In July, I wrote a fanciful blog post called “10 Bookish Dates … for the Literary Lovers” – and as promised, here is the sequel: 10 more dates that have never been tried before, but sound delightfully exciting.
If you like books and unique date ideas, then be my guest to try one or more of these adventures. I can’t wait to try them myself some day!
1. Book vs. Movie Date
Read a book together (or separately at the same time) that became a movie, and when you’re done with the book, watch the movie together. Have fun analyzing the differences and voting on which you liked better (my bet is on the book!).
2. The Christmas Book Date
Give an early Christmas gift of a new book on December 1st, and then read a little bit of it every night together until Christmas. In cozy new jammies would be even better!
3. The Favorite Quotes Date
Write down your all-time 5-10 favorite quotes from books. Go out to dinner and throughout the course of the evening, pull out the quotes, read them to the other person, and have them guess which book they came from (also a test to see how well they know you and your favorite books!).
4. Spreading the Love of Books Date
Collect any books you can bear to part with as well as some from a nearby thrift store. Then take a trip to a local organization that distributes books to kids who may be homeless or can’t afford books and give them your books.
5. Road Trips and Read Alouds Date
Take a road trip somewhere together (near or far) and pick a new, promising book that neither of you have read. Read it aloud to the other person while they are driving (inspired by some of my favorite childhood memories – my mom reading aloud to my dad on our long trips to California).
6. Read Between the Lines Date
A fun game to incorporate on any date is to take a book and use it to for a secret message to your date. Ahead of time, you will have to go through the book and find all the words in it for your message. Then give the clues based on page #, line #, and word # (so 32.4.16 would mean page 32, line 4, word 16). Once your date has found all the words, they will know what the message is!
7. Lazy Day Date
If you have absolutely nowhere to be and the whole day to yourselves, why not put on your coziest sweats and just spend the whole day reading side by side? See if you can even finish your books in the day – and take lovely little breaks to tell the other person the delights you are discovering in your book.
8. Book Club Group Dates
Have some friends who are also literary lovers? Form your own book club with them and enjoy exploring good literature together. You can also have fun theming your book club meetings if you feel so inclined (with dinners and attire inspired by the books).
9. Hidden Book Notes
Write each other little love notes and hide them in the others’ books – to be discovered with delight at random. It could be in the books they are currently reading, going to read, or might not read again for years – but what a fun way to surprise each other with written reminders of love in your favorite books.
10. Map of Book Lands Date
Together, start a long-term project that you add to over the years together – of making a map of all your favorite book lands together (Narnia, 100-Acre Wood, Middle Earth, Hogwarts, Prince Edward Island … just to name a few). If you make it big enough, you could frame it as wall art to go in one of the rooms of your house!