Holiday Date Ideas

Need a holiday date idea? Here are fool-proof ways to spend time together during this busy season. Also, these pictures from when I originally shared our holiday date ideas back in 2012 make me so happy. 

Holiday Date Ideas by Boston lifestyle blogger Elisabeth McKnightHoliday Date Ideas by Boston lifestyle blogger Elisabeth McKnightHoliday Date Ideas by Boston lifestyle blogger Elisabeth McKnight

Holiday Date Ideas by Boston lifestyle blogger Elisabeth McKnight

Have you planned any holiday date ideas yet? 
 
Take a few minutes to plan and schedule out an evening or two in the next  few weeks for holiday date night. You’ll get some quality time together so you’re continuing to nurture your most important relationships even in this busy time of year.
 
It’s easy to get so caught up in all the invitations, the to-do lists, and the scheduled events and let the holidays leave you feeling tired and stressed. Maybe you can’t make it to a three hour production of the Nutcracker this year, but you could snuggle up for a holiday episode of a favorite old show and a bowl of popcorn together. Whatever works for your schedule, put it on the calendar right now and then stick to it! Here are my holiday date ideas.
 

Holiday Date Ideas

  • Watch a performance of the nutcracker (splurge on your city’s ballet or save by finding a local ballet studio doing a student performance). We saw the nutcracker in California our second Christmas and I always love going to see the Boston Ballet’s performance. 
  • Decorate gingerbread houses. Our first date back in 2011 was December 10th and we decorated a gingerbread house. I think we’ve decorated one every single year since but needless to say, I’m excited to reminisce while we create our miniwheat thatched roof. This year we’ll make this one a family affair and include the toddlers but it has been fun doing it just adults for the last couple of years.
  • Look at Christmas lights. It can be a fun date, promise. We’ve done this in Provo and California (although nothing compares to the lights I’ve seen in Dallas) and I’m excited to find some neighborhoods in Boston to see lights!
  • Go to Christmas Eve mass. Our church doesn’t have church services on Christmas or Christmas Eve (unless one of them fall on a Sunday), and I like that the day is given to the family to celebrate Christ at home. That said, I also love Christmas Eve candlelit mass. 
  • Decorate a tree together! Whether it’s going to a Christmas tree farm and picking out a real tree together, or just hauling down your box of a tree from the attic, put on some Christmas music, bring out a few treats, and dance around while you decorate.
  • Bake and Deliver Sugar Cookies: Every holiday back home, my family assembles plates filled with sugar cookies, peppermint pinwheels (the best Christmas cookie), mexican wedding cookies, homemade fudge, and other delectable goodies. We carol to friends and neighbors while delivering the plates and while me might skip the caroling with just the two of us, we try not to skimp on the holiday baking.
  • Snuggle to some holiday favorites. It’s a Wonderful Life is on the top of our list but we can’t go through a whole Christmas season without a few hours of Elf or How the Grinch Stole Christmas. This is a great list of Holiday movies if you need some more ideas.
  • Ice-skate downtown. There is something about an outdoor skating rink. Many down towns have some kind out outdoor skating rink during the winter months (Rockerfeller in New York, Frog Pond in Boston, and we even had one in Cincinnati). Whether you hold hands and slowly make your way around the rink or encourage  your competitive streak and race around, save time for a cup of hot chocolate afterwards.
Holiday Date Ideas by Boston lifestyle blogger Elisabeth McKnight

 

  • volunteer at a soup kitchen
  • Go hot-tubbing (so more of a winter date idea but amid the chaos of the holidays, how nice would it be to spend an hour just the two of you soaking in a hot tub? If you’re in a city, google to see if there are any spas that have hot tubs you can rent by the hour). 
  • christmas shopping together – make a date out of it, stopping to get hot chocolate and strolling hand in hand to pick our purchases
  • explore a Christmas market (When I was a girl we went to the Christmas markets in Nurenburg, Germany and one of these years I’ll go back – so magical! )
  • visit Santa Clause
  • read holiday books together – bonus points if this one is done curled up by a fire
  • watch a light show
  • take a sleigh or carriage ride
  • attend a performance of A Christmas Carol
  • have family christmas pictures taken (maybe its just me who enjoys things like that)
  • find a Christmas concert (whether it be a free middle school concert or an angelic orchestra)
  • visit a toy store (even if just to experience the magic of Christmas through a child’s eyes)
  • go window shopping
  • check sites like groupon for local holiday deals
  • watch old holiday episodes of favorite shows – a lot of shows have special Christmas episodes and it’s fun to go back through old shows you’ve watched together over the years and enjoy the Christmas episodes
Holiday Date Ideas by Boston lifestyle blogger Elisabeth McKnight
Holiday Date Ideas by Boston lifestyle blogger Elisabeth McKnight
 
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9 Comments

  1. I love your list!! I'm excited for holiday date nights 🙂 And I can't wait to have my pictures from Emily-Jane to put on my Christmas cards this year! 🙂

  2. Love the idea of a seasonal date list and will totally be taking some of these to do myself!

  3. Thanks for the great ideas! It gets so cold here and I know I get a little on the lazy side when we have time off so I'm glad I have some fun dates to fill it with now! I also LOVE the picture of the two of you with the merry christmas sign! Very CUTE!

  4. I love your Christmas pictures and the date ideas! Some are an absolute must. You two photograph so well!!

  5. You're in Cincy, OH? Some of the best light displays are actually on the West Side of town – or Norwood.

  6. The Christmas market in Nuremberg is the best! I just stumbled upon this post and I see you must live in the bay area, but a cheaper get away between Thanksgiving and Christmas is Chicago…Daly Plaza downtown has a very authentic Christmas market that is modeled after the one in Nuremberg. We went last year after being in Germany the year before and were very impressed. The only down side was there was only 1 stand selling Gluwien so there was quite a line. It would be a much easier get away for Christmas Markets than Germany if you ever get the chance however. 🙂