By DANIEL HODSON
Daniel@newsroom.byu.edu
It's the weekend, and you've finally got a date with you-know-who. Your problem is that you only have 10 bucks in your pocket and you haven't the foggiest idea of what you're going to do. Looks like the only affection you'll be getting is the kiss of death.
Does this sound familiar?
If it does, then here are some creative date ideas that could change those Movies 8 and Zuka dates into a thing of the past.
(1) Night on China Town:
Make Top Ramen and serve it as if it were authentic Chinese food -- adding meat and vegetables usually does the trick. Buy some oriental-looking material and use it as a tablecloth on the coffee table and sit on the floor. Buy some fortune cookies and carefully take the fortunes out and replace them with truth or dare questions. Cut up the tablecloth and make Samurai head bands.
(2) Mission Impossible:
Give your date a 'TOP SECRET' envelope with code names and a tape of instructions. Make sure the tape includes 'Mission Impossible' music and have your date meet you at a certain location and time where they can accept their mission. Remember to tell your date that the tape self-destructs. Dress in spy costumes and call each other only by code name. Buy photos in a booth and paste them on spy ID cards. Set out on the scavenger hunt of your choice. Prepare in advance hidden notes or food in unusual places. Make sure it's challenging.
(3) Watcher in the Woods:
Rent a generator, scary movie and borrow a portable TV/VCR if you don't have one. Roast weenies and marshmallows till your hearts are content. Then watch your movie in an unusual place. Best ideas: in the woods, on top of a house, on a raft in a pool, on a trampoline, in a cave, on a lakeshore or make cardboard cars out of refrigerator boxes and have a drive-in.
(4) Master Play Pieces Theater:
Pop plenty of popcorn for 8-10 kids. Call a local daycare center and ask if you could put on a puppet show for them. Either buy puppets at Deseret Industries or Savers or you can make sock puppets yourself. Remember to bring a blanket that can be held up with sticks just in case you need it for a stage. Act out pre-rehearsed puppet shows of fairy tales of nursery rhymes. You could even use children's books. Finish off with Popsicles in the playground and pass her a note that asks: 'Do you like me? Mark a box. YES. NO. MAYBE.'
(5) Whipped Cream Wars:
Buy several cans of whipped cream. Take your dates to Deseret Industries and have them pick out cheap outfits for each other. Go to a park that has a public bathroom and have them change into their clothes. If they ask why, tell them it's a surprise. Take them to the place where you've hidden the whipped cream and attack!
(6) Cyberglow:
Buy fabric markers for a white T-shirt decorating contest. Design your date's T-shirt and vice-versa (a bulls-eye is a good idea). Have everyone try their T-shirts on and then take dates to play Laser Tag.
(7) Rambo:
Dress in black and pair off with your dates. One couple is 'it' and carries flashlights. Designate a start and a finish. The 'it' couple gets a head start of two minutes, and the others have to get from A to B without getting caught. The first couple caught is 'it' the next round.
(8) Strip Pool:
If your apartment complex has both a pool table and a swimming pool, you can play. Wear swimming suits under your clothes and as you lose, take off an article of clothing. If you loose at pool, you have to go jump in the pool.
9-99:
Other ideas include: picnic, Frisbee, 'prom dress' shopping, beach walking, sunrise/sunset hikes, dancing in the rain, wash the car, sledding/cocoa, ice blocking, amusement parks, water parks, playgrounds, museums, historical sites, free concerts, tunnel singing, visit a rest home, hot springs, church activities, taste tests, NickelCade, synchronized swimming, tubing or river surfing.
More activities: roller-blading, BBQ, devotionals, country/swing dancing, community theatre, costume parties, How to Host a Murder party, board games, paintball wars, college sports, ice skating, snow football, Easter egg hunts, fireworks show, zoos, scavenger hunts, photo date, video camera, pillow forts, puzzles, ping pong, catch butterflies, campfires, fairs, babysitting, time capsules, kites, planetarium, laser light shows, dance lessons, pie fights or a bargain dinner.
More ideas: star gazing, watching lightning storms, croquet, hairstyling party, movie marathon, homemade pizza, no/odd utensil dinner, water-fight, alpine slide, bike riding, feeding ducks, pumpkin carving, sand castles, skits, comedy shows, comedy clubs, tandem bike, fitness gym, make music tapes, parks, water balloon fights, airports, wally-ball, cliff jumping, parties, hay rides, Nutty Putty Caves, Heber City and Granny's Restaurant, A-Z shopping, sleeping bag stair sliding, miniature golfing, three-legged bowling, parade of homes, movies, sumo wrestling, videos, 4x4 wheeling, demolition derby, caroling, go on a walk, mountain biking, kissing rugby, sledding or read children's books to each other at the library.
Jeremy Parker, 22, a business major from Orem has an ongoing list from which the majority of these hundred ideas came.