanks for joining us for this week’s episode. We have a fun one. We’re just gonna give you some date night ideas or date day ideas that are in the fall theme and ya know, dating is important. It’s not the most important thing in your marriage, but it is definitely a top of the list. Ya know, making that time, setting aside a time to have intentional alone time with your spouse. It’s good for all sorts of things. We talked about this a couple episodes ago, just about the importance of getting alone, communicating, getting on the same page, romance, all those things. So, we just thought it’d be awesome to share with you 11 awesome ideas.
– Also, I just wanna encourage those listening, if you have kids, you might be tempted to postpone some of these date ideas to do with your family as a whole, which is a great idea, but we also wanna encourage you to make sure that even if you do them as a family, also do them just as a date because it’s important to get away and have that alone time like you were saying and just to cultivate that time as a couple doing some of these things. So even if they sound fun to do as a family and you’re like, “I don’t wanna go to the pumpkin patch “without the kids,” go twice. Then, those of you who are listening who maybe you don’t have kids yet, don’t get in the habit of thinking that ya know, any time that you’re together, “Oh, this is our date.” Be intentional.
– We used to do that.
– We used to do that a lot.
– We spend a lot of time together, we’re dating, right?
– Yeah, we used to justify all of that a lot but we wanna encourage you to be intentional about setting time aside, planning something, putting it on the calendar, doing all the things that you need to do to prepare to make this date night awesome.
– Yeah and actually, I thought that was a great idea. We should do an episode on family dates.
– Yeah, that’d be great.
– Some of these might show up on it. But we’ll come up with new, unique ones. So ya know, we’re just gonna jump into it. But first of all, we wanna just disclaimer. We haven’t done all of the dates that we’re about to tell you to do.
– That’s true.
– This is one of those situations where you do what we say and not exactly what we do. No, we’re kidding, but we haven’t done em all. We’re serious about that. But we just, some of these we will do and we just, we come up with these ideas and we’re like, “Oh, this sounds fun.” Some people it might be easier for in different locations. But they help us out to write em down and to think about em and then we hope it helps you guys out as well.
– Yep and one more tip as you’re listening to these 11 date ideas is just to write em all down and keep it as a fall bucket list so that if you have time throughout two or three months to do these, you can maybe get through all of them if you’re lucky.
– Yeah and if you wanna get real adventurous, try and do all of them in one week. That would be a–
– That would be awesome.
– Like date week. This might be better for non-parents. They might have more of an opportunity.
– Squeeze it all in one week.
– Kids, we’re leaving again. You guys have been gone all week like twice a day.
– No, don’t do that.
– Yeah, but that might be a fun little adventure.
– OK so Aaron, why don’t you get us started with number one?
– So number one is one of my favorites because I like coffee so much. It’s go on a coffee date. This is an easy one, it’s an affordable one. Even if your spouse doesn’t like coffee, there’s always tea. You can get hot milk with flavor. I know that some people do, they’re called steamers.
– Yeah, you could do what I do and just go straight to the dessert menu and get a scone or a muffin.
– There you go. Yeah, you make it special and you go. Often times, what Jennifer and I do if we go on a coffee date, often times it’s coupled with maybe dreaming. We dream about the future we’ve talked about as an episode of the past. Or we’ll talk about ya know, how our kids are doing. We’ll just get on the same page with some of those things and we’ll do it over a cup of coffee. We’ll do it over some tea, a dessert. It’s not a very long one. It’s a perfect date idea for those that only have like maybe 45 minutes, maybe you have like a babysitter for a short amount of time or you have, maybe it’s a lunch break. You know, you’re both off work and you can go do that.
– Maybe just to keep it adventurous, go to a new coffeehouse, go somewhere that you guys haven’t been before and try something new.
– The danger in that though is you might not like the coffee like me.
– But then you’ll know.
– But then you’ll know.
– Then you can talk about it.
– You’re like, “OK, let’s not go back to that one.” But some coffee places have better atmospheres, some have better coffee, some have music, so just kind of hop around and make it a fun little thing and go somewhere you guys have both never been before. That’s a good idea babe. So, that’s the first one.
– OK, the second one is really fun. Perfect for fall. It’s Pumpkin Everything, that’s what we’re calling it. Pumpkin Everything, so go to the pumpkin patch, get the biggest pumpkin. Carve that pumpkin, get a pumpkin latte, eat pumpkin ravioli, I mean, whatever you can do.
– At our pumpkin patch, they have pumpkin cannons. So you can shoot pumpkins. That’s really fun.
– Yeah, at cars and things.
– So you can make it fun. Go to your local Hobby Lobby and look at all of the fall stuff. There’s gonna be pumpkin everywhere. Everything’s gonna smell like pumpkin spice. And who doesn’t love Hobby Lobby, right?
– Right.
– They have all these cool things to buy. It’s a fun little date idea. We like going to Hobby Lobby together.
– I will mention this. One of my favorite pumpkin desserts is pumpkin pie from Costco. I know it doesn’t sound very fancy but it’s pretty awesome.
– It’s amazing.
– And it’s consistently good every single year. So you guys can always go pick one of those up and share it with another couple. Could do a double date.
– Special note, my favorite pumpkin dessert is pumpkin roll.
– Oh, that’s good.
– You know, it’s like the pumpkin bread.
– I’ve never made that before.
– There’s like a cream cheese
– frosting and it’s like a–
– I should make that for you this year.
– It’s like a pumpkin, cream cheese frosting burrito.
– Burrito?
– Delicious.
– Yeah, it is good.
– A lot of these dates might have dessert in them. I just have a feeling about that. So let’s go on to date number three.
– Date number three is doing a campfire and s’mores night. So, if you can do this in your backyard, you can start a campfire back there or you know, if there’s somewhere local that you can go do that. It could just be a really fun way to engage with your spouse around a fire crackling. You listen, you smell, you hear.
– It’s gonna cost about five dollars for ya know, graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows. I would say be aware of the rules and laws in your area. If you can’t have a fire in your backyard–
– Don’t do it.
– Don’t do it. If you’re in a area that has extreme fire danger and they’re not letting you do fires, don’t do it. But in the fall, it’s starting to cool down, it’s starting to get a little wetter, so it should be fine to do it in many places in the country but make sure you know before you go do that. I don’t wanna get in trouble for telling you to go do something that’s illegal.
– OK Aaron, number four.
– So, number four is a fun one. You actually used to work at one of these.
– Yes, I did when I was like 16.
– Before we were even dating.
– It’s a corn maze or a festival. I feel like every place has them even when we were in California, they had em. Any state we’ve ever been in has these somewhere. You might have to drive a little bit to get to it but, they’re usually at a farm and there’s a corn maze and you can walk through and it’s adventurous. There’s hay bales. There’s lots of fun little games to do. They’re like little fairs that you can go to.
– Yeah, they’re real fun.
– That are fall themed and pumpkin themed and corn themed. There’s just hay everywhere and you get a little dirty. Make sure you wear like cowboy boots. If you don’t have those, wear shoes that are close toed. You’ll come home really dirty. Or a festival, if you don’t have a corn maze or something like that, lot of times, there’s fall festivals, there’s fairs, there’s music and food. Just find one of those. Often times, they’re free to attend. If not, they’re usually cheap. So that’s a fun little adventure during the fall that only happens in the fall, I would say.
– I like that one.
– Number five is one that I actually put together for you for one Valentine’s Day.
– This was a fun one.
– Yeah, you can easily do it in the fall too but it’s just a scavenger hunt and it does require a little preparation. You gotta set out I think it was five envelopes that I did and I put clues in each one. I sent you on a scavenger hunt and I was waiting for you at the end and it kind of took you through a downtown area to different shops and it was funny ’cause I made you get certain things along the way, like pick up two roses.
– So by the time I got to you, it was like a picnic, and I had all the things that you wanted me to pick up for you.
– Yep and so, I was waiting there with a blanket and it was just a really fun time that we got to be with each other and we ended up having a picnic in the park. So a scavenger hunt could be a really fun way but it does require that preparation. So if you think this is a great idea, just make sure you put the time and effort into setting it up and getting all the details together.
– If neither of you in the marriage are creative enough to pull this off, I’m sure you have a friend that would love to put together a little tiny scavenger hunt for you and your spouse to go on. They probably have a blast putting it together for you. So if you can’t do it, then say, “Hey guys or hey girls, I wanna do a scavenger hunt. “Is any of you good at this?”
– Yeah or do it as like a double date so you and say, your girlfriend, get together and do all the details and then you send your husband out on the scavenger, your husbands together on the scavenger hunt so that they’re not feeling funny doing it on their own.
– Walking around like– It’s not a very fun date actually to walk around by yourself. Yeah, do it together.
– Well it could be a short scavenger hunt and then, the best part is being together obviously.
– It ends at dinner or a movie.
– Yeah, do it however you want.
– OK, so we’re halfway through. Let’s do number six. This one’s a fun one. You can even do this after the kids go to bed.
– Yeah, you don’t need a babysitter or anything.
– Might not even need a babysitter. It’s called a blanket fort, movie and popcorn. So you just get your laptop. You could do it in the living room or you can do it outside. Just build a little tiny blanket fort than you guys can crawl into and it’s kind of like a little cute thing and it’s just to watch a movie with but you’re in a different environment. You’re not just sitting on the couch. You’re not just at the movie theaters. You’re with your spouse. It’s intimate, it’s cute.
– I would recommend using a laptop so that it’s small enough to fit in the fort with you.
– You don’t wanna bring a TV in there?
– Yeah, you probably shouldn’t bring your big flat screen.
– Well, unless you have a living room that allows for you to put the blankets over it safely and you have a big– that’s like the big movie theater style blanket fort.
– So yeah, make sure that you make popcorn ahead of time and pick out, make sure you know what movie that you wanna watch because we’ve wasted so much time.
– Just scrolling through Amazon looking for movies.
– Yeah and it’s just a waste of time. So make sure you guys pick out what movie you wanna watch and then, make sure your laptop is charged if you’re gonna be outside or get the cord and just make sure that everything’s set up and ready.
– Yeah, bonus with this one for the guys, you will totally make your wives feel special if you pick a movie that she’ll love.
– That’s true like a romantic comedy.
– It’s rare that we all love
– the same movies. I usually wanna watch action-adventure movies and she’s like, “Can we watch a black and white musical?” I’m like, “Sure.”
– Just compromise for each other sometimes.
– Yeah and it’s a good point especially if you’re not getting a babysitter, the kids are sleeping, popcorn before the kids go to bed.
– Oh, good job.
– That would probably be not quiet and you might wake em up. Don’t wanna do that. So why don’t you tell us number seven?
– OK, number seven is one of my favorites but it’s just an autumn walk. So ya know, going through your downtown area or if there’s a river walk or somewhere that you guys know you’ll get those fall colors or if you’re somewhere like where we used to live in southern California and you don’t get very many fall colors, just being outside in the cool breeze in the fall could be really refreshing. As a bonus, you can take a Polaroid with you if you have a Polaroid camera or selfie stick.
– Or just use your phone.
– Or just use your cell phone and just make sure that you grab a couple images along the way. Have fun with your spouse. Encourage them to hold a leaf up to their face or ya know, play with them and then, take pictures just as memories.
– What makes this extra special is getting out of your normal area. We used to like to go and drive into another little city and walk those neighborhoods in the fall. So, find a new place.
– Yeah, the new scenery stimulates new conversations
– A new neighborhood.
– and new things to come out. OK Aaron, move us onto number eight.
– So number eight is looking at the night sky. So it’s either just going and getting a blanket at a park or somewhere that
– Your backyard.
– there’s not a lot of light.
– You gotta make sure you turn off all the lights if you’re in your backyard. But if you have too many lights in your neighborhood, go somewhere where it’s quiet or there’s no lights. That way, you can see the stars even brighter. Either you can do that together and you could bring ya know, some candy to eat with each other, something to snack on, and just look at the stars and talk about em. Try and pick out shapes.
– Make sure you dress warm ’cause it’ll probably be chilly.
– Yeah and the other idea is you can go to an observatory. I know a lot of places have observatories. They’re not usually too expensive. I don’t know how late they are open, but if you can’t go in the evening, you can go look at the stars at an observatory. Those are a lot of fun too ’cause they’re really scientific and techy and you get to experience something new. But the idea is like, go and look at God’s creation. Look at the stars and just imagine what’s out there and just talk about what the stars look like and how bright they are and how good God is and how he created them all.
– That’s a good one. I wanna do that one with you this fall. That one sounds fun.
– So number nine is one that Jennifer’s been trying to get me to do pretty much since you met me.
– For like 12 or 13 years now.
– I have not yet given into this request. But I know someone out there will like this idea. So why don’t you share number nine?
– OK, number nine is horseback riding. I don’t know why, I just feel like it’d be so romantic to go on a horseback ride with you but, why don’t you tell them why?
– It definitely seems romantic. Not a lot of people know this about me but my mom had horses all growing up. So, I used to ride horses a lot.
– Used to take care of em.
– I used to take care of em and clean them and feed them. Clean them and–
– Just a lot of work.
– Muck the stalls and feed them. Anyways, all that aside, I’ve had horses kick me and roll on me and fall on me and run off with me.
– So you don’t see it as fun even though I do but eventually–
– One of these days babe, I will take you
– One of these days. horseback riding.
– I know you will.
– The other thing we’re juggling now is I’m either pregnant or we have an infant or ya know–
– It’s just not safe. That’s really what it comes down to.
– I totally understand, I get it.
– Someone will love that.
– I have grace for you.
– We’ll do it one day a few years from now.
– OK, why don’t we hurry on this one?
– When all the kids are outta the house. So why don’t we gon onto number 10, which is kind of like a service ministry minded one. During these date night episodes we do, we always try and bring in ya know, just a way to be sharing the gospel with your spouse and one of them could be just going to your neighbors house with your spouse and rake their leaves for them. Ya know, do something kind of like, ya know, help them out a little bit and while you’re doing it, you could be talking.
– This is especially nice if you have a neighborhood with ya know, maybe there’s an elderly person, someone who can’t get out there, someone who just had surgery. You know, you might have a neighbor who just can’t get out there this fall and get those leaves raked up, so that could be a service project that you guys could do together on your day and it could be really fun.
– Which does require you to know a little bit about your neighbors and to be just paying attention, seeing people when they’re leaving. Like oh, why don’t we go over and bless so and so?
– And doing a work like that together on a date night is a lot different than going to your own backyard to do it because if it’s your own backyard, it could feel like work. So just heading over to your neighbors house, it could be really fun. Don’t forget to ya know, throw the leaves at each other, play a little bit.
– And then the neighbor’s gonna be like, “Why are they messing em up?” But it’s adventurous because it’s like oh, you’re a little nervous and you wanna go do this and if they say something about it, just say, “Hey, we just wanted to bless you.” If you’re not cool with it, we’ll leave, but I’m pretty sure they’ll be like, “Alright.”
– Or don’t ask, just go do it.
– That’s what I’m saying, if they come out and say something. Say, “Hey, we’re just trying to bless you.” But it could be a fun little thing and it’ll get you outta your comfort zone and it’ll get you blessing your neighbors and being a light in your neighborhood. So, why don’t you share the last one with us, number 11?
– Yeah, the last one is taking a day trip to pick apples together. So, this could be a really fun one. You might have to travel a bit depending on your area, what’s available, but I think that most places, you could probably find some apple trees that you can go pick.
– Yeah and if it’s not apples, I’m sure there’s other things you can go pick or ya know, explore flower gardens, or ya know, orchards. There’s gotta be some sort of–
– Or visit a farm.
– Yeah, there’s gotta be something like that where again, you’re just looking at nature, you’re walking through something, you’re picking stuff together, you’re enjoying the fruits if you get em. Usually, it’s pretty affordable. You charge by the pound with the apples. We did this back in California and we had quite a few orchards in California. But we really like it so, going and pick fruit together is a lot of fun.
– And then come home and make a pie.
– That’s a bonus, dessert.
– We’re always talking about dessert.
– So, we hope you enjoyed all these ideas and you know what? There’s so many more ideas. It’s just getting creative, it’s just getting ya know, into the fun mindset and saying hey, let’s just do something together. It could be almost anything. But we wanna do it to be together, to enjoy each other’s company, to talk, to explore, to experience new things, and we just wanted to use these ideas to encourage you in your marriage, to give you a little catalyst, a little bit of ideas on how you guys can be intentional this fall when it comes to dating.
– So, if we were talking about anything today that inspired date ideas with you, we wanna hear in the comments. So, make sure that you’re leaving those and that will also bless other people who are using all of these ideas for their fall date ideas. We just wanted to thank you guys so much for joining us on this episode and we hope that it encouraged you and we’ll see you next time. I can’t do this with you today.
– I’ll start. Hey, we’re Aaron and Jennifer.
– Smithe, it’s pronounced Smithe.
– It’s a fun little date idea. We like going to Hobby Lobby together. So that’s a good one. So number six is, what is it?
– Bad, hold on.
– Hey thanks for joining us.
– Wait.
– Sorry. I didn’t know you were recording.
– Again. This is the third time formatting. Did you enjoy today’s show? Find many more encouraging stories and resources at marriageaftergod.com and let us help you cultivate an extraordinary marriage.