Are you looking for fun activities your whole family will love? Try these family date ideas for a guaranteed good time. Well, maybe not guaranteed. There are children involved.
Date night doesn’t have to be saved for just you and your significant other. Take your whole family on a date every once in a while!
Just like a marriage, a family needs dedicated quality time together. Those memories don’t just make themselves! But even though I am a big proponent of planning a family date every once in a while, I’m not a fan of overdoing it. Family dates can be memorable bonding opportunities with very little preparation or effort required!
If you’re intrigued by the idea of taking your whole family on a date, I’ve got some ideas to get you started. Whatever the season, whatever the vibe, there is a perfect family date for you!
Family Date Ideas
Outdoor fun
My kids always, always, always prefer to be outside, so I’m starting off my list of family date ideas with options for outdoor fun. Some of these are seasonal, but some can be done any day of the year!
Picnic
Especially when the weather is nice, a picnic is a great family date. Pack up some sandwiches, fruit, and snacks, and take a meal to your neighborhood park.
Walk or hike
If you have really little kids or slightly older kids, try out a walk or a hike for a family date. Really little kids to me are kids who wouldn’t argue about being in a stroller, and older kids are kids who wouldn’t complain incessantly about using their own two feet to get themselves from one place to another. Basically, if you have toddlers, skip this one for now.
Bike ride
If you’d rather ride than walk, consider a bike ride for your next family date. You can easily accomplish this in your neighborhood, but if you want to make it extra special, load up the bikes and take them to a trail with a view!
Beach
Live near an ocean, lake, or other substantial body of water? Head to the beach for a fun family date in the sun! A beach date can also be combined with a picnic for an epic family day.
Scavenger hunt
If you want your outdoor fun to be a bit more interactive and you have some time to prepare, I highly recommend setting up a scavenger hunt for your family. You can keep it simple and close to home by doing it completely in your backyard, or you can branch out and explore your city by hitting the road. The great thing about a scavenger hunt is that you can easily adapt the hunt to the season, so this is a great repeatable family date that can feel fun and fresh every time!
Fruit picking
There is something about picking your own fruits and vegetables. It’s just satisfying! Is it more expensive than buying fruit from the grocery store? Of course it is. But buying fruit at the grocery store isn’t really a fan family outing. I have tons of pictures of my husband and kids picking strawberries, blueberries, peaches, apples – you name it. And all those memories are worth the premium price.
Snow fun
If you live in a place that snows in the winter, you can turn the disruption of a snow storm into a family date. Grab a sled and find a hill. Go to your nearest ski mountain. Make a snowman. You can have a ton of fun in the snow with your family!
Active fun
If you have an active family, you need active fun things to do with them. The good news is that there are tons of options for family dates that are super active, regardless of what you like to do.
Bowling
Bowling is a classic for a reason – it’s so fun! If you don’t want to deal with the shoes, you can always opt for duckpin bowling instead of classic bowling.
Ice skating
If you’re not from Florida like I am, you might know how to ice skate. You might even be pretty good at it. You might have taught your kids to ice skate. If all of these things are true, take your family ice skating! It looks pretty fun from my outsider’s perspective.
Mini golf
Mini golf is way more my speed for an active family date. Just tread lightly if you have a toddler. Giving a toddler a weapon and making them steadily move from one hole to another can end poorly.
Sports field
If your active family likes less structured fun, grab some sports equipment and head to a sports field. It can be really fun to kick around a soccer ball or hit some baseballs with your kids.
Playground
If your family likes to play, but sports aren’t really your thing, head to the playground. Everyone can enjoy a good slide or some monkey bars (just don’t tell my husband).
At-home fun
If your family identifies more as indoor cats than outdoor cats, I have good news. You can have family dates in the comfort of your own home!
Crafts
My kids are not really crafty kids (their parents aren’t either, so they come by it honestly), but they occasionally will sit down and do a craft. When they express a desire to craft, I take advantage of their mood and make a family date out of it. Because I am not a crafty mom, I fully rely on craft kits for these dates. The winner lately in our house has been this flower maker. Thanks, Aunt Nikki!
Puzzles
Although crafts are few and far between in our house, puzzles are almost a daily occurrence. We love puzzles! Even though we do them often, we can still eventize a puzzle every once in a while and make it a family date. To do this, we get a new puzzle instead of one of the puzzles we’ve put together 100 times. My kids are 6 and 3.5, so we’re working on 100-piece puzzles most of the time. The 6-year-old has been into the Peanuts gang lately, so this Peanuts puzzle is on deck for our next puzzle date.
Games
Board games and card games are great family date ideas, no matter the age of the family members who are playing. My family has been really into Uno lately. Everyone from the 3.5-year-old to my parents have fun playing Uno. Don’t Break the Ice has also been a hit with my family recently. You just have to be OK with loud noises to get behind this game!
Movie
Dinner and a movie is a classic date night activity, so why not go this route for a family date too? Order in a pizza and have your kids pick a movie, then curl up in front of the TV and enjoy! There are plenty of kid-friendly movies that grown-ups can enjoy too.
Build a fort
I’ve never met a kid who didn’t look at a couch and see fort building potential. I also have never met a mom who dreads spontaneous fort-making and the clean-up that she will need to do when the kids are finished playing in the fort. That makes fort building a great family date idea. Let them go hog wild! Help them make the mess and then clean it all up as a family too.
Easy fun
My sweet spot when it comes to family dates sits in activities that require leaving the house, but they don’t involve a huge time commitment or pre-planning. These are my favorite family date ideas – we go on these dates as a family often!
Ice cream
I love to go get ice cream as a family. Everyone in my family loves ice cream, so this is an easy win. We can make this super easy by going to our nearby Dairy Queen or we can make it a bit more of an event by going a little farther away to get the really good ice cream. The whole family is happy either way!
Dinner out
My go-to family date is dinner out at a restaurant. Now, I’m not talking about a fancy restaurant. Our favorite place to go is a counter-service pizza place/brewery that often isn’t busy at early dinner times. It doesn’t have to be fancy to be fun! I love that I don’t have to cook or do dishes and my kids love to eat pizza and drink watered-down root beer. We all win!
Bookstore
I love books, and I’m really trying to get my kids to love books too. So far, I think I’m succeeding, but I never miss an opportunity to indoctrinate them. Because I’m pushing my book agenda, I love to head to the bookstore on a family date. We like to go to our local used bookstore so they can get more books than they would at a new bookstore. I give them a budget (and I get a budget), and we have fun picking out things to read. My husband is an audiobook guy, so I often do this as a mom and kids date rather than a full family date. There’s nothing wrong with that!
Library
If you’re overwhelmed by books in your house, you can have a book-centered family date that doesn’t result in more things permanently taking up residence in your home. How? Head to the public library! Not only can the whole family pick out books to borrow, the library also often has family activities that you can do while you’re there. I highly recommend getting on your public library’s email list, so you’ll know the best times to go!
Special destinations
If you really want to blow your family away with a family date to remember, consider a trip to a special destination. These are places you know everyone loves, but you don’t go very often because they’re maybe a little expensive or far away. Keep these in your back pocket for celebrations!
Museum
There really is a museum for everyone. Your local children’s museum is an obvious choice for a special family date, but a museum doesn’t have to have “children” in its name to be kid friendly. A history museum, science museum, or even an art museum can be lots of fun for all ages!
Zoo/aquarium
If you have animal lovers in your family, have a family date at your local zoo or aquarium. Observe and interact with the animals, sure, but also learn something about their behaviors and habitats. Most animal-based attractions have special souvenirs in their gift shops that include a donation to wildlife conservation, so you can bring something home and help animals in the wild. A great way to remember your family date!
Sporting event
My family really likes to attend sporting events as a family now that the kids are getting old enough to enjoy them. Our 6-year-old, in particular, loves watching live sports. We are lucky enough to live in a place with professional sports teams and a major university, but you don’t have to go see professional or collegiate sports to take your family on a sporting event date. Friday night lights totally counts!
Concert
If live music is more your family’s speed, a concert is a great family date idea. Going to a concert with the fam can be as simple as finding a casual restaurant that offers live music, as exciting as going to a rock concert, or as refined as attending the symphony. Just choose whichever type of music and vibe works best for your family.
Other posts
Looking for more content related to what you can do with your kids? Never fear, I have lots of these posts, including the following:
So, have I convinced you to try a family date? If so, what are you going to do? This is not an exhaustive list, so share what you’re doing below or over on Instagram @sarainseason!