At Home Date Ideas

Dating can be tough on the wallet if you’re shimmying around town buying drinks, dinner, and cinema tickets every week. But it doesn’t have to be. Why not lower the financial pressure but up the romance levels with an at home date night? 

Of course, an at home date isn’t appropriate for a first meet-up, but once you’ve sussed out and trust your new match, it’s an intimate way to get to know each other in the comfort of your own home. From pampering to cooking, casino nights to karaoke, our list of at home date ideas for day and night will help you and bae form a deeper connection. 

For an at home date idea that gets the day off to a flying start, why not try your hand at latte art? With plenty of tutorials online, there’s no need to splash the cash on an overpriced brew from your local café. Instead, invest in some good quality beans and milk with a high fat content (this makes it stiffer and easier to “draw” on), then get creative with stencils, cocoa powder, and cinnamon. 

So this might not sound like the most romantic idea in the world, but trust us when we say that tackling a home improvement project together–be it big or small–can be lots of fun. You’ll work as a team, show off your skills, help each other out, and have a huge sense of achievement when you’ve finished. Then you’ll get to enjoy the fruits of your labor together. Win-win.

Many of us became experts in keeping fit without leaving the living room during lockdown, with the pandemic forcing us to find imaginative ways to continue our normal lives as best we could. There are few things better than releasing endorphins to ensure the good vibes keep flowing, so grab your date, don your best workout gear, put an exercise class on the TV, and get active together

Spas can be expensive, but there are so many incredible products on the market these days that will help you to recreate a luxurious pampering session at home. Stock up on candles, face masks, essential oils, and fragrant scrubs, and spoil each other with your favorite treatments. If you want to take it up a level, why not learn how to give each other amazing massages? See more relaxing spa date night ideas.

Thanks to the internet, a new skill or interest is just a couple of clicks away. Be it learning to salsa, candle making, or knitting, chat with your match about what new hobby you could try together (the more niche, the better), buy any materials you need, and get stuck in. If you enjoy it, why not make honing your craft a weekly thing—you’ll be experts in no time. If you hate it, no problem, simply move on to a new activity. 

First up, each grab a pen and paper and scribble down your top ten bucket list trips or destinations. Next, swap lists and see how they compare. If you’ve got crossover, great! Start planning your next trip (or how you’re going to save for it). If not, decide who gets to pick this time around, and start researching your vacation. Agree to have something booked by the end of that day/week/month/year.

Travel via your stomach by choosing an appetizer, main, and dessert, each from a different country–we’re talking Spain, Mexico, Japan, Italy–and cooking them together. We love this at home date night idea because cooking with your match is a romantic activity, while you’ll also learn how to make a new dish, and have a delicious dinner at the end. Up the romance stakes by laying the table properly (no TV dinner tonight, folks) and lighting candles. 

A wholesome date idea, dig out your favorite board games, set them up somewhere cozy–we love playing on the floor, just like when we were kids–don some comfy clothes and settle in for an evening of nostalgic fun. If you’re feeling sociable, why not invite your friends and their Bumble matches over too, and make it a board game get-together, complete with childhood party snacks? It will be a relaxed and comfortable environment for you all to get to know each other.

Grab cards, chips, and set up your own at home casino night. No need to play for cash—betting on backrubs, foot massages, and who cooks dinner will form a deeper connection than handing over cash, as well as being cheaper. This is an awesome idea for a group date activity too. 

Wine tasting used to be the domain of stuffy types, but it’s actually a really fun way to get to know your date over drinks—but with the added twist of learning something too. Each bring a couple of bottles of your favorite wine (or one you haven’t tried before; no judgment if you simply pick one with the prettiest label), then sniff, swirl, and sip them. See if you can work out different flavors within them, then check the back of the bottle to see if you were right. 

Pottery, painting, candle-making… There are plenty of brilliant, inexpensive craft kits available online, so do some research and order whatever takes your fancy. If it’s a messy activity, throw some aprons on and cover the kitchen table with newspaper before setting up your craft station. Pop some music on, mix some drinks, and get creative with your match.

In the same theme as wine tasting, bring the bar home with some mixology. Grab a load of ingredients to mix up a range of drinks, from classic cocktails to inventive mocktails, make sure you have plenty of ice, then get mixing and shaking. More interactive than simply ordering your drinks to the table, it’s also a wallet-friendly option that will save you $$ compared to a night out slurping expensive drinks, plus you won’t have to get a cab home.