The theater of it all! Even if the thought of purposefully watching wrestling makes you scoff, there’s always a chance the high-octane crowds will agree with you more than you’d think. (Definitely not speaking from experience here.)
2. Get your palms read.
Make your date wait outside so they can’t hear whatever this person is about to tell you about your love line.
3. Have a board game tournament.
Line up your favorite games and challenge your date to a match.
4. Go bird watching.
I include this only in the highly probable event that the next person to ask out my best friend Adam reads this. If that’s you, take Adam bird watching. Thank you.
5. Play shuffleboard or skeeball.
See also: pool, darts, foosball, bocce or whatever your nearest games spot is hawking.
6. Go to whatever the most random, wackiest-themed museum in your area is.
Every city’s got one.
7. Rig up your own outdoor movie.
Have a yard, a white sheet, and roughly $75 for an outdoor projector you’ll definitely use outside the context of this one date? You’ve got a whole evening planned. \
8. Get a tarot card reading.
Slip The Lovers card to the top of the deck like the card shark you secretly are.
9. Find a walking tour.
If you live in a mid-sized or slightly larger city, there’s bound to be one — whether it’s a street art tour, a ghost tour, or a local history tour.
10. Head to a rock-climbing wall.
Or, if you’re feeling especially adventurous, try bungee jumping.
11. Visit a cat cafe.
Revel in the perfection of your choice.
12. Go to a live podcast recording.
While these are a bit likelier to happen in bigger cities, a lot of podcast hosts today go on the road to do live recordings from new locations. Keep an eye on where your favorite podcasters are headed!
13. Play poker.
Do your best impression of Halle in The Parent Trap (circa 1998) and call whatever’s in your hand a royal flush (in their honor, of course).
14. Find a pool.
Whether it’s a neighborhood or community pool or one of the hotel variety —a lot of hotels will sell day passes for pool access only! — beat the heat together with this honestly ideal first date.
15. Plan your own food tour.
Is this effectively the same thing as doing a progressive dinner? Yes. Yes, it is.
16. Take a class.
Any kind of class! Intro to ceramics. A cooking class. Acrobatics. You name it.
17. Go ziplining.
Live near a lot of trees? There’s probably a ziplining course nearby. That’s just how this works.
18. Go on a scooter or Vespa ride.
By this we most likely mean: rent one. A lot of cities are getting ride-share e-scooter options.
19. Do the No. 1 most touristy activity in your area.
In my hometown, this would mean visiting a giant, golden disco ball that was featured in exactly one episode of The Simpsons. What’s your town’s equivalent?
20. Pick out flash tattoos for each other.
Bold. We know. Unique first date ideas were promised, after all! And it could make for a good story?
21. Watch the worst scary movie you can think of.
And there are some bad ones out there. Make a hate-watch night of it.
22. Play paintball.
Go for a round of paintball 10 Things I Hate About You-style. Read passive-aggressive poetry to each other after.
23. Take them line dancing.
Do I only think of this as something people have access to because I’m from the south?
24. Get on a boat, someway, somehow.
Maybe that’s a canoe. Maybe it’s a kayak, a ferry ride, or a sailboat. Figure it out. Make it happen.
25. Hex the Supreme Court together.
Now that’s grounds for romance.
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