You can (and should) date your friends
Why should couples get all the fun?
My love language is quality time. I’m content to go out to dinner with a friend and chat or gossip over drinks. But what I really enjoy doing is a fun, unique activity where we can spend quality time together. I love being creative with friends or trying a new experience. Basically, I like going on dates with my friends. I’m tired of seeing activities branded as “the perfect date night” because the connotation implies that you have to be in a romantic relationship to do the fun activity. Why does “the perfect date night” have to be for couples only? I believe friends should go on dates. Fun experiences allow you to connect more deeply and form healthier and stronger relationships.
A few years ago, I saw a TikTok about a husband and wife who plan two dates a month, one inside their home and one outside their home. They trade off every month who plans the inside date and who plans the outside. I’m not married, and I don’t have any desire to get married or date. But I do have a best friend and life partner in my sister, and we decided we’d do this starting in January 2023. Ever since, we have done a different inside date and outside date every month. We were already extremely close, but planning these unique dates has strengthened our relationship and we’ve had some really incredible experiences. I thought I’d share what we have done for each date in case you want to copy some ideas to do with your friends.
Here’s everything we’ve done in the last 2 ½ years:
2023:
January:
Outside- blind date with a book: We went to Barnes and Noble and each picked out a book for each other. Then we revealed our picks over margaritas. It was fun finding a book that my sister hadn’t read yet, but I thought she’d read. I’ll admit, I haven’t read the book she picked out for me, but it is a book I want to read!
Inside- homemade finger sandwiches and tea: We put together a few varieties of finger sandwiches and brewed a fresh pot of tea. It was a lovely way to spend a rainy afternoon.
February:
Outside- board game bar: This bar near us had recently opened. You pay a flat fee to play any of the board games they have and can enjoy beers (or ciders if you’re us) while you play. It’s a cool concept, but we’d rather bring our own board games to a bar or just make our own drinks at home and play a board game.
Inside- homemade pizza night: We picked out our favorite toppings and even made the pizza dough from scratch. We cracked open a bottle of wine we brought back from Napa the year before, and it was a great evening.
March:
Outside- book swap meetup: This activity was extra special because it led to us joining a book club that we still attend now. One of our favorite cocktail bars posted there would be a book swap and we decided to make it our march outside date for that month. One of the club members had on a Daisy Jones and the Six tee and so did I! We quickly bonded and we started going to book club that May.
Inside- Crumbl and book drafting: There are some months where we struggle to think of an activity or with our schedules, it had been difficult to plan. This was one of those months. We had an idea for a book we wanted to write together, so we worked on brainstorming and outlining and ordered some Crumbl to eat while we drafted. We have not touched this book idea since, but maybe one day we’ll come back to it!
April:
Outside- farmers market and metaphysical shop: This was such a lovely day. We don’t have a farmers market that close to us, so we have to make it more of a planned activity to get to the one we like. Also in that town is one of our favorite metaphysical witchy shops, so we decided to make it a little day of shopping.
Inside: make guacamole and play guacamole card game: I love a theme! I found this guacamole card game where you have to name things from a particular category while avoiding certain letters. So naturally we had to make homemade guacamole to snack on while playing.
May:
Outside- renaissance faire: It had been a few years since I attended our local ren faire and even longer for my sister. We only stayed for about half a day because we went at the very end of May, and it was brutally hot and humid, but we made the most of it while we were there.
Inside- crystal unicorn paperweight craft: I’m a big fan of craft kits, even the ones intended for kids. This craft kit involved using borax to grow crystals overnight then we got to paint our little unicorns. And me being me, I made unicorn themed cocktails because obviously! We had a lot of fun with this one.
June:
Outside- visit a vinyl lounge: A new vinyl lounge opened near us, and we wanted to check it out. We didn’t know this ahead of time, but you could bring your own vinyl, and they’d play it for you. It had a cool vibe, and we enjoyed discovering a new place.
Inside- candle painting: I’ve seen this all over TikTok, but it was not as easy as it looked. The wax hardens too quickly before you can really paint and really gunked up our paintbrushes. It was also challenging getting the wax “paint” to adhere to the candle. We did our best!
July:
Outside- ice cream flight: If a Texas summer requires one thing, it’s lots of ice cream. We went to an ice cream parlor that infuses spirits into their ice cream, and they do flights of four flavors. It was divine!
Inside- cook a lemon-themed dinner: My sister put together a lemon-themed menu. I usually do the recipe planning, so it was nice letting her take over, and you know I love a theme!
August:
Outside- tattoos and tarot workshop: Jaclyn found this tattoo shop in Dallas that was hosting a tarot workshop and having a flash sale. It was so much fun, and I got a tattoo of my favorite card, the high priestess.
Inside- boxed brownie competition: We each had a box of brownie mix and had to elevate them using only 2 added ingredients. I loved this little challenge and the results were delicious. The competition was only voted on by us, so naturally, we both won.
September:
Outside- taste of Portugal at Central Market: I wrote about this one in my be brave and try the tinned fish post. It was a groundbreaking experience for both of us.
Inside- tinned fish night: I also wrote about how the Taste of Portugal led to our tinned fish obsession and how we had our first little spread that same night.
October:
Outside- Dracula ballet: I had seen this ballet back in high school, so it was fun remembering certain moments of it. My sister is a pretty big Dracula fan too, so she also really enjoyed the experience. And it felt perfect for spooky month!
Inside- pumpkin decorating: This one was a little bit of a cheat because it’s something we had done before, but we dry out flowers and glue them onto pumpkins to decorate. It’s so much easier than carving, and the pumpkins last a lot longer that way too.
November:
Outside- Texas Book Fest: This was the first (and only) outside activity that involved a trip. We drove down to Austin for the Texas Book Fest, a free event with over 50 authors attending. We got to meet some of our favorite authors, and we also paid for two special author events with Stacey Abrams and Roxane Gay.
Inside- baking cookies: You can never go wrong with baking cookies in my book especially around the holidays. We decorated one of our Christmas trees while the cookies were baking in the oven.
December:
Outside- Waitress the Musical Pro-shot: Neither of us had seen Waitress before or even listened to the soundtrack. So when the pro-shot was showing in theaters, we decided to go see it, and we had a wonderful time and absolutely loved it!
Inside- blanket fort and cheesy Christmas movie bingo: Okay, this was another little bit of a cheat because this is one of our (many) Christmas traditions. But we’ll make a blanket fort and each create bingo cards with cheesy Christmas movie tropes, and then we’ll marathon the movies all day inside the blanket fort. We’ll order pizza and it’s such a great day.
2024
January:
Outside- craft bar: We tried a new-to-us bar that has a closet of craft supplies you can either rent or purchase to use while you’re sipping on cocktails or mocktails. I worked on a watercolor painting, and Jaclyn started putting together a miniature for her bookshelf.
Inside- read a book and bake from it: I should have known my media on the menu cooking project was going to be a thing back then! We both read Lessons and Chemistry and decided to bake the brownies with walnuts that Elizabeth makes. This book was incredible and was in my top 5 last year.
February:
Outside- silk screening workshop: I discovered this workshop through an Instagram reel. We used oil-based paints and water to create patterns on silk scarves. We loved how they turned out, and the process was so much fun.
Inside- treats from a local British shop and Paddington 2: Paddington is such a delightful series, and I think I like the sequel more than the first one. I really want to watch the third. And having treats and marmalade created the perfect immersive experience.
March:
Outside- visit a speakeasy: This place near us is a small, intimate cocktail lounge with my favorite vibes. They have an option called Dealer’s Choice where the bartender will make a cocktail custom for you based on the vibes you’re looking for. And they have bar nuts! More places need bar nuts, I will die on this hill. We doubled this as one of my birthday outings and went back again this year for my birthday. I think it will become a lil tradition!
Inside- paper lanterns with tea bags and pressed flowers: This was another Instagram reel tutorial. We enjoyed the process of making them, but they turned out kind of wonky (but still pretty cute).
April:
Outside- ceramics workshop: A local art studio offered a ceramic mug workshop that we attended. It was a nice experience, but we were the second class to take this workshop. There were still a lot of kinks in how things were run, so we might need to go back for a re-do. But I was very much feeling like Harriet Kirkpatrick.
Inside- virtual author talk Xochitl Gonzalez: An organization of libraries host virtual author interviews that you can attend for free. The one we attended for our inside date this month was with Xochitl Gonzalez. We both enjoyed her first book Olga Dies Dreaming, and had recently read Anita De Monte Laughs Last which is incredible on audiobook.
May:
Outside- rooftop cinema: My sister found this rooftop outdoor theater that plays mostly older movies. We saw How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days and it was a cool experience to watch the sunset over the city skyline while Andie and Ben battle things out in ten days.
Inside- PowerPoint night: I kept seeing these all over TikTok, and we really wanted to do our own. Jaclyn did hers over the Scandoval drama from Vanderpump Rules, and I covered the case of Belle Gibson, which if you haven’t heard about that, it’s definitely worth going down the rabbit hole.
June:
Outside- author talk with Steven Rowley: Our big city art museum hosts a series called “Arts and Letters” where authors, usually on book tour, will do an interview and often a meet-and-greet after. We went to Steven Rowley’s for our June activity because The Guncle is one of our ultimate favorite books, and we had recently read the sequel, The Guncle Abroad. I don’t think an author better balances grief and humor than Steven Rowley.
Inside- homemade charm necklaces: I think this was my favorite inside date that we’ve done. We ordered a huge pack of charms from Michaels and picked out charms we thought would fit the other person’s style and personality. I really enjoyed this, and it was such a special activity to do with my sister.
July:
Outside- Impressionist exhibit: We went back to the same art museum as the month before because they had an exhibition called ‘The Impressionist Revolution from Monet to Matisse’, and impressionism is my favorite style of art. We also hit up Nando’s for lunch afterward because we finally got one within driving distance to us!
Inside- homemade popsicles: Last July, I said Texas summers require lots of ice cream, and second to that would be popsicles. We got popsicle molds and made our own pops! We experimented with different flavors, but my favorite were the pink lemonade ones.
August:
Outside- antique hunting: We discovered a huge antique mall about 20 minutes from us, and we checked it out for the first time for this month’s outside date. The antique mall also has a cafe and teahouse which was perfect for a midday break
Inside- painting and pasta: We worked on some paint-by-number projects and had pasta to eat while painting. Just like a theme, I’m always down for a good alliteration.
September:
Outside- coffee at a new to us coffee house: This little shop not too far from us has a seasonal drink called an autumn moon latte, and it was incredible. My friend also recommended the jalapeno popper bagel bombs and I still think about those often. They were that good.
Inside- at-home cocktail lounge: I have a full Substack planned on the art of creating an at-home cocktail lounge because I’m always striving to create this vibe at home. So stay tuned for that!
October:
Outside- 1920s murder mystery dinner: This was another perfect outside date for spooky month. We got dressed up for the theme and had a good time. The acting wasn’t the best, but it still was an enjoyable event. And we unexpectedly ran into one of our best friends!
Inside- tarot cards and fall cocktails on the patio: This night still gives me chills. We did a few different spreads, and I ended up drawing the death card twice and the tower, and no surprise, my life was completely flipped upside down 2 weeks later, but it all ended up being for the best in the long run.
November:
Outside- artisanal cheese shop: We had been wanting to visit a local artisanal cheese shop for a while, and we finally did it for our outside date this month. We ordered a little cheese board and a glass of red wine, and it was divine!
Inside- baked brie night: What can I say, November was a cheesy month. We love baked brie, especially during the colder months. November was perfect to bake some brie and try different dipping vessels.
December:
Outside- sister’s Christmas dinner: If you weren’t on “sister’s Christmas dinner” Tok at the end of last year, then I’m sorry you won’t fully understand this. But we were inspired to have our own and have decided to add it to our list of Christmas traditions.
Inside- baking cinnamon rolls: We did this on the morning of our blanket fort day, and they made for the perfect addition. And again, this likely will end up on this ever-growing list of Christmas traditions.
2025 (We’ve had a hard time with outside dates this year. Almost every month, something has happened to our original plan, but we’ve made it work and it’s been a good year of dates so far).
January:
Outside- visit a new bookstore: A brand new romance bookstore with a cocktail bar opened near us. We had plans to attend the grand opening, but the line was 4 hours long and it was freezing that day, so we just came back the next weekend to check it out.
Inside- make custom playlists for each other: This was my sister’s idea and such a fun activity. We sat down and made a playlist for the other person, and then we got to share them with each other afterwards.
February:
Outside- Hadestown: I saw this musical on Broadway a couple years ago, so when the tour came to town, I really wanted my sister to see it. She’s a big fan of Greek mythology, so I knew she’d love it.
Inside- DIY manicures: I’m really bad about painting my nails, and I tried to make it a goal to do it at least once a month this year, but I think this was probably the last time I painted my nails in 2025. Oops.
March:
Outside- Titanic Exhibit: Look, I’m a big Titanic girlie, so when I found this was coming to town, I was excited. It was a pretty cool experience, but not quite what I was expecting, but we still had fun.
Inside- Chocolate Fondue: I love my candle warmer, and I’ve seen online where people will use it on a lower setting to keep fondue warm. We made some chocolate fondue and got fresh fruit, graham crackers, and marshmallows to dip. The candle warmer made the fondue stay warm so much longer.
April:
Outside- Tea at the art museum: This was a lot of fun! We did a full afternoon tea spread at one of our local art museums, and it made for a perfect spring day.
Inside- steak salad Saturday: I wrote about this in my April report, but we grilled up some steak over a fresh Caesar salad with homemade dressing, and it was chef’s kiss.
May:
Outside- brunch at a new-to-us place: New restaurants are always popping up near us, and we’re so bad about trying them. So this month, we made it a priority for our outside date to try one, and we chose a place with delicious brunch.
Inside- decorate playing cards: This was another TikTok inspired activity. We cut out magazine images to decoupage playing cards. I love how they turned out!
Let me know what unique friend dates you’ve been on! I’d love more ideas.
More cheers, less fears,
Larisa
presh