Affordable (ish) Date Ideas: For Fall and Winter

So your therapist told you that you need to build connection with your partner by prioritizing date night?! Now what? Sounds like a good idea, but you may be thinking, “What can we actually do?”

Trying new activities together is a way to build connection, make new memories, and remind yourselves that dating and life are fun. It helps you build up the positives, so you can handle when tough stuff comes up. Here’s 30 ideas to get you started.

Here we go:

1. Pick a city or country trail on the AllTrails app and go for a little fall or winter hike. What’s the difference between a hike and a walk, anyway? Both are great for connecting with nature and each other.

2. Walk around The Forks. Grab some mini donuts or a cozy beverage and walk around! It can be an indoor or outdoor date activity.

3. Go to an antique store and look around. Reminiscing on things you saw when you were little can be a great bonding experience.

4. Buy some art supplies at the dollar store or thrift shop and have a paint night (you could paint on canvases or paint over old paintings!)

5. Go out for chocolate fondue. Chocoberry Dessert House has a good one, and it’s suuuuper cute there! And it smells so good, like chocolate. You can definitely get one dessert to share. Plus, they have a lovely post-it note wall where you can leave a message

6. Decorate using decoden glue. Decoden is short for “deco denwa,” meaning “decorated phone” in Japanese and involves decorating everyday objects with a special type of silicone that looks like whipped cream, and then adding various trinkets and decorations on top. Check out Pause on Studio or order supplies to make something yourselves. You can decorate phone cases, car decals, hair clops, headphone cases—or go on Pinterest to get more ideas first.

7. Do a tour of The Mint to see how money is made. All the things you might have done when you were little are basically date ideas to try again now as an adult.

8. Make ice cream sandwiches. This was surprisingly very enjoyable. All you need to buy is ice cream (we used plant-based, but get whatever kind you like), cookies, and sprinkles. We tried super thin cookies from Superstore, and they worked really well, but you can pick what ratio you like. We rolled the ice cream into balls, squished it between two cookies, then rolled the sides in sprinkles. The sandwiches turned out super cute. It’s definitely a good date night activity.

9. Go walk around The Leaf or an indoor greenhouse (um hello, bring a boba and wander around and take cute pictures). They have different exhibits there too, and it looks different during the day and at night!

10. Go to the Winnipeg Art Gallery (they usually have one free Sunday a month). Just don’t try and look at every single thing like we did; it was very overwhelming to do it that way.

11. Make homemade skincare face masks together and try them out. Have you seen the rice paper wrapper videos?!

12. Go to the Manitoba Museum, and in the same building the Science Gallery and Planetarium. This is the most fun museum in my opinion, because there are so many cool interactive things to do. You can go on the boat, play around in the science gallery, see the star shows, and watch an old style movie.

13. Go to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Did you know that currently, it’s free to go on Sundays. Make some snacks to eat before or after in the lounge by the entrance.

14. Become exercise buddies for a day and try a free workout class. Lots of places have promotions for a free day to try out. There’s yoga, spin class, boxing, and/or if you have access to a gym try working out together.

15. The classic go to a spa. This date activity is a little bit more on the expensive side, but might be worth checking out. Try Thermea, a Nordik style spa. Sit in the different types of saunas, pools, and resting areas. Can be a nice sensual experience and a day to read and relax. Or try the Hamam spa treatment at Ten Spa. I haven’t done this one yet, but it looks very relaxing. Another option is to try the rock stone spa experience at Poca Poca.

16. Have a craft night. If you already have supplies, use those, or pick a few things up from the dollar store, thrift store, Facebook free group, or Facebook marketplace. It could be air clay night, paint night, mood board collage night—make it spicy, have a prompt: “make items that represent sexual things with the air clay (🍆🍑👀)”

17. Try doing a yoga video or dance video together. Maybe that doesn’t initially sound like your cup of tea, but I bet you would have fun. Remember BodyBreak?!

18. Rock climbing at The Hive. Face your fears with your partner and go rock climbing! Go for the day and then grab dinner after.

19. Classic boba or bubble tea. There are so many different cute spots around the city to check out and so many different flavours to try. Maybe try taking a selfie together at each boba place you go.

20. Roller skate at Wheelies (around $13 each and includes skate rentals). Did you know they have an adult night?!?

21.  Make a new recipe together. Try making something new with ingredients you already have at home, or make one of those reel recipes you’ve already saved.

22. Try out Activate. It’s “a game where you become the player. Jump, climb, problem-solve and laugh, as you and your friends move between challenges”. I think you need a small group for this one, but it could be fun. AND getting a little sweaty can be good for bonding.

23. Take cute photos or make cute videos together. This one can be attached to any of the other ideas, or it can be its own. Dress up, bring some funny props, and make it happen.

24. Go thrift shopping. Pick out outfits for each other and take pictures. Or dress up in the outfits, go out for tea, and take pictures there.

25. Attend a comedy show. There are so many different ones in Winnipeg!! I just learned about one that announces a secret location called “Don’t Tell Comedy” (it’s about $25 each for tickets, and you can bring your own drink!). There’s also Rumours Comedy Club!

26. Wander around the mall. Hear me out. Remember how much you used to do that as a pre-teen? Have a snack and people watch, or try to find funny accessories.

27. Skate at the Forks, the park, or another outside rink. Pack a thermos of hot chocolate and some sandwiches, and you’re ready to go.

28. Skate indoors. They have free public skate days at different community centres. Also, did you know you can rent out the entire rink?! ;)

29. Ikea date!! Grab lunch and wander around to see what kind of home stuff you like! Going to Ikea kind of feels like travelling because you get to check out different rooms and styles.

30. Attend the Luma Vision Board Party!! Come have snacks and make vision boards together for a fun date night!

And there you have it! 30 ideas for date night! Now, I know when I say “date” it sounds like an activity to do with your partner(s), but really it’s an activity you can do as a solo date for “me time,” or with your bestie (hello, friend bonding)—all of which are good for your mood and your mental health. So, which one will try first?!