As a dad, you’ve got to be prepared for your teenagers to start dating. One way to get ahead of the game, if you weren’t a prolific dater yourself, is to know of some awesome dates your kids can go on. Anyone can go to a movie, but what is that teaching your child about relationships? Sit in a dark room and don’t talk? With this list of date ideas for teenagers the goal of dating is to understand how to interact with someone you like, and figure out if you even like them. This is can be used as a list of fun dates for teenage couples or for teenagers going on first dates.
A word to the fathers
As a father, you should hope that your teenager is having a good time, but also gaining skills in communication, expectation, and potentially… love. It is important for your teenager to feel comfortable talking to you about who they are going on dates with, so don’t put walls up immediately.
I know it is tempting to scare away your daughter’s date by cleaning your gun, or by being unapproachable. It can also be common that men don’t talk to their sons about who they are dating. Don’t do that. Instead, be open, inviting, and willing to get to know whoever they are taking on a date.
This article isn’t going to focus on what age a teenager should date, how to ensure that a date is respectful, whether or not you bring flowers on a first date. Those articles are their own conversation. For now, we are focusing on awesome, fun dates for teenagers. The hope is that you will talk with them about their dates and foster that healthy relationship with your children that lasts well past the two months they date someone you think is bad for them.
A word to the teenagers
Don’t trust the TV shows and movies with their ideas of teenage dating. Consider that while you are dating now, it doesn’t need to be serious. You probably are not going to marry the person you ask on a date your freshman year of high school.
Just go and have fun. Learn about other people. Figure out what is acceptable and what is not on dates.
Think of it this way, if you only go on one date and that is the person you REALLY like the stakes are really high. You may be scared to mess up. You haven’t tried any lines, gone any places, figured out who is paying, who is picking up, or what the expectations of a date are.
To use a basketball analogy, don’t just take one shot at the basket. Instead, play a whole season so that when you get to the state championship, you know your abilities.
Enough with the lectures, here are 91 date ideas for teenagers.
30 Cheap date ideas for teenagers
- Mini golf
- Laser tag
- Arcade
- Go-karting
- Ice skating
- Concerts
- Rent kayaks at a city park
- Play real golf
- Go to a driving range or TopGolf
- Go to a trampoline park
- Visit a haunted house
- Go fruit picking in an orchard
- Tye dye shirts
- Go to an amusement park
- Go to an aquarium
- Visit a museum
- Rent electric scooters
- Go bowling
- Attend an orchestra concert
- Cheer on a local sports team
- Dress up and eat somewhere fancy
- Each of you bring your favorite cereal and talk!
- Consider some of these questions even though you’re not married
- Go to a minor league baseball game
- Go to an improv or comedy theater
- Pretend your a food food critic at a local restaurant
- Go to a “paint your own” studio
- Go to a smash room and destroy somethings
- Check out a local college for plays,
- Build a miniature rocket
- Pick out a DIY craft at Hobby Lobby for under $10
42 Free date ideas for teenagers
- Board games
- Go on a hike
- Go for a bike ride
- Play Frisbee golf
- Play basketball
- Visit an open mic night
- Sing karaoke
- Have an art night
- Create your own art gallery
- Build a Lego set
- Make your own bucket list
- Tour a Buddhist temple
- Go to a skate park
- Have an origami competition
- Finish a coloring book
- Go “shopping” and pick out the most ridiculous outfit you can for your date
- Change the oil in your car
- Go slacklining
- Go geocaching
- Learn something new together (crocheting, sport, video game, etc.)
- TikTok Party (Find the funniest/favorite TikTok influencers)
- Volunteer somewhere (animal shelter, retirement home, city event, etc.)
- Have a pizza making competition
- Go rollerblading
- Find the best perfume/cologne at your department store
- Write a song together (or rewrite a popular song)
- Take apart a computer
- Hang hammocks in the local park
- Tour a radio station
- Walk around the mall
- Grab some friends and have an impromptu TED talk
- Go to a town event
- Go window shopping on main street
- Float down a river
- Have a cookie baking competition
- Go on a road trip to the coolest city near you
- Tour a cathedral
- Act like art critics at a free art museum at a local college
- Play 20 questions
- Search “free things to do near me” for fun free things to do in your city
- YouTube Party (Share your favorite YouTube videos)
- Complete funny “which character (Harry Potter, Disney, rock star, etc.) are you” tests
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