Is there any couple out there who doesn’t include some sort of food in their date night plans? I love planning our date night activity around food. Or finding something to eat that matches the theme of our date night. The food-themed date night ideas in this post are sure to make any date night extra delicious!
These food-themed date night ideas were taken straight from my book, Prioritizing Date Night in Your Marriage! With over 300 date night ideas in the entire book, these 13 are a small portion of what you get in the book.
One of the greatest things about waffles is how versatile they are. You can eat them with savory toppings or sweet toppings. For date night, it might be fun to see how many ways the two of you can come up with to eat your waffle. And at the end, pick your top three creations. After you’ve cooked your batter, divide each waffle into four segments. Rather than consuming an entire waffle with each of your different topping ideas, you can top only 1/4 or 1/2 of each waffle. Then you’ll have room to taste test many more delicious concoctions!
One of my personal favorite ways to enjoy a waffle is Belgian style. It’s best with ice cream, fresh fruit, and hot fudge on top. Click here for my favorite Belgian Waffles with homemade hot fudge sauce. You might also like topping your waffle with bacon/eggs/syrup, chicken/hot sauce/syrup, bananas/pecan/caramel, or chocolate chips/cream. Or recreate one of your favorites to get at a waffle shop near you.
There is no limit to the creativity of your toppings, except what your taste buds can handle! Make sure to taste a bite of your spouse’s concoctions and yours as well. You’ll want to sample every bit of goodness you can to help find the best flavor combinations.
Just like waffles, crepes are versatile and can be enjoyed in many different ways. The great thing about crepes is that you can eat more of them without feeling guilty. Search online for a crepe recipe, if you don’t have one of your own, and enjoy! In addition to the ideas found in the Waffle Bar date idea, you might consider filling your crepes with the following; Fresh peaches/cream, strawberries/chocolate sauce, nutella/bananas, ham/cheese, mozzarella/fresh basil/chopped cherry tomatoes, or pesto/mozzarella/chicken.
This is one of my favorite food-themed date night activities to enjoy with my husband! If you don’t own a fondue pot, it would make a great gift to your spouse for your anniversary. You could give it to them with this idea attached to also gift them a date night. Two fondue pots would be even better so you can enjoy cheese and chocolate without washing dishes in between. If you don’t have a fondue pot or any plans of purchasing one in the future, don’t worry! Pull out a muffin tin, fill one cup with the cheese/chocolate, and each of the other ones with your choice of dippers. Sit next to each other at the table, or on a picnic blanket outside and enjoy.
Related: Non-Traditional Wedding Anniversary Gifts to Give Your Spouse
You can find a lot of great cheese-based dips for fondue online. But our favorite is a combination of Swiss and cheddar cheeses. Dippers for cheese might include; Cubes of different kinds of bread, cubes of different types of cooked meats, or slices of deli meat folded accordion style on a toothpick. Fresh fruit (apple slices, grapes, or pear cubes). Raw veggies (carrots, cherry tomatoes, celery, broccoli, or cauliflower). And sauteed or steamed veggies (artichoke, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, zucchini, or mushrooms).
You can also find chocolate fondue recipes in an online search. Or you can simply melt down your favorite chocolate mixed with a tiny bit of coconut oil. Dippers for chocolate might include; Baked goods (brownie bites, donut holes, mini cream puffs, or angel food cake bites). Fresh fruit (kiwis, strawberries, bananas, raspberries, cubed peaches, melon, or orange segments). Dried fruit (bananas, apricots, pineapple, apples, or raisins). Candies (gummy bears, cinnamon bears, marshmallows, rice krispie treats, caramels, or peanut brittle). And other goodies (oreos, twinkies, gingersnaps, spoonfuls of peanut butter, animal crackers, vanilla wafers, popcorn, or potato chips).
Go shopping together before your date in search of the best dippers for your choice of fondue. Walk up and down each aisle searching for unique and yummy items to dip in your fondues. Try different types of cheese-based dips and find dippers that compliment them. Again, the only limit to this date night is what your taste buds can handle. And how much goodness both of your stomachs can hold.
I’ve never been much of an ice cream lover, but I can always get on board when someone offers me a cup of frozen yogurt. My husband and I used to live within walking distance of a frozen yogurt shop and it was a frequent stop for us. If you ask the employees, most frozen yogurt places will allow you to taste test a few flavors before deciding which one to fill up on. A frozen yogurt date is simple but delicious!
Most stores have a few traditional flavors along with some unique and seasonal ones. I’ve seen lavender, cotton candy, peanut butter, pumpkin spice, cinnamon, and many other fun flavors. In addition to the frozen yogurt choices, you’ll find a variety of add-ins including crushed cookies, crushed candy, fruit, and other treats. You will be charged for your treat by the ounce, so be aware of how full you’ve filled your bowls!
Food trucks are becoming more and more popular. And they have been popping up in more rural areas, not just in the busy areas of big cities. Ask around your area or on social media to find out where the best food trucks can be found and what’s available near you. You might even be able to find some food truck roundups, a group that hosts regular meetups in predetermined areas. These roundups feature a few different local food trucks and even some from out of the area. They are a great way to get a taste of a few different foods without having to drive around.
If the two of you find a food truck you love and would like to frequent, be sure to follow their social media accounts. Then you will know where to find them when a craving hits.
Do you and your spouse ever have trouble deciding where to eat dinner? A progressive dinner can solve that problem for you. Start at one restaurant for drinks and move on to the next for appetizers. Pick somewhere yummy to eat your main course and end the night at a location where they serve your favorite dessert.
You could also do this at various drive-thru locations. Hit up your favorites to create however many courses you want. Then set up a picnic at your local park or in the back of your car at a scenic location.
For a more interesting night, plan for a backward progressive dinner. Start with dessert and end with drinks. You’re both adults, you’re allowed to eat dessert first!
Have you ever done a taste test to determine which food or drink brand is the best? Some of the most common I have seen is Coke vs. Pepsi. This might be a fun date night to involve the kids in.
Some ideas of things to test for; What brand produces the best can of root beer? Which name brand makes the best vanilla or chocolate ice cream? Which pizza place has the perfect cheese pizza? Where can you find the best taco in town? Is there a flavor of Oreos that outshines the rest? Which movie theater in your area has the best popcorn? Which brand of butter-flavored microwave popcorn should you stock up on for all of your movie nights? Where can you find the best burger? Which cookie delivery service or drive-thru soda shop has the best cookies (chocolate chip, sugar, specialty flavors)?
Are the creative juices flowing? This idea could knock out quite a few weeks of date nights for the two of you, both at home and out on the town. I’m sure you and your spouse could come up with some great ideas of your own as well!
Do you have Costco, Sam’s Club, or similar warehouse stores in your area? Every day around 11, the samples come out. Walk the store together and test them all out. Don’t feel guilty if you do a little stock-up shopping while you’re there. And maybe even purchase a package of whatever you have been sampling. My husband and I like to wander the aisles and find things that we “need” to buy in the future. Or the food items that we will be buying in bulk when we finish our food storage shelving. If either of you is still hungry after your trip through the store, stop by the food court at the front for a hot dog or a slice of pizza. I’ve heard they’re the best there.
Check out a cookbook from the library and pick a few recipes to try. Or look through both of your family recipes for a dish that neither of you has ever made before. One of our favorite cookbooks is the Date Night In cookbook, it can be found on Amazon.
Related: Date Night In Cookbook for Date Night at Home
Go shopping together for all of the ingredients that you will need to make your meal. Turn on some music and start cooking. Find ways to work together as a team to get dinner on the table and have fun while doing it. After you’re done eating. Put the dishes in the sink to soak and cuddle up on the couch together to relax. Rate your meal, determine what you would do differently, talk about how well you worked together, and plan your next kitchen adventure.
Related: Connecting Through Cooking Together as a Couple
If you and your spouse are anything like my husband and me, you don’t splurge on dinner unless you’re celebrating something special. For once, get dressed up and spend a little extra money just because. This is a great opportunity to cross some restaurants off of your bucket list. Think of a restaurant where reservations are required well in advance (this is where planning ahead comes in). The type of place you’re looking for is a black tie, nobody brings their kids along, the lights are dimmed and the view from their windows is usually scenic.
My husband and I love to create our own pizza at home. Some nights we’ll make one big pizza and other nights we will each make our own. There is an area in every grocery store where you’ll find pre-made pizza crust, sauce, pepperoni, and powdered Parmesan cheese. As well as a few other spices and toppings that are associated with pizza. This is a great place to start when creating your own pizza at home. You’ll find a 12” or 14” crust size, as well as some options for personal size crusts, around 8” in diameter.
Other crust options for building your own at home would be to stop by the take-and-bake pizza shop and order pre-rolled dough. You could also purchase scone dough from the bakery at a grocery store or frozen roll dough. If you plan on using the frozen roll dough, thaw it out a few hours in advance and let raise, just a tiny bit. One roll is about the perfect size for a personal-size pizza.
Pick up a variety of topping options to choose from. Make sure that you have something on hand that you know each person will enjoy. You may want to make multiple pizzas each so that you can enjoy a few of your favorite topping combinations.
After dinner, keep the theme of pizza going with dessert. There are so many different combinations to enjoy when it comes to dessert pizzas. S’mores Pizza – marshmallow creme, chocolate chips and graham cracker crumbs or melted butter, chocolate chips, and marshmallows. Fruit Streusel Pizza – fruit spread or pureed fresh fruit, streusel topping, and icing. Peanut Butter Pizza – peanut butter spread on the bottom, topped with milk chocolate chips. Cinnamon Sugar Pizza – melted butter, ground cinnamon, sugar and icing drizzled on top. Fruit Pizza – any fruit you enjoy, topped with dollops of whipped cream. I would suggest baking each of these pizzas, except for the fruit pizza. But you could also enjoy any of them cold, just make sure you bake the crust first.
One of our favorite date activities was an Iron Chef Pizza competition that we received in our first date night subscription box. We were sent all of the pizza basics and only had to provide the toppings that we wanted to use. My husband and I each got to pick a certain number of items to add to our individual pizzas. The kicker was before we started putting our pizzas together, we were directed to trade one of our toppings. It was a fun twist and both pizzas still turned out delicious. We were told to taste both pizzas and determine which was the best. The winner got to relax after dinner while the other person did the dishes.
Related: Build Your Own Pizza Competition Date
You and your spouse are free to set whatever parameters you would like for your competition. Limit the number of toppings, or the type of toppings (ie only two veggies and one meat). Put a time limit on how long you have to shop for your pizza fixings. And then another time limit on how long you have to put them together. Base your competition on finding a new, not common, topping that only the two of you realize belongs on pizza.
This post is an excerpt from my book, Prioritizing Date Night in Your Marriage. The book includes over 300 date night ideas for couples in every stage of life. These food-themed date night ideas are included in just one of the 12 chapters filled with creative and unique ways to date your spouse. Click here to purchase your copy of Prioritizing Date Night in Your Marriage!
What are your favorite food-themed date night activities?
