One of the fun aspects of being a teenager is when your parents finally allow you to go on dates and explore romantic relationships. Sure, you’ve gone to birthday parties and played those cute games, like Spin the Bottle and Seven Minutes in Heaven, with your friends and crushes. But you’re past that phase now. Now, you can go out on dates and connect with your crush on a more personal level. If you’re worried about where you should go on your date, here are a few suggestions:

Amusement parks

Regardless of whether you’re nine or 19, you have to admit that amusement parks just have that certain charm that spells out f-u-n. Going to amusement parks also lessens the “awkward” moments between you and your date. You can avoid having those gut-wrenching moments of dead air by talking about which rides you both want to go on, and you can even dare each other to go on the scariest ride there is.

For the boys, you can impress your date by scoring that huge teddy bear for her at the target shooting booth. It may seem like such a simple thing, but trust us, that can very well score you another date with her. Another upside to amusement park dates is that they’re not expensive, which means you can have loads of fun on your date without spending beyond your allowance.

Local diner

Some teenagers are not allowed by their parents to spend the entire day on a date. Sometimes they’re only given a few hours to go and hang out with their date. If this is the case, don’t waste time whining and complaining about how unfair your parents are. Instead, use the limited time you’re given to go to a local diner and eat something yummy while talking and getting to know your date better.

This is your chance to ask your date about the type of music he or she listens to, favorite movies, which class you enjoy the most…the list is endless! Best of all, you can top the date off by snuggling up to each other and sharing a milkshake for dessert.

Local park

Another inexpensive date place option you have is your local park. Depending on whether your date is the sporty and active or long-walks-loving type, you can go biking, kite flying, roller blading, or strolling around the park. Going to a place where there are many people around will make your parents worry less, and it can also give you a chance to explore your date’s favorite neighborhood sights when you walk each other home.

Couples have varying preferences when it comes to perfect date places. Book lovers may enjoy frequent visits to a nearby bookstore, but music lovers will always prefer a trip to a local record store. For athletic couples, the best places for a date are those where they can both exercise their athletic skills and show their competitive side.

If you and your partner, like tennis superstars Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, bonded because of your love for sports, then you probably enjoy dates that also center on sports. The places to go on a date with your partner are not always limited to your home court or her boxing gym. Here are other fun date place ideas for you and your partner:

Bowling alley

Athletic couples, aside from sharing the love for sports, also enjoy friendly competitions. To play a fair game, a couple should look for a sport where neither of them excels greatly. If that sport is bowling, then go for it. Aside from being fairly easy, bowling doesn’t require much athleticism. You just have to roll the bowling ball along the lane and knock down as many pins as you can. After the battle for the most strikes, you can reward yourselves by enjoying burgers and fries from the bowling alley cafeteria.

Outdoor pool

Another great date place idea for sporty couples is an outdoor pool. The fun activities done in a pool is not limited to swimming and floating. You may also play a wide variety of fun games such as underwater hockey, water limbo, and pool basketball. An outdoor pool is also great for group dates. With other sporty couples joining you for some outdoor pool fun, you can also play a game of balloon squat relay or ice cube and piggies. And for the snacks? Poolside barbecue!

Miniature golf course

A popular date place for both sporty and non-sporty couples is a miniature golf course. The popularity of a miniature golf course may be credited to both its crazy course design and its difficult golf obstacles. Making a hole-in-one past that every-spinning windmill is so difficult that you and your partner will spend lots of time laughing at your failed attempts. Like bowling, miniature golf turns into a game of chance when played by two amateurs.

Date place ideas for athletic couples are not limited to bowling alleys, outdoor pools, and miniature golf courses. You may also visit batting ranges, skating rinks, and billiard halls. For athletic couples on a budget, a kite flying contest at the beach or a bike stroll along the park will also be enjoyable.

Couples go on dates for two reasons: to enjoy conversations and to have fun together. The idea of a perfect date place may vary depending on the specific preferences of the couples. A nearby go-kart track may be the perfect date place for a sporty pair but it will not be that enjoyable for a bookworm couple. For artistic couples, the perfect date place is somewhere they can practice their artistic skills and their creative minds. Here are some great date place ideas for artistic couples:

Open mike bar

The best date place where couples may showcase their artistry and creativity is a bar that holds open mike sessions. In open mike sessions, artists are given limited time to share their artistic talents with the rest of the audience. They may belt out tunes, read poetry, show off dance moves, or perform comedic sketches. Artistic couples will love spending dates in open mike bars because they can enjoy each other’s company and witness other people’s talents at the same time.

Theater

Another great date place idea for art-loving couples, especially those who are interested in drama, is the theater. Whether it is a comedic play or a musical, stage productions are always a hit with creative minds. Catching the latest theater production will not only let you enjoy the show with your partner but it will also help you get some tips and ideas on how to improve your craft. Theater dates don’t necessarily have to be spent on Broadway. Couples on a budget may also watch smaller productions like those which are shown in school auditoriums and local theaters. Watching the latest comedy offering of a local stand-up comedian may be an alternative.

Pottery class

The first thing that comes to mind (among people from the nineties, at least) when one talks of pottery class is Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore’s classic Unchained Melody-themed pottery scene in “Ghost.” The good thing is, you and your partner can have your own Unchained Melody moment by enrolling in a pottery class together. If pottery is too messy for your taste, then just opt for pottery painting classes instead. You can still be creative together without having mud on your hands.

Backyard

Yes, that’s right. A backyard. Your backyard, your partner’s backyard – either will do. Why is a backyard a perfect date place for artistic couples? Well, you can do almost anything in a backyard. You can setup easels and paint pictures, gather materials and make crafts, or even strike poses and take photographs. You can go as far as your imagination goes. And if it is okay with the homeowner, you may also setup a gigantic canvas for a fun balloon painting activity.

The places to go on date say a lot of things about you and your partner. Spending dates in basketball courts reveal that you both enjoy shooting hoops while visiting Korean restaurants reveal that you both love eating kimchi. So, what about adventurous couples? Where do they go on dates?

Adventurous couples share the same love for challenges and obstacles. They love to run, swim, reach, climb, jump, and cross. For adventurous couples, the word “fun” is used to describe activities that are extreme and quite dangerous. Here are some great date ideas for adventurous couples:

Hiking trail

One great date place idea for couples who share the same thirst for adventure and love for nature is a hiking trail. Whether it is a trip to the base of a waterfall or a journey to the crater of a volcano, a hiking trip is always fun and exciting. Spending dates along a hiking trail will not only quench your thirst for physical activities but it will also satisfy your craving for visual wonders. After a long day of walking through a rough path, you may set up tents and bonfires in a nearby campsite. You may enjoy the rest of the night by eating delicious food and sharing funny camp stories with each other.

Paintball park

For many adventurous couples, the ultimate date place is like a battlefield. Somewhere they can act like soldiers and fight for their lives. Because actual battlefields are too dangerous to spend dates on, people created an alternative that will employ battlefield basics without causing too much harm. This is where paintballs come in. You and your partner may enjoy hitting compressed paintballs at each other that is very reminiscent of Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles’ paintball adventure in “10 Things I Hate About You.” This fun activity will not only allow you to fulfill your military role-playing fantasies but it will also reveal who has better shooting precision and military strategies.

Wall climbing gym

Another great date place for adventurous couples is a wall climbing gym. This date place idea is especially perfect if you and your partner share the same love for reaching high places and pushing themselves to the limits. You even can hold wall climbing contests to see who will reach the top first. Aside from being a fun dating activity, wall climbing is also a good physical exercise. It helps you develop your sense of balance and improve your strength of grip. Spending dates inside a wall climbing gym also serves as a good preparation for your outdoor rock climbing trip in the future.

“What’s your idea of a perfect date?” is the one question that almost everybody asks. And for some reason, many people usually answer this question with a romantic candlelit dinner. Candlelit dinners, with the exception of those spent inside homes, can be a bit too much for a guy’s wallet.

The economic status of couples should never affect their dates and relationships. The success of a date is not measured by how fancy your date place is or how expensive your tab is. Your date can also be memorable and enjoyable even if it is not spent inside a fancy five-star restaurant. Here are several date place ideas for couples on a budget:

Local park

Who says parks are only for kids? Parks are for couples too! In fact, parks are some of the best dating places for couples on a budget! Why? For one thing, you don’t need to buy passes or tickets to enjoy an afternoon in the park. Aside from being accessible to all, your local park is a great venue for almost any fun activity known to man. Kite flying, biking, Frisbee throwing, fishing… the list goes on and on. For some quiet time together, you and your partner can have picnics in a shady spot in your local park. Eating homemade sandwiches while sitting on a carefully laid blanket in the middle of the park? Now, that’s a date!

Art museum

A museum may easily be overlooked as a great date place because of its “boring” reputation. A visit to a nearby art museum, however, just may be the most enjoyable and most inexpensive date you will ever experience. Like Jason Biggs and Mena Suvari in the movie “Loser,” pretend you can have one painting from each room. You can choose the paintings that seem interesting and discuss whether your date appreciates it as well. Visiting an art museum will not only satisfy your visual needs but it will also help you learn more about your partner’s artistic preferences.

Your home

Couples on a budget usually spend dates in the comforts of their home. Movie-loving couples enjoy homemade popcorn during DVD marathons while music-loving couples sing their hearts out during karaoke sessions. Other date things to do at home include playing board games, making finger paintings, baking chocolate chip cookies, and watching television sitcoms. Spending dates at home, however, is only recommended for couples who have been together for quite a while. First dates, unless you want to give your date a not-so-good impression, should never be spent at home.

You read a lot of articles and hear a lot of tips on what to do and what not to do on a blind date. Wear something comfortable. Don’t talk about your exes. Be polite. Don’t expect too much. But another important detail that many people tend to forget when it comes to blind dating tips is the date place itself. Where should you go on a blind date? To see a movie? Skating? In an art museum? Like most dates, blind dates also rely heavily on the location of the date. You have to choose a date place where you can talk and have fun. Here are some date place ideas for people who go on blind dates:

Bar

For blind dates, it is better to go out for drinks than meals. Why? Because going out for drinks has less pressure than say, eating at a fancy restaurant. While you are required to finish your entire meal, you are in no orders to finish your drink. You and your date, as far as traditional blind dating goes, are complete strangers. Pressuring each other into making a good impression will only ruin your potential romance. By having a few drinks at a local bar, you get to hang out casually like old friends. Just share a few drinks and a good conversation to decide whether you are interested on a second date.

Coffee house

People who wish to be alcohol-free during dates may visit a coffee house instead. Like a bar, a coffee house is a great place to just hang out. It’s quiet and relaxing – just the perfect setting for two strangers who are interested in getting to know each other better. One good idea of showing your date how much you are enjoying your time together is to share a dessert. Whether it is a slice of blueberry cheesecake or a cup of ice cream and cookies, a dessert will surely add a bit of sweetness to your blind date.

Restaurant

If your date insisted on having a meal together, then make it a lunch date. Unlike dinner dates, a lunch date is only supposed to last for a few hours. After finishing your meal or your conversation, you can decide whether or not to continue with the date. If you both feel that dating is not meant for you, then you can just politely exchange your goodbyes and leave separately. It will be a complete waste of time if you go on with the date even if you don’t get along well. But if you enjoyed each other’s company, then you can actually spend an entire afternoon together. You may catch a flick at a nearby cinema, visit an exhibit at a local gallery, or just take a walk around the park and who knows? It might be the start of something wonderful.

The first date is one of the most crucial parts of a relationship. It is that nerve-wracking experience that you desperately want to go on as perfectly as possible. For many people, a first date is the basis on whether they should even pursue a relationship or not. One way of securing the success of your first date is to choose a great date place. The perfect date place is somewhere you can talk and have fun at the same time. It must be a common ground where nobody is pressured into doing something they don’t want to. Here are some of the best first date places you could go to:

Amusement park

One of the best places for a date is an amusement park. An amusement park has all the ingredients to make a successful first date: exciting rides, great food, and free toys! Having a conversation while taking a walk around an amusement park is always a good idea. You can both share fun memories of your childhood and even compete on various arcade games. If either of you suddenly ran out of something to say, skip the awkward silence and immediately invite your date for a roller coaster ride. Don’t forget to ride a Ferris wheel – it will not only give you a great view of the entire park but it will also give you a romantic moment to share with your date.

Skating rink

Another great date place is a skating rink. Taking your date on a skating rink for your first date will immediately earn you points because skating is never boring. Skating, no matter how much balancing it requires, is a really fun activity. So, what if one of you can’t skate? It is actually a nice excuse to hold hands for the first time. Maybe you can ask your date for a crash course in skating. If your date is the one who can’t skate, then give her free lessons. Even if you can do a triple, never show off your skating skills to your date. The last thing you want is to make her feel sorry for her own skating abilities.

Zoo

For couples on a budget, the perfect date place is a local zoo. First of all, a zoo is visually entertaining. You get to see different species of animals and observe how they interact with each other. The animals in the zoo are also good topics of conversation. “Look at that pair of hippopotamuses! Aren’t they sweet?” Visiting the zoo can also be fun. You can play games like “guess what that animal is” or “guess the gender of that animal” and develop a new common interest. Just avoid the aviary if your date is not very fond of ostriches.

Before labeling what kind of relationship you have with your partner, you always want to get to know each other better first. So, how do you get to know each other better? By seeing each other once in a while? By eating lunch every weekend? By attending social events together? One of the best ways to get to know more about your partner is to have plenty of good and meaningful conversations. To help you initiate good conversations, you have to choose a great date place for you and your partner. Here are some date places to go where you can learn more about your partner:

Your hometown

There’s no place like home and no matter where your feet take you, you will always find your way back. So, go back. Visit your hometown with your partner. Going back to the place you first called home is a good way of sharing a bit more about yourself with your partner. You can show your partner the exact spot where you used to hide when you want to be left alone or the specific room where you danced to New Kids on the Block tunes when no one else was watching. Unless you are willing to be in a serious relationship, your family life is something you don’t discuss with your partner. You don’t initiate conversations on how long you cried after your pet beagle died or how wide you smiled after your first bike ride if you are not thinking about making memories like that with your partner. Rediscovering your childhood will help you reassess who you are now and will help your partner understand you a whole lot better.

Your high school

A big part of the person you are now has to do with who you were in high school. You are a smarter and stronger individual because of mean girls who ruined your dress, jocks who stole your sneakers, or teachers who trashed your essay. The things that happened in high school – whether good or bad – are still great stories to tell. Explaining how you suffered from major bout of diarrhea after eating the lunch lady’s tuna casserole will make your partner understand why you insist on cooking your own meals. Touring your high school with your partner will also remind you of some of the funniest or sweetest moments of your life. You can show your partner the laboratory where you broke a graduated cylinder or the gym where you won a gold medal. The good thing about spending dates in your high school is that you are not the only one who gets to do the storytelling. Your partner, inspired by your stories, may also cite some funny and memorable anecdotes about high school.

Visiting your hometown or your high school with your partner will make you reevaluate not only yourself but also your relationship. Did the discovery of your partner’s childhood pushed you farther away from each other? Or did it bring you closer to each other?

In the world of dating, one of the most difficult questions to answer is “where should we go on our first date?” People have differing opinions when it comes to these kinds of questions. Some will tell you to go see the newest horror flick but others will advise you not to spend your first date inside a movie house. So, which one is it? Each has his or her own preferences when it comes to first dates and there is no single answer to the “where is the perfect date place?” question. The safest thing to do is to give pointers on what to consider when choosing a date place. Here are some tips on how to choose the place for your first date:

Choose a date place where you can talk.

The main point of going out on a date is to discover more about each other and what would be a better way to get to know each other than to have a decent conversation? On your first date, you are like a salesperson. You have to talk your way into convincing people to buy your products or get a second date for that matter. How can you convince your date to go out with you again if she can’t even hear a single word that you are saying?

Where to go: art galleries and coffee shops
Where not to go: rock concerts and noisy sporting events

Choose a date place where you can have fun.

The last thing you want is to bore your date. If your first date comes off as boring and uninteresting, then don’t expect another call from your date. To avoid unmerciful boredom and awkward silences, choose a date place where you can both enjoy yourselves. A good date place is somewhere you can play games. Places like bowling alleys or batting fields are never uninteresting because the activities are already laid out for you. You are saved from that awkward moment of waiting for your date’s answer to the inevitable “So, what do you want to do?” question.

Where to go: skating rink and miniature golf course
Where not to go: historical museum

Choose a date place where you can both relax.

Another great tip in choosing a date place is to choose a location where you both can just relax and enjoy each other’s company. The location for your first date should always be a neutral ground. Never spend your first date on a friend’s party, a cousin’s wedding, or somebody else’s home. It is never smart to pressure yourselves in being labeled as a “couple.” Go to a place where only the two of you can talk. No friends or family members to interrupt sweet moments or start marriage topics.

Where to go: picnic spots and city parks
Where not to go: your home and your date’s home

Before a first date, you always hear a series of “don’t do this” and “don’t do that” from your friends. But the thing is, have you ever heard them say “don’t go there?” Your friends usually tell you when not to kiss or what not to do, but they never really tell you where not to go. So, what are the places to avoid on your first date? Here are some examples:

Movies

Taking a girl to see a movie on your first date is not a really good idea. A movie theatre, first and foremost, is a well-known makeout spot. Unless you want to give your date an impression that you can kiss her before the movie ends, don’t take her to the movies. A great date place is somewhere you can have a good conversation. And with the actors’ dialogues projecting all over the place, it is almost an impossibility to understand what the other is saying when inside a movie theatre. The point of a first date is to get to know each other better – not to reach first base sooner.

Fancy restaurant

There is absolutely nothing wrong with treating your date to a fancy restaurant on a first date, but it is not advisable. Why? First dates are all about first impressions and first impressions usually lasts. By taking your date to a fancy restaurant on your first date, you are also setting a way too high standard for yourself. Treating her to a fancy meal is really impressive but it will also keep your date’s hopes high. Dates should always be better than the last and that is quite difficult to follow if you started with a fancy dinner. Unless you have a healthy wallet to support steaks and lobsters, settle for burgers and fries instead.

Your home

One of the biggest no-nos in date places is your home. Why? For a lot of reasons! First of all, it is only your first date. People go on dates to talk and get to know each other better. Dating is that phase where you try to discover whether you want to be a part of each other’s lives or not. It is not about rushing your way into a relationship! Taking your date to your home becomes an even worse idea if you still live with mom and dad. Introducing your parents will give your date an impression that you want to move fast. Surely, nobody wants to get married after the first date! The idea of a first date is to be impressive enough to get a second date. By introducing your date to mom and dad, you won’t even get another phone call.