Yes, you can still have the perfect date all while staying home!
When I’m with my fiancé, Ferdy, I always love for us to do something fun together. As you might know from the numerous pictures I’ve shared of Ferdy on my Instagram account, he is Dutch and lives in the Netherlands, so when we finally are together, I make sure to maximize our quality time. During Ferdy’s recent extended stay here with me in California, I decided to try to come up with some fun at-home date night (and day!) activities that we could do together without even having to go out.
I can happily report that Ferdy enjoyed all of these activities (some he did for the first time!), and appreciated the effort that I put into making our time spent at home special. So, if you’re looking for something fun to do with your S.O. while staying in on the weekend, here are eight perfect stay-at-home date ideas.
1. An At-Home Carnival
Ferdy and I always enjoy going to theme parks and fairs, so I thought it would be a fun idea to bring those things to us! I rounded up some fun carnival-inspired activities, like our cornhole set, badminton, and horseshoes game, and set them up in the front yard. We ended up spending hours out in the sunshine and had so. much. fun! It’s definitely a great way to be active and enjoy the outdoors without going out!
2. Pizza Night
Pizza Night is absolutely one of my favorite date night ideas. Spending time with your favorite person while eating delicious pizza? Sign me up! We made our own pizza dough (you can find my go-to pizza dough recipe in my how-to blog post for my Rainbow Bread!) and had an assortment of toppings to customize our own personal pizzas. We had a fun time getting creative with our pizzas and enjoyed each other’s company while devouring our delicious creations. If you’re wondering if we ate our entire pizzas, the answer would be yes. Ha!
3. Movie Night in a Fort
This truly was the most magical date night ever. As a kid at heart, the idea of building a fort made me giddy with joy. Ferdy has never built a fort before, so I made sure to show him just how you make an old-school pillow/blanket/dining chairs fort. To add some extra sparkle to our magical fort, we strung up some string light to add to the ambiance. Afterwards, we lined the floor of our fort with a cozy blanket, threw in some plush pillows in, and added all of the necessary snacks. Of course, no movie night in a fort would be complete without a Disney movie, so we booted up a Disney flick on Ferdy’s computer. If you and your S.O. could only do one date night idea on this list, I 10/10 recommend building a fort and having a movie night.
4. Fly a Kite
Growing up, one of my favorite scenes from Mary Poppins was when they all go fly kites at the end of the movie. Flying kites are just so fun! Ferdy and I got these cute kites from Dollar Tree and just spent the afternoon outside running around like little kids trying to get our kites to catch the wind. There were definitely numerous failed attempts, but we laughed the entire time and cheered each other on when one finally caught the wind just right and was able to get their kite to fly above the trees.
5. Picnic in the Yard
Nothing’s better than a picnic. It’s the perfect excuse to eat delicious food and spend some quality time together, all while keeping it super casual. Ferdy and I whipped up some sandwiches, pasta salad, a rainbow fruit salad, and Studio DIY’s homemade chocolate chip cookies, plus our favorite barbecue chips and some veggies, and our picnic feast was set. We reused our blanket and decorative pillows from our fort and added some flowers for a nice little touch for the perfect afternoon picnic. We had fun chatting while eating our meal and later even shared some of our cookies with our neighbor who was outside in the yard. This activity is perfect if you and your S.O. just want to keep it casual.
6. Tie Dye Extravaganza
Tie dye crafts is a fun, creative activity for you and your S.O. to do all while having some good ole fun. Ferdy and I had a blast mixing our colors and creating patterns for our tie dye t-shirts. Granted we let them sit overnight to maximize the dying process and washed them the next day, it was a great creative outlet. Plus, you’ll both have some fantastic matching tie dye shirt when you’re done! Just be careful when making your tie dye items as it can get a little messy.
7. Sidewalk Chalk Art
One weekend, Ferdy and I decided to head outside to add some chalk art to the sidewalk. It may be a small activity, but we found we really enjoyed those fun, simpler activities we used to do when we were younger. From hearts and smiley faces to rainbows, we drew all sorts of masterpieces—but this bundle of balloons was my favorite. At least we got a pretty funny picture out of it.
8. Bound to Watch
It’s no secret that my favorite Pixar movie is Up, so this was a super fun date idea. Ferdy and I gathered some clothing items we already had from the closet to create our Disney bound. In case you don’t know what a Disney bound is, it’s when people recreate a character’s look, usually with everyday clothing items that you would normally wear (so it’s a bit different than a costume or cosplay). With our pieces, we recreated Kevin and Russell from Up and made sure to complete the look with a chocolate bar since Kevin goes gaga for chocolate. After dressing up, we watched the movie in our outfits, giggling every time we saw our counterpart appear on the screen. If you have a favorite movie, this could be a fun activity to do together. You can even make it extra special by creating a whole menu, too, based on the movie to go along with your outfit and enjoy while you’re watching it.
I hope these activities inspire you for your next date! Have lots of fun!
The Colorventurer 