If you’re anything like me, COVID-19 completely disrupted every aspect of your life, and you’re just recently beginning to find your way back to a healthier “new normal.” My husband and I celebrated our first anniversary on June 7, and we definitely did not expect to spend a quarter of our first year of marriage staying at home together 24/7. While the constant unexpected time at home brought its own challenges to our relationship, we also found some really fun ways to spend time together. Here is a list of our Top 5 Favorite COVID Date Ideas. You don’t have to be married to try these either; they are perfect for dating and engaged couples too!
- Plan a fancy dinner at home.
You can find a new recipe and cook together, or just order takeout from one of your favorite restaurants! We discovered that we actually enjoy cooking together more than we expected. Pinterest will be so helpful for this. Don’t forget to decorate your dining room table with your fancy “special occasion only dishes,” candles, a tablecloth, etc. to make it feel more special than all the other meals you’ve been eating at home.
Word to the Wise: Don’t pick an overly complicated meal if you’re making it yourselves. It’s best not to stress yourselves out more than you already are!
- Take a trip down memory lane.
Most of us have years of photos on our phones or computers. Take some time to go back through memories and relive the fun you’ve had with each other and with family or friends. We really enjoyed looking through travel photos and taking a “virtual” trip since we couldn’t go anywhere. It’s amazing how much good conversation came out of this because we both remembered different details about the same pictures. Since our anniversary happened during the stay-at-home order, we also watched our wedding video and went through all our honeymoon photos! Talk about all the memories flooding back!
Pro tip: While you’re going through all these photos, you could also choose some favorites together to print out. I have a tendency to leave photos on my phone, but during COVID, I uploaded nearly 100 photos to the Walgreens photo website, and they shipped them to me within a couple of weeks. Now I have a full photo album and didn’t have to leave the house!
- Host a virtual game night!
This date idea gets you some socially-distant time with friends into the bargain! There are multiple options for a virtual game night depending on how tech-savvy you are. My husband and I have played an online Dungeons & Dragons campaign with friends on Tabletop Simulator– which was a totally new experience for me! We’ve also used Jackbox and Zoom with our church small group. You use your smartphones for Jackbox, and someone can share their screen in Zoom! While we haven’t used Houseparty, I’ve heard that it is another great option for virtual games!
Pro tip: If you’re using Jackbox, some of the games have player limits, and the rest of the players will be in the “audience.” You can take turns playing, or just make sure you keep the group small enough.
- Pick random movies/shows from a streaming service.
We’ve had a lot of fun choosing movies and shows at random. Instead of mindlessly scrolling through Netflix, try picking something that you wouldn’t normally watch. You may end up loving it! A few nights ago on a whim, we decided to watch the new Netflix movie Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, starring Rachel McAdams and Will Ferrell. It has terrible reviews from the “experts,” but we haven’t laughed so hard in a long time. It’s ridiculously funny, and I highly recommend it!
Word to the wise: Don’t get caught in the cycle of scrolling so long that you end up not watching anything at all. That can be an argument trap. If the random idea doesn’t sound appealing, you can also find lists online of the best trending movies and shows every month.
- Ask and answer questions. Make time for meaningful conversation.
When we were dating, we played the “random question game” to get to know each other. You each take a turn coming up with a question, and then you both answer it. And take the time to really listen to each other’s answers. You can learn a lot of important things through a seemingly silly game. For us, this game usually starts out with surface-level questions and gets more serious. We hadn’t done this in years, but since we had extra time together, we brought it back! It’s amazing how different our questions were this time around. I think sometimes in relationships, we feel that we know each other so well, but if you take time and intentionality, there is always something new to learn and love about each other!
Pro tip: If you have trouble coming up with questions, you can find lists online to get you started! But once you start, it’s a lot easier to come up with your own. Some of our favorites have been: “What was your favorite memory when we were dating?” and “If you could eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?”
I hope these ideas help you brainstorm your own creative COVID date ideas! Eventually we’ll all be able to go out for dates again, but until then, let’s try to make the most of the extra time we may have together at home.
Images taken from Google Images:
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Literature. love. life 