Maybe you’ve heard the expression, “date your spouse.” That is something we have focused on throughout our almost 20 year marriage. We regularly plan “date nights” where the focus is just on spending time together and enjoying each other, in the same way that we did when we were in college and getting to know each other.
We’ve also found that the “same old same old” dinner and a movie routine just doesn’t cut it week after week. We look for dates that are new experiences, things that are unique or memorable, and things that allow us to be playful with each other. We’re also fans of double dates and love to spend time with our couple friends, too.
Here is our top list of fun and unique date ideas in the greater Seattle region. Hopefully it inspires you to take new adventures as a couple.
Best Extravagant Dates:
Float on Lake Union in a Hot Tub Boat:
This might be the most unexpected date we’ve ever had! Yes, you can float in a hot tub all around Seattle’s Lake Union. You get to drive the boat with a joystick all around the lake while enjoying stunning views of Downtown Seattle. The boats come equipped with bluetooth speakers, so you can jam to your music of choice. Food and non-alcoholic beverages are encouraged to make your cruise extra special. The boats are super easy to drive and it was so much fun cruising around! The people in Gasworks park loved to wave and we even searched for the “Sleepless in Seattle” floating house (and dreamt about which house we’d buy if we could afford the insane real estate prices in Seattle). Each boat carries up to 6 people, so grab your favorite double and triple date friends and spend a memorable two hours soaking and cruising!
Floating on Lake Union with some of our friends
Take a Hot Air Balloon Ride:
We put “take a hot air balloon ride” on our “40 in our 40s” bucket list and were able to check it off in July of 2021. If you are afraid of heights, this is not the date for you! We highly recommend using one of the above companies to take a flight over Snohomish or Woodinville wine country. From the sky, you get to enjoy views of the farmland, the Olympic Mountains, Cascade Mountains, and see all the way to downtown Seattle. Keep in mind that unless you pay the extra cost of a private ride, you may end up sharing your romantic balloon ride with children…we were pretty sure the youngster on our trip was going to get pushed out of the basket by his parents at one point! If you are looking for the maximum amount of romance, a group ride might not be for you. However, even a rowdy middle schooler did not detract from the stunning sunset views we enjoyed from our ride.
View of the Cascades and the Snohomish Valley during our hot air balloon ride
Best Dates to Challenge Your Brain:
Get Locked in a Room Together:
Full disclosure: we’re pretty nerdy and we love to challenge our brains. We also have quite a few friends who love escape rooms, so this is one of our favorite double or group dates. Working as a team to solve clues can be a great way to improve your communication skills (or expose areas for improvement!) If you have different strengths, like us, it’s even better!
Successfully escaping with our colleagues
Solve Crimes in Your PJs:
This was 100% our go-to pandemic date night, and we absolutely loved our Hunt A Killer dates! You can choose between a monthly subscription with one of their box sets, which gives you a set monthly date night for 6 months (we did both Curtain Call and Class of ‘98 and loved them both) or you can choose one of the premium games and take on a case in one sitting. We recommend either getting waaaaay into the theme of the case you’re solving or making it a PJ date night party in your living room!
Recipe for a perfect Pajama Date Night
Puzzle with a Picnic:
Another pandemic discovery; we went on three separate Amazingco picnic scavenger hunts: Bainbridge Island, Queen Anne, and Leavenworth Weekend. You solve puzzles to gather all the components of your picnic from local eateries and then enjoy the spoils of your efforts. We didn’t find the puzzles to be all that challenging, but we still enjoyed exploring the areas and discovering eateries we may not have otherwise discovered. They even include fun conversation starters to spark your picnic conversations! Their locations change often and they have picnics around the country. So, if you’re not local to Seattle, check to see what they might have in your hometown.
The delicious lunch we enjoyed after solving our AmazingCo puzzles on Bainbridge Island
Best Feel Like a Kid Again Dates:
Relive Your Teen Years Without the Angst:
Did you spend hours playing video games back in the day like us? You will love challenging your partner to one of the video games that you loved in your youth! Almost any video game you remember playing, and lots you’ve forgotten are here at Dorky's Arcade, a gem of an old school arcade in Tacoma. We personally love playing the 90's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game (shout out to our fellow Xennials!), the four person Ms. PacMan, and of course, air hockey. The best part? Dorky’s is also a bar so you can enjoy your favorite beverage and bar snacks while you play. Dorky’s becomes a 21+ establishment after 9 PM so you don’t have to worry about censoring all the bad words you shout at each other in the heat of competition! Or maybe that's just us, lol.
Intense four player Ms. PacMan action at Dorky's!
Light Your Competitive Fire
You can host a party for a ton of friends, like Steve did to celebrate his 35th birthday, or just have a date where you feel the competitive spirit! Race go-karts, play laser tag, play mini-golf, hit some pitches in the batting cage, or bowl; the choice is yours! Challenge each other to any number of competitions and remember how much fun it is to be a kid again!
Best Foodie Dates:
Expand Your Recipe Repertoire:
Cooking together is one of our favorite activities! Take a fancy cooking class and up your game while spending a lovely evening together. Our top picks in Seattle are either The Pantry or The Hot Stove Society.
The Pantry classes feature a wide variety of topics which change on a monthly basis, you are certain to find a topic or menu that will spark your interest. You and your sweetie, along with your classmates, will help the chef with every step of the cooking process. Don’t worry! If one of the requested tasks feels daunting, there will be something that even the most novice cook feels comfortable attempting! The cooking is step one, followed by step two… the eating! At the end of the night you take home a copy of all the recipes you made.
Hot Stove Society is part of famed Seattle Chef Tom Douglas’s empire. Hot Stove tends to be more demo oriented than hands-on, although some classes do offer hands-on components. There are definitely fewer offerings than The Pantry so you have to check the website to see if there is anything interesting to you. The bonus is that you could end up cooking with Tom Douglas himself!
The Cooking and then the eating at The Table
Take a Tour for Your Tastebuds:
We are humongous foodies, and we love doing food tours to learn more about a city’s culinary scene. Both Savor Seattle and Eat Seattle offer awesome tours of Pike Place Market (in and of itself an awesome date idea!). We have a slight preference for Savor Seattle for their pivot during the pandemic to creating “Market Boxes” to deliver around the region. That shift kept many of the Pike Place and Seattle food companies afloat during the most challenging time period for the hospitality industry.
An example of one of the Market Boxes from Savor Seattle. They ship nationwide!
Best Sexy Dates:
Go to a Burlesque Show:
If you’ve never experienced a burlesque show with your sweetie, you are definitely missing out! Seattle is home to multiple opportunities to add new meaning to your “dinner and a show” date night experience.
While not strictly a burlesque performance, The Pink Door is one of Pike Place Market’s iconic restaurants with a fabulous Italian Menu and is not to be missed. Depending on the evening you may get to enjoy live music or a live aerial performance with your delicious pasta course.
Can Can Cabaret offers burlesque shows paired with French-PNW cuisine to stimulate all your senses! The menu and show change throughout the year and have never disappointed!
And our favorite holiday tradition in Seattle is absolutely Land Of The Sweets: A Cabaret Nutcracker. This yearly event takes place at The Triple Door Seattle (our favorite music venue in the city) Definitely put this event on your calendar for December, it is not to be missed!
Take in Seattle’s Sexiest Art Show:
The Seattle Erotic Art Festival, or SEAF as it is affectionately know, is a once a year event highlighting the best in erotic storytelling, visual art, and performance art. Trust us when we say this is an incredibly fun date! Different ticket types are available; a Sunday daytime gallery pass allows you to peruse the paintings, sculptures, and photography just as you would walk the galleries at the Seattle Art Museum. Or, you can purchase a ticket for Friday or Saturday night and enjoy the visual art, sensual performances, interactive playground, and people watching like nowhere else… you will find many attendees in vibrant and sexy attire. Leave your judgment at the door and see what you and your partner find sexy together!
Feeling sexy while attending the fundraiser Seduction Halloween Party for SEAF as we were captured by one of the official party photographers
Best Cheap Dates:
Stroll through an Urban Garden:
The Seattle area is home to a number of urban gardens that are perfect for taking a romantic stroll. We love to walk and decompress. Some of our best conversations happen when we’re leisurely walking and enjoying nature.
Our personal favorite (free!) urban garden walks are:
Bellevue Botanical Gardens- Bellevue Botanical is a wonderful place to look at the diversity of plants that are native to the region. The gardens change with the seasons so you will never grow tired of seeing what is in bloom.
Kubota Garden- This garden blends Japanese Garden style and technique with native NW plants. Beautiful and peaceful, with many paths and water features to feel centered.
Point Defiance Park- We lived in Tacoma for 7 years, and Point Defiance was one of our favorite places to spend time together. We recommend walking any of the hiking trails or walking along the water at Owen Beach. Now that 5-mile Drive is officially closed to cars, you can enjoy an even longer walk with stunning views of the Narrows Bridge and Puget Sound.
A soothing water feature at Bellevue Botanical Gardens
Get Cultured on the Cheap:
Do you love museums? Would you maybe go to more museums if you didn't have to pay full price for admission? Then mark your calendar for a Thursday night and hit up either Seattle's or Tacoma's Thursday Art Walk. In Tacoma, you can visit the Washington State History Museum for free from 3pm to 8pm, the Foss Waterway Seaport from 4pm - 8pm, and the Tacoma Art Museum and Museum of Glass for from 5pm to 8pm. Local downtown art galleries also open their doors for participants to stop by and enjoy, the works of art and mingle with the artists. In Seattle after 5pm, explore the numerous galleries in the historic Pioneer Square area for free. There are even three parking garages that are free if you visit one of the participating galleries. Get cultured and enjoy an artistic evening with your honey!
The glass cone of the Museum of Glass is iconic and makes a great photo backdrop
Snuggle While the Sun Sets:
Since our first date (many, many moons ago!) was watching the Perseid meteor shower near Mt. Baker, we may have a bit of a soft spot for snuggling outdoors. We definitely watched our fair share of sunsets from Bellingham’s Boulevard Park while we were in college together at Western Washington University. Go Vikings!
Here are are favorite places around Puget Sound to snuggle and watch the sunset:
Kerry Park, Seattle https://www.seattle.gov/parks/find/parks/kerry-park
Golden Gardens Park, Seattle https://www.seattle.gov/parks/find/parks/golden-gardens-park
Alki Beach, West Seattle https://www.seattle.gov/parks/find/parks/alki-beach-park
Titlow Beach, Tacoma https://www.metroparkstacoma.org/place/titlow-park-lodge/
Owen Beach, Tacoma (Michelle’s favorite place in all of Tacoma!) https://www.metroparkstacoma.org/place/owen-beach/
Boulevard Park, Bellingham https://cob.org/services/recreation/parks-trails/parks-guide/boulevard-park
Marina Park Pavillion, Kirkland https://www.kirklandwa.gov/Government/Departments/Parks-and-Community-Services/Find-a-Park/Marina-Park
The golden hour at Owen Beach
Sunset view of the downtown Seattle skyline from Marina Park in Kirkland
Which of these dates sound fun to you? Did we miss any of your favorite and unique date ideas in and around Seattle? Let us know in the comments below!
OMGosh what great ideas! Thanks, you two. I’m bookmarking this and hopeful that we can try a couple of those ideas this year. Our 30th Anniversary is coming up soon and I think more regularly scheduled date nights are in order.
We’re definitely saving this list, because there’s plenty of uncharted territory for us! I’m also so impressed with your commitment to making time for each other.
Go Vikings! Sorry about that beer I poured out back in the day...
Your list looks like mine, but you've done more of it! Additional ideas: the donut boat instead of hot tub boat (if you have medical reasons for avoiding hot tubs, for example) - same idea minus the hot water. Axe throwing. Flatstick Pub (mini golf and beer), Whirlyball (still haven't done, but it's on my list), also on my list: trapeze/circus school. Also preferable to dinner/movie is a live show/Seattle Arts & Lectures/comedy/improv. We were sad when Laughs Comedy closed in Kirkland!
This is an amazing list!! I've heard about the hot tub boats and after reading about your experience I am definitely going to schedule this one!! But there are so many other great ideas I want to try as well Thank you!!!
Amazing list! this could have been 10 blog posts. Thanks for sharing - as a single woman I’m excited to try out these ideas!