Submitted by Ashlee Zimmerman, University of Akron

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Submitted by Ashlee Zimmerman, University of
AkronI used these slides and cut out hearts
to put them on and made a big Center heart for
the title. Residents loved the kooky and
serious ideas that they actually used. Ashlee
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Need to add some spice back into your dating life?

• Or just get one started on the right foot?
• Heres a couple quick, fun, inexpensive ideas!

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FREE Date Ideas!
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• Go window shopping. Discuss what you would buy if
  you had lots of money.
• Go to the children's section of a library or
  bookstore and read children's books to each
  other.
• Find a muddy area, dress in your grubbies and
  have a mud fight. For groups, take along a rope
  for a tug-of-war.

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• Locate a large piece of cardboard. This can be
  found at a nearby furniture or appliance store.
  Curve the end up like a toboggan. Find a sloping
  hill of dry grass and slide down. Wear older
  clothes (grass stains).
• On a sunny Saturday morning, travel around the
  countryside and photograph special sites and
  serene scenery.
• Go for a walk together either in a crowded city
  or alone in the country.

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Inexpensive Dates
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• Build stilts and go for a walk in the
  neighborhood.
• Design and construct an outfit from newspaper,
  construction paper, crepe paper, and string. Then
  have a runway show to model outfits.
• Have an ice cream sculpting contest. Each couple
  gets a block of ice cream, spoons, knives, and
  toppings. This is a messy activity, but lots of
  fun.

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• Pick up your date and a chaperone and go on a
  canoe ride on a lazy river or canal. The
  chaperone's job is to row while you entertain
  your date and/or eat.
• Spend less than one dollar for dinner and movies.
  Go to the grocery store to sample free food
  items. Then go back to your house to watch a
  video. Snacks that you can scrounge from around
  the house don't count against the dollar.

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Unusual Dates
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• Take a tablecloth, silverware and candlestick and
  eat at MacDonald's.
• Start at your date's house. Before you get to an
  intersection, flip the coin. Heads you turn
  right tails you turn left. Use this technique to
  decide where to go to dinner (you stop at the
  first restaurant as determined by the flip of a
  coin).

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• Go to the mall with your date and two easels and
  painting supplies. Put up a sign offering free
  portraits by budding artists, then one of the
  couple does their best portrait while the other
  spends five minutes drawing stick figures. Show
  them both to the person, ask which is better and
  give him/her the opposite (or give away both
  portraits).
• Conduct an impromptu concert in the third level
  of a parking garage at a famous hotel.

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Romantic Dates
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• Show up with 2 letters (one for each of you) and
  some paper and pens. Write each other a letter
  saying how you feel about the other or anything
  special about the relationship and where you
  think you'll be or what you think you'll be doing
  in a certain amount of time. Then, agree to open
  them in a week, month, year, etc.
• When your date is far away or busy, do this
  Before you hang up ask him/her to meet you in
  your dreams (in an open baseball stadium on the
  pitchers mound, in a canoe in the middle of the
  lake at sunset, etc.). Be specific.

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• Watch the sunset together (best at the lake,
  ocean, or mountains).
• Take a horse-drawn carriage ride.
• Take a ride to see the trees in spring blossom.
• Rent a classic love story video and watch it
  while cuddling.
• Plan a study date. Be sure you have a well-lit
  spot with no interruptions from the outside.
  While you're working, take refreshment or
  exercise breaks about every hour.