• Surprise Dinner Out - think outside the box here. Make this fun. Roll some dice and decide you will eat on whatever street they land on (i.e. roll 4 and 5, eat on 45th street), or pull up Yelp, and agree to eat at the first restaurant that comes up, etc. Or drive to an entirely new neighborhood and eat at the first place you see!
  • What if your group dates involve no one being free to leave their homes? No problem. This can be done via email, snail mail, you name it. Find two or three other couples, and everyone agree to drop a note or video as a couple, once a month (or every other), to the other couples. Once the ball gets rolling, use the date times not only to create the messages, but also to then get on a group phone call and talk about what people shared. Use those notes to share something specific about your relationship. ~ Maybe something you’re facing that’s a challenge. ~ Something you accomplished together. ~ A piece of advice someone shared with you that changed how you two deal with each other. ~ Maybe a really great new web-site you have stumbled upon… ~ Did you have a date that went really well, or totally flopped? It's all about supporting other couples in being a couple, as they support you in turn. Find couples you respect, or ones you can relate to. Maybe invite a couple you know is struggling and that you care about and want to invest in. Or, invite a couple whose relationship you want to see yourselves mirroring as time moves forward. Maybe you’ll extend the circle to include a newly engaged couple, or singles who are looking at getting into a long-term relationship.
  • Karaoke- There are private and public Karaoke spots to fit everyone’s comfort levels! The new trend is private rooms where you can sing alone with just your friends!
  • You’ll need paper and pencils… Players work in pairs, sit back to back, with one player drawing, and the other instructing them what to draw. Give the people instructing a bag filled with odd objects and start the clock. The instructor now takes an object from the bag and describes it. They’re not allowed to name the object or what it’s used for. If the partner draws it correctly, they score a point. The pair to finish their bag first wins.
  • Farmers' Markets are a fun place for a group date. Make it the plan to buy dinner-makings and cook together!
  • Throw a white elephant gift exchange where everyone has to show up with something that has to do with being a COUPLE. Encourage everyone to locate something in their world that has brought them closer together to pass on. The point of the party is actually to inspire your friends/family to greater acts of romance, as well as give them some possible new ideas to place in their arsenal of things to try.
  • Nickel arcade! Many cities still have some old-fashioned nickel arcades. Roll up your sleeves for a round-robin game of Skeeball or an air hockey tournament!
  • Game Night! Each couple brings their favorite game to someone’s home.
  • Laughter Is the Best Medicine. Visit a comedy club or local college improv. troupe for a less expensive option.
  • Photo Scavenger hunt. Divide into teams and challenge each other to find locations around town and document them with photos. You can even text each other photos along the way!
  • Sidewalk Chalk Love. Grab a box of sidewalk chalk, and drive around after hours to a business district. Write messages on the sidewalk to greet people as they start their day the next morning. (“Good morning Joe!”, “Smile! It’s going to be a good day!”, etc.)
  • Progressive Dinner. This is oh, so sixties but oh, so fun. Gather a few couples, and have fun travelling house to house for your meal. You can keep it as simple or fancy as you like— appetizers at one house, main course at the next, dessert, etc. OR, opt for an all-dessert night.
  • Collect several small, ordinary household items. Put these in a bag so no one can see. Everyone pairs up. The first pair is given an item – and two minutes – to improvise as many uses as they can out of it. Each improvisation scores one point. When time’s up, the next pair gets their items. The team with the most points wins. Need an example? Say I was given a paper plate – I could pretend it was a steering wheel or an extra large coin from some faraway place.
  • Invite other couples and singles to come watch the show Shark Tank and see what everyone thinks of the ideas being brought to the Tank. (Note: You can still do this idea even if no one can travel; just get on the phone and watch it over speaker phone.) Arrange for each person to also come with a fun, unique idea of what they’d pitch. Who knows? Maybe someone will actually find an outlet for a private passion that the others can give real feedback and encouragement to!
  • Charades with a twist. Everyone brainstorms a ton of different events to react to (seeing your favorite celebrity on the street, discovering a snake under your bed, biting into a sandwich only to find a finger), then writes them down and pops them into a hat. Participants will draw one of the events from the hat and react to it, while everyone else attempts to guess what on Earth they're screaming or fainting about.
  • Maybe you’re in recovery or, just in general, your dancing skills or abilities aren’t quite up to where you’d feel comfortable dancing in a public setting. Remember that a group date can also be getting together with just one other couple you feel close to. It's okay to hunker down at one of your homes, set the music to a mix of both slow and upbeat, and the four of you enjoy a night of swaying to the music. It’s a romantic setting because you MAKE it romantic. Having the company encourages everyone to remember that the fun is in the sharing.