Date Ideas to Keep Relationships Nourished
Keeping a relationship alive and healthy is pretty similar to keeping an infant alive and healthy. It requires love, attention, feeding, changing, and gentle handling. February is iconic for red hearts, and floating cupids, and what better than this to remind us of the importance of nurturing the relationship! We’re going to share some date ideas to keep relationships nourished. These are fun ideas that could potentially help maintain or rekindle the spark that all couples look for. Here are a few ideas, from high end spending to no spend
Couple’s massage. This could go two ways. You give each other a massage with some nice smelling cream or oil, or you go and get a professional massage where the tables are side by side and you both relax at the same time. (We love Ideal Massage!)
Night in. You decide on making some popcorn, choosing a board game to play (there are some cool mystery solving games), or a movie to watch together. You turn off all the phones, notifications, and focus on each other and the activity in front of you.
This is not a date, per se, but you can make a list of the “52 things I love about you”. It can be pieces of paper in a mason jar or a box. Or if you are crafty, you can mod podge them on a deck of cards and decorate them! Then you gift them to each other. I like the idea of one per week, to keep the spark alive.
The penny date, choose a number from 5 to 25 (this can be tweaked if living in the outskirts of town). You go out for a walk or get in the car, walk/drive out to main road, flip a penny: heads turn right, tails turn left, all the way until you hit the number you chose, and see where you end up!
Geocaching…check this whole world out online! It’s a scavenger hunt around the city!
Selfie Journal – take selfies, print them out, paste them on a journal and each one of you gets to write a special thought or memory of the moment. It’s both a memory keeper and a reminder that special moments are every moment you are together.
Mural finding and photographing around downtown. Tampa has a collection of amazing murals, by amazing artists, go online, search the addresses and explore the beauty of street art.
Dance lessons
Sporting Events
Concerts, at the big venues, but also at the park, USF theatre and venue, local schools
Ice skating, roller skating
Paddle Boarding!!
Driving around looking at homes for sale or touring model homes. This is the foundation for creating a common dream, creating a home together
Picnic at the park or the beach
Local restaurants offer different entertainment, for example: Bahama Breeze has live music on Sundays and Mondays, they also have half off of appetizers and drinks after 9pm. Sacred Pepper has live music Saturday nights. Sparkman Wharf on Channelside has music, food and lawn chairs where you can watch the sunset.
Visit your favorite coffee or ice cream shop! (Our favorites are Buttermilk Provisions and The Ice Dreammm Shop!)
Build a bucket list of places you want to visit together, whether they are restaurants, museums, antique shops, towns. Put them in a jar and pick one to explore!
The important thing is to make your partner feel special, to make them the main focus. Make the effort to put the relationship first. Nourish the connection so that it strengthens the foundation of your relationship. You do not need loads of money, you only need a desire to act on love!
If you and your partner could use some professional help to get you back on the love boat this Valentine's Day, call 813-434-3639 to set up an appointment with our couples specialist, Yiara.
Yiara Blanco, Psy.D * Couples Specialist * Harper Therapy
