With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, you may be scrambling to come up with a great date idea. While the old standbys of flowers and chocolate, or dinner and a movie are always popular, it may be time to spice things up a bit and think outside-the-box with some healthy date alternatives. Here are some date ideas to get you and your special someone active and healthy.
Relaxed Romantics and Low-key Healthy Date Ideas
Hold hands and go for a walk.
Science shows us that hand holding can calm nerves and help us feel connected while walking helps raise our heart rates and stay healthy. We think that’s a pretty great pairing. There are lots of great opportunities for walking in the Tri-State area including river fronts, the Evansville Green Way, Mesker Park Zoo, or walking the mall if it’s too cold outside.
Learn more about our HealthierU Walking program.
Cook together
Whether you take a class together or just experiment at your own home, cooking together is a fun and simple way to stay connected. Plus, it allows you to control healthy ingredients and portions so you still have room for that chocolate covered strawberry.
Play a Game Together
With all the “to-do lists” in life it’s easy for couples to forget how to slow down and just do something fun, just the two of you and it doesn’t have to be overly planned or complicated. Take a break and pull out some of those old (or new) classic board games, and have some healthy one-on-one competition. Laughing together over a quiet night at home could strengthen you and your partners emotional bond, remind you of all the reasons you love spending time with each other and act as the refresher that every relationship periodically needs.
Creative Couples
Out-of-the-box date ideas for couples looking for a new healthy challenge.
Yoga
There are lots of yoga options throughout the Tri-State that offer classes for advanced “yogis” to beginners who aren’t even sure what a downward dog is. The best part is that yoga is something you can do with a date! Yoga can help improve balance, flexibility and overall wellbeing. For couples wanting to turn things up a notch, you can even try hot yoga.
Go Dancing
You don’t have to be a star to become a dancer. There are many places throughout the area that offer couples dancing lessons including Metro Dance Club and the Evansville Swing Cats. It’s an excellent way to burn calories, work your brain, and be close to the one you love.
Start a vegetable garden.
The great thing about gardening is that it can be as big or as small as you have time to invest. Whether it’s an acre or a few planters on your patio or windowsill, it can be fun to get your hands dirty together and it provides healthy food choices later in the season.
Athletic Adventures
Perfect pairings for couples who love extreme ways of staying in shape
Canoeing
Spring is right around the corner and so is the opportunity to canoe, right here in Evansville. Wesselman Nature Society’s Canoe Evansville offers canoe rentals and trips to travel on Pigeon Creek and other local water ways. It takes a little arm strength, but it’s a great date idea to encourage teamwork and enjoy the great outdoors. You can even bring a picnic lunch along.
Sky Zone
Jumping on trampolines or hurdling dodge balls may not sound like fun to some people, but Sky Zone is the perfect date for adventurous couples. This date option is literally “off the wall.”
Vertical eXcape
Indoor rock climbing is a great athletic date option, especially during winter months. Evansville is home to Vertical eXcape, the area’s only indoor rock climbing facility. There are different levels, so newbies and advanced climbers will both feel at home on the rock walls.
Hiking and Camping
Are you looking for an athletic escape that might be a little easier on the ‘ol pocket book? Get outside and experience nature together. Whether it’s camping at any number of local campsites located in the Tri-State area, hiking at Audubon State Park or just throwing a sleeping bag out in the backyard the fresh air will do you both some good, and unplugging from the rest of the world will give you the chance to re-connect.
However you spend your time this Valentine’s Day we hope these ideas have got your healthy creative juices flowing. Don’t forget though, every season of the year winter, spring, summer, fall can be a good season for injecting something new and healthy into your relationship.