40 Social Distancing Winter Date Ideas for Couples | Things to Do

The temperature may be dropping outside, but some one-on-one time with your someone special can turn up the heat! We’ve come up with a trie and true list of activities to keep you connected on those chilly days.

Written by Stephanie Greenwald and Ashely Toler, Indy with Kids {This article may contain affiliate links}

Winter Date Night Ideas

There is still a lot of uncertainty in the world. Embrace the opportunities to reignite your spark or keep the flame burning. We also have 55 more social distancing date ideas.

Go Sledding

A typical winter in Indiana will yield at least a few snowy days. Make the most of fresh powder and grab a toboggan, climb your neighborhood hill and laugh together all the way down.

Axe throwing

Break out your inner lumberjack! This unconventional date is all about adrenaline–it’s like next-level darts. You and your partner compete by throwing axes at a bulls-eye and scoring points based on accuracy.

Archery

Follow Cupid’s cue–arrows equal love. Indoor and outdoor ranges are offered year-round. If one person has a leg up, this can be a great bonding activity to help your partner boost their skills. If you are both newcomers, you can learn together. If you’re both experienced, how about some healthy competition?

Scuba Diving Lessons

Think of all the amazing future adventures you can go on together! Colder weather is the perfect time to start working on your scuba certification, as there are several local sites that offer indoor pool dive training and certification.

Wine and Canvas

Support a local business or set up your own artistic adventure. Choose the rating you would like this date to have, from PG with acrylics to body paint and wherever the night takes you!

Escape Rooms

Are you up to the challenge? These fun, team-building activities are already limited to a smaller group size, so it’s perfect for socially distancing with just your inner circle.

Rock Climbing

Take your love to new heights, literally. Most of Indiana’s rock climbing takes place at indoor gyms around the state, but there are a few options for bouldering outdoors. Go where your comfort level takes you!

Cinema Experience

You can still get the in-person big screen experience and keep your distance. Many theaters are offering the option to rent out the theater for smaller social distanced parties. Have the whole place to yourselves or invite a few other couples to make it more cost effective.

Food Love

Create a meal plan together and only use new-to-you recipes. Need inspiration? These don’t have to be just for Summer. You can try making your favorite fair foods at home.

A Different Kind of Bowling

Miniature bowling and duckpin bowling alleys are often smaller and more intimate, and many are reservation only. While similar to standard bowling, the laid-back environment is the perfect back-drop for a romantic date night.

Visit a Museum

How about a heaping dose of culture? Take a trip to your local museum and soak up everything it has to offer. Safety measures in place, most are requiring timed entry tickets to assist in your socially distant endeavors. Or, find a virtual museum tour and explore a museum you’ve always wanted to see in person.

Trip to the Zoo

Zoos aren’t just for a day-trip with the kids. Most are open year-round and many offer extravagant light decorations during the winter months. Take some time for just the two of you to enjoy this experience.

Holiday Lights and Decor

There is always that one house, you know the one. It gets decked out for the holidays every year. If it is in your neighborhood, bundle up and walk hand-in-hand to enjoy the sight. If you will need to drive and park, be sure to pack a thermos of your favorite toasty beverage and a snuggly blanket.

Carriage/Sleigh Ride

Rent a horse drawn carriage to trot around downtown. Downtown is beautiful at night and seeing it from the open roof of a carriage is magical. Often, the guides can tell you about different sites and markers. But, if you’d rather just sit and snuggle in the quiet, they won’t mind.

Couple Massage

Visiting a professional masseuse is a great gift or date idea, as long as you and your partner are both comfortable. Rather do it yourself? Grab the oil and get to work! Massage has many health benefits, but stress relief and a deeper connection is top on our list.

Take a Hike

With the appropriate gear, hiking is great in any season. Sturdy footwear and warm clothes will help keep you comfortable even in the winter chill.

Couples Yoga

Hit up a local studio or grab the nice towels for the floor at home. Yoga relieves stress and clears your mind. Once you get limbered up, look at giving acrobatic couples yoga a try!

Winter Camping

Make sure you are properly prepared for the elements when taking this one on! It’s way colder, but bonus–no bugs.

The thought of roughing it in the cold still too much? Try faux-camping–grill dinner on the fire, roast marshmallows, star gaze–then head back inside to the heat and comfort of your own cozy bed.

Show Your Wild Side

Book a private encounter with your partner’s favorite animal. You can meet penguins at the aquarium, high five a dolphin at the zoo, and get up close and personal with kangaroos at Wilstem’s.

Ice skating

Ice skating is an awesome shared experience, even if neither of you knows what a triple Lutz is. Lean on each other, fall down together, and laugh with one another. Tend to each others bumps and bruises when you get home with a gentle touch.

Take a Guided Walking Tour

Let someone lead the way, as you take in the sights of your city and learn about everything from art, architecture, history, local flora and fauna, or even ghost tours!

Tour Your Interests

There are tours all over, from single-city stops to state-wide trails. With chocolate, culinary, brewery, winery, and distillery tours, there’s something for everyone!

Check out a Waterfall

Waterfall trekking is a thing, and there are so many gorgeous ones to put on your must-see list. If it’s cold enough to freeze while flowing, these beautiful sights become even more majestic.

Play in the Snow

There’s so much more fun to be had, than just shoveling the stuff. Build a snowman, have a playful snowball fight, or make snow angels. After you get chilly, come in and cuddle with some cocoa to warm up.

Virtual Double Date

Host a zoom meetup with another couple or two. Watch the same movie, play cards or cook. Catch up with each other and make plans for a face to face double date.

Be a Mixologist

Experiment with some adult beverages: hot toddies, spiked apple cider, mock-tail. Find a concoction you both agree love and dub it your signature winter drink.

Around the World Cuisine

Make a standing weekly dinner date and try a different culture’s food each week. This week Ethiopian, next week Mexican, the week after Indian. There are so many great authentic ethnic restaurants throughout the city, this standing date night could last for months!

Give Back

Volunteer together either in-person or virtually. Search for opportunities that fit your strengths and interests on a website like www.VolunteerMatch.org.

Meditate

Tandem meditation sessions can help you increase productivity and focus, while lowering your risk for depression. It can also be an incredibly intimate experience and a chance to connect emotionally like never before.

Learn a New Language

Plans to travel abroad some day in the future? Dreams of that passport stamp? Learn the basics together so you can communicate with the locals and get around a foreign land easier.

Learn sign language together

Learning a new language introduces you to new cultures and communities. Sign language also improves your peripheral vision, reaction time, and gives your brain a workout! Bonus, you can talk to each other from across a noisy room with ease.

What’s Your Love Language

Make up your own language that only the two of you understand–your own love language. Make it verbal or write love notes to each other in code and leave them in special places for your sweetie to find and decipher.

Tell Me a Story

Cozy up in front of the fireplace with an audiobook. Try Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen; one of the most loved and well-known romance novels of all times, or anything else that speaks to your hearts. No fireplace? No problem. Pull up a yule log video on YouTube and grab a comfy blanket.

Create a Photo Album

Include photos of just the two of you or the whole family. Reminiscing about old times is part of the fun! Not enough pictures to create an entire album? Get snapping!

Kindness Rocks

Paint and hide kindness rocks together. Use positive words of encouragement to brighten a stranger’s day. “Hope,” “have faith,” “smile,” and “breathe” are just some of the calming messages you can add to your rocks.

Virtual Charades

Do you talk with your hands? Think you can act out a person, place, or thing well enough to beat your opponent? Play online with another couple, team up with someone on the other screen and play against your partner and theirs. Use an online charades generator for word suggestions.

Honey-Do Date

How about a productive date? Mark that long-awaited to-do item off your list. Purge old toys, clothes, and housewares. Reminisce about the good times as you come across things. Donate to an organization that you love.

Play together

Find your inner child and build a blanket fort, play old school video games, make music with guitar hero or rock band, or have a paper airplane competition. Winner chooses next week’s date.

Make a time capsule

Write love notes to each other, write down your goals, or write a family update letter. Add in a couple sentimental objects then bury or hide it. Set a reminder in your phone to open in 5, 10, 20 years…

Portrait of Love

Draw each other; clothed or otherwise. Experiment with mediums; try watercolors or charcoal. Crayons or a #2 pencil. Caricatures will bring some laughs or go sultry à la Titanic. 

Deeper Communication

Work on communication, teamwork, and trust! Blindfold one spouse while the other directs them to perform mundane tasks; cleaning, laundry, washing dishes. Let your imagination run wild.

Body of Work

Assign each partner a body part and research everything there is to know about that part. Present your most outrageous findings to each other. Think of things like “pinky toe,” “funny bone,” or “noggin.”

Learn a New Trick

Desperate for something new? Find a youngster to teach you new slang, dance moves, or whatever else you need to up your cool factor. If you don’t live with a teen, have a Skype “class” with a younger family member or friend. 

When all else fails: Netflix and Chill (not sure what that means? See previous idea.)

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