LIFESTYLE | 5 unforgettable (but realistic) date ideas

Are you getting slightly bored with heart shaped chocolates, rose infused shower gel sets and dinner in that one expensive restaurant in your town? Yeah, I got over that before February even started. I’m not a big Valentine’s Day believer and I’ve never been, but hey – if there’s a time of the year when people get to make that extra effort, then you might as well take the opportunity and do something special for your loved one! Don’t make it an utter bore though – do something grand! And don't keep it just to February if it's say June, just do it anyways. Because it's crucial to live for the moment, to live right now - and stop waiting around for tomorrow or next year, or the year after that year.

Explore a new city over the weekend – from top to bottom, from east to west
The best and most unforgettable dates I've been to were the ones on which we explored a new city. I can still picture the first time I went to London on a day trip with a boy. All the places we visited and all the places we took pictures of. An unfamiliar environment with someone who you adore is a recipe for a giant footprint in your brain matter. Everything new is exciting, add the endorphin flowing through your blood and it's like a boooooosh - an explosion of memories right there up for grabs. And it doesn't even cost you much more than a train ticket to the chosen city. Oh and it doesn't have to be a massive city, I can remember Worcester the very same way too!

Go to a real big fancy theatre
And by big I mean something truly mind blowing, such as the English National Opera. Currently there's La Traviata and The Mastersingers of Nuremberg on at the ENO which I can imagine must be just breath-taking. I remember when I went to watch La Traviata in the Czech Republic - there's this quite small-ish (compared to the ENO) open air theatre where you sit down and the whole auditorium spins like a massive turntable whilst actors and singers are running around performing. Just amazing! Now the caliber of the ENO is on a whole new level. I'm sure you would not forget the experience for the rest of your life!

Plant a tree (or a garden)
Right, they always say that in books and movies - want to do something meaningful? plant a tree! And it's true. Not only that you're doing something meaningful for the world (every little counts when it comes to oxygen and fresh air) but you're also doing something terribly romantic. Given the assumption you will stay together until you're both 80 (touch wood), you might come back to this tree some 50, 60 years later and be like - wooooah, man look, WE planted that! Now that's some mind-boggling stuff right there.

Create a 'day in your life' scrapbook
So apart from dates that cost cash, you can also do things for pretty much nothing. Just go about your regular date business - maybe have a breakfast at your local breakfast place, go for a walk in the park, visit local museum, go for a bike ride. Anything that you'd do on your average, maybe a little less glamorous date - BUT - take a camera with you! And take pictures of everything, take hundreds of pictures if you want to! When the day's over, either print the pictures off and make a scrapbook together with them or, if we're sticking to the minimal budget rule, create an online gallery with them. Or even a Facebook album! That way this one day which might have been forgotten, will always be remembered even if it's just through the little scrapbook!

Write a poem or a story together (or even a song!)
For those linguistically talented couples out there - this one's for you. It's all about creating - about creating something that you two can share when you're under the weather or when you need that little reminder of how awesome you two are together. In life I've been lucky enough to meet someone who had written a short story for me, and even though I wasn't part of the process, I was a part of the story - and although the feelings and the person are long lost in the past, I can still recall the story and the beauty of it. Soppy, I know, but absolutely one of those everlasting moments.

Have you ever been on an unforgettable date? Tell me about it in the comments below!