Dating Craze
Updated: 20 January 2020
By Phil O'D
Nothing grows a relationship with a significant other like having date nights. Whether you have only been dating for a few months or you have been dating for many years, keeping date nights fresh can be a challenge. The last thing you want is for it to get to the day you’ve set aside and end up doing nothing because you both sat on the couch asking each other, “Um, so what do you want to do?”, “I don’t know...Umm, what do you want to do?”
One way you can spice up the night is with Alphabet Dates! This is an awesome craze that my wife and I found out about while we were dating and have repeated numerous time during our dating and married life (with and without kids). If you only have one date night a fortnight then this will take a year to complete!
The aim is to take turns so it will always be a surprise for one person. This way when you go through a second time, you have different letters to work with. (Pro tip: If you are the one to start on “A”, you will have all of the vowels this round).
Food & activity.
For my wife and I, we decided that we would do both a food and an activity that begin with the letter in question. You can be as strict or as loose as you want, as it can get hard on some letters. And it can be as cheap or expensive as your budget allows at the time (or once children arrive and you can’t leave the house).
Alphabet Date ideas.
Below I have included some of my favourites from our Alphabet Dates and some others that I think would be fun, but let your imagination go wild. Sometimes you can just pick a word as your theme for the night and decide how to interpret it. Good luck!!!
Letter
(Scroll to location)
A
Food: Apple Pie, Avocados, Affogato
Activity: Arcade, Art class (i.e. Paint 'n' Sip), Antique store
B
Food: Burrito, Banana split, Breakfast food
Activity: Listen to a Band, Bar, Baking together
C
Food: Cream-freeze, Caramel anything, Chinese food
Activity: Clip 'n Climb, Cartoons, Cathedrals, play Cards
D
Food: Donuts, Drive-through, Dessert
Activity: Driving range, Dancing, Double Date
E
Food: Egyptian, Eggs benedict, Enchilada
Activity: Escape rooms, Exercise, Eight-ball (pool)
F
Food: Frittata, Fondue (choc or cheese), French Toast
Activity: Build a Fort in the lounge and watch a Fairytale, Frisbee
G
Food: Goat, Gherkins, Gelato
Activity: Go out somewhere fancy, Games, Go karts
H
Food: Hangi, Ham, HOT!
Activity: Hiking, Historical, Hitchcock movies
I
Food: Ice Cream, Indian, Italian
Activity: Ice Skating, Indoor picnic, Intense
J
Food: Japanese, Jelly, Junk food
Activity: Journey somewhere, Jazz, Jigsaw puzzle
K
Food: Kebabs, KFC, Kiwifruit
Activity: Kayaking, Kickboxing class, Karaoke
L
Food: Lunch, Lamingtons, Lattes
Activity: Library, Lake, Lego
M
Food: Meat, Mexican, Microwave dinner
Activity: Movie, Making Music, Massage
N
Food: Nachos, Nuts, Noodles
Activity: Nostalgia, Ninja, do a Night class
O
Food: Orange, Oriental, Oysters
Activity: Old fashioned theme, Opera, Orienteering
P
Food: Pikelets, Pineapple, Pizza
Activity: Pier, Poetry, Prayer
Q
Food: Quiche, Quesadilla, Quarter-pounder burger
Activity: Quiz night, Quoits, QEII (Swimming pools open again in Christchurch)
R
Food: Rabbit, Red-velvet cake, Random (both choose two items from the pantry or fridge without the other person around and then make a meal using all four ingredients)
Activity: Reading, fancy Restaurant, Running
S
Food: Sandwiches, Salmon, Surf ‘n’ Turf meal
Activity: Swimming, Seeking God, Stargazing
T
Food: Turkish, Try something new, Thai
Activity: Timezone, Trampolining, Tent in the backyard
U
Food: Unleavened bread, Upside-down cake, Uber-eats
Activity: Play UNO, ‘Up’ (the movie), Ukulele (learn to play)
V
Food: Venison, Vegan or Vegetarian, Vietnamese
Activity: Valentine's theme, go over your Vows, find a Video store (yes, there are still a few) and get a video out.
W
Food: Wine, Waffles, White chocolate
Activity: William Shakespeare, Wander, Winery
X
Food: Xmas roast, Xocolatl (the original word for chocolate), something Xtreme or ten (X) of something (it’s a bit of a stretch but this is X)
Activity: X marks the spot (treasure map), X (as in ten) of anything, XBox
Y
Food: Yellow foods, Yams, Yoghurt
Activity: You (all about the other person), YouTube a class on something, Yard (hang out in your backyard and do something there)
Z
Food: Zesty, Zucchini, New Zealand classic
Activity: Zoo, Zorro, Zoom back through your Alphabet Dates and try and do one thing from each letter
Stuck for ideas?
If you get stuck for further ideas then just Google “Foods beginning with...” or “Date ideas beginning with...”. There are lots out there.
I additionally recommend The Romantic Vineyard and Alphabet Dates for more great ideas.
Good luck and God bless your date nights!