Wintertime means tons of great outdoor date ideas. With snow on the ground, you’re ready to break out the skis and fall in love with your long-term boyfriend, Joel, all over again.
Sure, in the past few months you’ve found yourself slowly recoiling from his touch as you slide further and further into the depths of a loveless relationship, becoming emotionally and physically distant, and ultimately finding yourself lost in the sweet embrace of your coworker, Bobby, but you’re feeling pretty confident that a couple Huffington-Post-approved date nights can fix this. Nothing can save a doomed relationship quite like curling up by a cozy fire or going out into a winter wonderland together, or so you’ll tell yourself.
Ice skating with wildly different experience levels
There’s no better way to kick off a romantic winter date night quite like a trip to the local ice skating rink. Watch as Joel struggles to keep up with your 12 years of ice skating experience, refusing to let go of the wall—a metaphor you’ll later use to describe the pitfalls of the relationship to your therapist. Eventually, when you tire of him clinging onto you with his sweaty, fearful hands, you’ll give up and go inside to get hot chocolate.
Go to a cooking class together
A cooking class is the perfect activity to try with your live-in long-term boyfriend because it’s the gift that keeps on giving! Perhaps you came into it hoping Joel would miraculously learn to be a different, more cultured person, but either way, after 15 minutes of watching him attempt to poach an egg, you’ll realize you’re ready for someone who knows the difference between cinnamon and cardamom. Try not to compare your relationship to the other three couples at the table next to you as you micro-manage your boyfriend’s slicing technique until he eventually yells, “Jessica, this was your stupid idea anyways!”. Technically, it was an idea you found on in Cosmo.
A winter hike
Going on a winter hike is an intimate, romantic outdoor activity, perfect for even, as it’s turning out, the most incompatible of couples. Stroll through the snow-covered trees with Joel, whispering sweet-nothings into each other’s ears, but stop as soon as you get in the car and drive home without speaking. If you get lost, you can fight about how he’s never prepared, while simultaneously making the internal decision that if you’re stuck out here forever, you’d kill him for warmth.
Build a snowman
Maybe you don’t need to leave your own backyard to have an enchanting outdoor winter date. Staying in is appealing not just because you and Joel always cause a scene when you go out in public—plus, you’ve loved building snowmen since childhood. See? You’re making a memory together, and that’s adorable! Argue about how to dress your inevitably lopsided snowman for an hour, as you slowly develop frostbite, and think about how this reminds you of that time you guys got in that huge fight about how Joel wouldn’t wear that sweater you bought him. Bobby would’ve worn the sweater, you’ll decide spitefully.
Have a snowball fight
Since you’re outside building the snowman anyways, now is the perfect time for a snowball fight! While it may start out playfully, after a few minutes you’ll notice that you and Joel seem to just be hurling ice at each other with the force of nearly a year of unspoken grievances. Cute! “Is this the end,” you’ll begin to wonder. It may still be cuffing season but you feel like you’re in prison with a life sentence and no parole. You’re going back inside to warm up and call Bobby.