Date ideas
17 fall date ideas
Grab a sweater. Fall is for orchards, golden hour picnics, and long walks through crunchy leaves. Here are 17 ideas to make the most of it together.
In Australia and New Zealand, fall (autumn) runs from March to May.
At home
20 to 30 minutes · About $6 to $10 · playful
Four apples, one favorite
Four kinds of apple, one knife and a very serious tasting.
Comparing something simple together, slice by slice, can turn a snack into a small shared adventure.
The fun part: Give each apple a personality: “the dramatic one,” “the loyal friend.”
About an hour · About $12 to $20 · cozy
Sheet-pan harvest dinner
Five fall vegetables, one hot oven and a new spice to try.
Roasting the season’s vegetables together makes room for an easy, cozy dinner with very little washing up.
The fun part: Each pick one vegetable the other has never cooked.
About 2 hours · About $10 to $20 · playful
Pumpkin carving side by side
Two pumpkins, one secret design each and a reveal in the dark.
Carving side by side, with no rules and plenty of mess, gives you a whole evening of small shared wins.
The fun part: Keep your design secret until both pumpkins are lit.
2 to 3 hours · About $10 to $20 · cozy
Soup and bread from scratch
One big pot of soup, a quick loaf and a steamy kitchen.
Cooking something slow together, with the kitchen filling up with warm smells, makes room for easy, unhurried talk.
The fun part: Each add one secret ingredient and guess the other’s over dinner.
Out and about
3 to 4 hours, including cooking · About $25 · adventurous
Farmers market dinner challenge
A $25 budget, one lap of the stalls and dinner from what you find.
Wandering the stalls with a shared mission turns shopping into a small adventure, and cooking what you found can make the night yours.
The fun part: Pointing out one thing you’ve never cooked, then cooking it.
2 to 3 hours · About $30 to $45 · cozy
The warm-up soup crawl
Three small bowls of soup at three spots on a cold day, all shared.
Warming up together between cold walks makes room for slow talk, and gives you a new favorite spot for the rest of winter.
The fun part: Trading spoons halfway through every bowl.
About 2 hours · About $30 to $50 for two · adventurous
A local ghost walk
A lantern-lit walk full of local legends, then somewhere warm.
Walking through local legends together can make streets you know feel new, and a little spooky is more fun with company.
The fun part: Deciding which story you believe, and which one is definitely made up.
Most of a day · About $20 to $30 with a packed lunch · cozy
Fall fair day
A county fair or harvest show: prize pumpkins, animal barns and pie.
Wandering a fair together, from the animal barns to the prize vegetables, gives you a slow day full of small delights.
The fun part: Choosing your winner in the biggest pumpkin contest before the judges do.
Outside
Half a day, including baking · About $30 to $45 · cozy
Pick-your-own orchard afternoon
Pick apples or pumpkins together, then bake something with your haul.
Filling a bag together in the crisp air, then baking with what you picked, gives you a whole afternoon of small shared wins.
The fun part: Choosing one perfect apple for each other.
1 to 2 hours · Free · thoughtful
Blanket under the stars
A blanket, warm layers and a constellation you make up yourselves.
Lying back and looking up together is calming, and inventing your own constellations can be a lovely kind of silly.
The fun part: Inventing your own constellation and naming it after an inside joke.
About 2 hours · About $10 to $20 · cozy
The golden hour picnic
A simple picnic facing west as the evening light turns gold.
The light around sunset makes everything look beautiful, including each other, and a picnic makes room for a slow evening.
The fun part: Putting the food away and just watching the colors change.
Most of a day · Free, using what you have · adventurous
Pack a lunch, pick a trail
A trail you’ve never walked, a packed lunch and a view to eat it by.
A new trail and a view you reached together gives you a whole day of small discoveries, and lunch tastes better outside.
The fun part: Eating lunch at the best view on the trail, and naming the spot.
Most of a day · About $10 to $30 with fuel · adventurous
Chase the fall colors
Find the brightest leaves within an hour, with a picnic on the way.
Hunting for the brightest trees together gives you a day of small wows, and the drive makes room for long talks.
The fun part: Crowning the single brightest tree of the day.
2 to 3 hours · About $20 to $30 · playful
Get lost in a corn maze
A corn or maize maze, a map you ignore and a warm drink at the end.
Getting a little lost on purpose, together, gives you plenty to laugh about, and finding the way out feels like a team win.
The fun part: Taking turns leading, with no complaining about wrong turns.
About 2 hours · About $10 to $20 · cozy
S’mores at a public fire pit
Toast marshmallows at a public fire pit, wrapped up in blankets.
Sitting by a fire together, faces warm and hands sticky, makes room for the kind of talk that only happens around a fire.
The fun part: Holding a strict contest for the most perfectly golden marshmallow.
On a video call
About an hour · Free · playful
A costume party for two
One theme, one closet each and a big reveal on camera.
Dressing up from whatever is in the closet can bring out your silliest sides and give you a reveal to laugh about for weeks.
The fun part: No buying allowed: build the whole costume from what you already have.
Apart, at the same time
20 to 30 minutes · $2 to $5 each · thoughtful
Leaf rubbings by mail
Crayon rubbings of your fall leaves, mailed to their door.
Sending the shapes of your season can give your partner a small, real piece of where you are.
The fun part: Label every leaf with where you found it.