Dating

My dad is currently the 1st Counselor in a YSA Bishopric. Yesterday I went to his ward because they were having a really cool Q&A panel in a combined Priesthood and Relief Society Meeting. They had the kids in the ward submit questions the week before and then they answered them yesterday. As expected many of the questions were about dating and marriage. During the discussion one of the girls in the ward brought up a point about dating that I agree with 100%. She said she has talked a lot with both guys and girls about dating, and their concerns about it. She said that guys don't like to take girls out, because they're worried about the girls thinking that they're in love with them, and then they become really clingy. While this can sometimes be true of girls, there is a reason they act like that. If a guy hasn't asked out a girl for six months, when he finally does ask a girl out, of course she's going to think he likes her a lot. If guys asked out girls on a more frequent dates, they wouldn't seem like such a big deal. So guys, ask girls out on dates! They don't have to be serious or expensive. Dating more frequently gives everyone more opportunities to find out what they like, and will also make it not such a big deal.  Along with the great dating advice, they also gave us a list of dating activities. Please enjoy almost 200 ideas conveniently sorted into seasonal categories.
There are no excuses to not date now :)

Winter
An old fashion taffy pull
Pet the cats at PetSmart
Exercise together
Make dinner at the apartment and then play a game of pool at the Institute
A Jazz game!
Go Caroling
Decorate cookies
With $5 in quarters for each go to the mall arcade
Visit a museum
Play card games - Nerts, Hearts, Scum, Egyptian, 9 down, Idiot, Spades, BS, Pinochle, O'Heck, Phase 10, etc.
Go skiing
Pick out and boil a lobster together
Play tag in the Fine Arts Building
Volunteer somewhere (i.e. Children's house, Boys & Girls Club, Senior Center, etc.)
Build a snowman
"Date Olympics": relays, basketball game, eating competition, ice blocking, etc.
Ping pong & hot chocolate
Lunch date: hot soup and warm bread
Go to the mall; in each store (taking turns) choose an item that reminds you of a story about yourself or childhood memory or family experience. This is better for single dates, and a great way to get to know each other.
Bobsledding
Lean cuisine: with a strict budged go buy an appetizer, main course & dessert, and then prepare it together
Playdoh sculptures
Make and bake cookies together
Racquetball
Make gingerbread houses
Sledding down Old Main
Make s'mores over the electric stove or mini s'mores over candles
Play card games
Dress in formal wear and go out for fast food
Watch a basketball game
Ice Skating
Group date: mystery dinner
Make and decorate cookies and give them to other people
Bowling
Finger painting: choose a location and paint the scenery
Shovel snow to help someone
Picture scavenger hunt (Group date): We made a list of crazy things to do, ie Dance with an elderly person, hug a stranger, etc. and then went out and took pictures of each other doing these random things. Then we went back to one of our apartments an compare pictures with the other couples.
Picnic on the living room floor - it's great to just talk and get to know each other
Baking of some sort together (bread, cookies, doughnuts, etc)
Pool - $2.00 Tuesday night @ the Fun Park
Country dancing @ the Fun Park
Board games and talking
Aggie basketball game or football game
Build a fort in your living room with couch and blankets/sheets
Group date: read a play and assign different parts, make-up weird accents
Make a snowman
Go to a concert
Paint a picture
Game night
Snowshoeing
Rock climbing at the Rock Haus
Do ceramics
Arcade games
Roller blading with a group
Attend a Hockey game
Temple Square to see the Lights
Any spur of the moments things
Sledding with hot chocolate
Snowmobiling
Service date
Backward date: dessert, activity, then dinner
Create portraits of each other using things you find in the fridge
Nostalgia date: do things you enjoyed doing when you were little and eat your favorite foods from your childhood
Go to a comedy club
Dollar dinner: the couple split up and each couple has $1.00 to find part of the meal (Salad, dessert, main course, etc)
Cookie scavenger hunt: go door to door asking for ingredients for cookies. Once you have all the ingredients you need, make the cookies and then leave some on the doorsteps of those who gave you the ingredients.
Snow sculptures (bring bottles of water and food coloring to decorate) an drink hot chocolate
Iron Chef competition
Pick an unusual national holiday to celebrate (national donut day, national you're welcome day, etc)

Spring
Video scavenger hunt
Teach your date how to do something you enjoy: trap shooting, rock climbing, kayaking, fly fishing, etc.
Tie dye T-shirts
Share a bucket of chicken at 2nd dam
Find a new recipe on the Internet; go shopping for the ingredients; make it together; eat it together; and maybe even do the dishes together!
Go on a motorcycle ride
Facials at the beauty college
buy rubber ducks and race them in a creek
Hit a bucket of balls at the driving range
Build marshmallow guns and have a marshmallow fight
Make a bonfire and stargaze!
Sack lunches on the grass at the Tabernacle on a sunny day
Group date: simple dinner and board games
Go feed the ducks
Take a drive up the canyon in a convertible
Go on a walk
Fly a kite and have a picnic
Tennis
Ice blocking
Jump in puddles/play in the rain
Go people watching
Picnic in the rain

Summer
Make homemade ice cream
Play "redneck" croquet
Take a bike ride
Picnic dinner in a park
Watch a sunrise together
Amazing Race: each couple has to make up a clue; race to see which car gets to the "pit stop" first.
Go golfing
Jump on a trampoline with soap and water
Rollerblading progressive dinner (eat different courses at different locations)
"Geo Cashing"
Play hopscotch
Grill salmon and corn on the cob; make lemonade; sit outside; eat, and enjoy!
Frisbee
Campfire up the canyon - dinner & fun!
Play sand volleyball with several couples
USU's Moonlight & Music
Walk down Main Street and have a list of items you have to take pictures of
Duct tape spoons to your hands; then prepare and eat a whole meal with "spoon hands"
Ice cream sculpting
Hike the Wind Caves or Green Canyon
Go get an ice cream cone
Go karts
Concert in the park
Go to the Willow Park or Hogle Zoo
Boating
Float the Onieta Narrows
Run through sprinklers
Build cardboard canoes!
Go Cliff Jumping
Play night games with a few couples
Fishing with a picnic
Go to a county fair or rodeo
Carve bars of soap into sculptures
Tin foil dinners
Play and talk at a playground
Attend a play
Test drive cars
Make wooden boats and get them to float, sail or race
Cornflakes by candlelight!
A glow in the dark baseball game
Watch the Cruise In
Evening Picnics
Trap shooting
Fishing
Being taught to throw a football perfectly or to hit a home run in the batting cage
Put a picnic together and play guitar
Washing cars
Horseback ride
Go for a drive up Logan Canyon
Walk around the cemetery
Tandem bike ride
Walk down Main Street and go in random stores to check them out
Go to the beach (or any body of water) and skip rocks
Get ice cream and then go to a park and swing and talk
Canoeing
Fly a kite
Kickball
4-wheeling
Get in a food fight at the park and play other food games ie eat pudding through tights!
Dress up in hideous clothes/hair/makeup and take pictures at all the famous landmarks in the area
Laser tag
Visit a nursing home
Double our Group date: For the first part of the date we drive to a parking lot. Turn up the music in the car and leave the doors open. Take turns and make up four count dances. Warning: make sure the battery doesn't die!
Frisbee golf
Star gazing
Make a delux cardboard box house
Watch a movie in the back of a truck outside
Eat dinner without using any plates, bowls, or utensils (put it on a tarp and use your hands)
Mud Volleyball

Fall
Play jacks
Miniature golf
Fruit carving.designing: watermelon, pineapple, melons, etc
Buy groceries together
Go to a dance
Make a crazy fun dessert together
Shoot a 22
Long board in the football stadium parking lot
Rake leaves and jump in them
Buy a couple of sub sandwiches, go to a playground, and play tag
Roller skating
Got to a baseball game
Dinner and a movie
Carve pumpkins
USU's Poetry and Beverage
Make homemade pizza
Haunted corn maze
Watch a sunset together
Water bottle bowling
Go to a university or community program or event
Doorbell ditch neighbors
Prank someone
Build a fort and play nintendo
Indoor camping
Chair soccer
Barbarian dinner
Play basketball
Sardines in the Fine Arts Building
Go miniature golfing inside
Group date game night: swedish twister, 3D twister, Smurf, Psychiatrist, Animal Sounds, Human knot, Celebrity, etc.
Make a movie