Things to do at home as a couple: 9 evening ideas that aren't another show
· 6 min read
An evening at home together often ends the same way: both of you on your phones, a show running in the background that nobody is really watching. Here are nine ideas that make an evening worth remembering. Most need no planning, and some need nothing at all.
1. Solve a crime
An online detective game is an evening where you're not the audience but the investigators. You travel around a city map, question witnesses, read other people's messages and argue about who is lying. At the end you name the culprit and find out whether you were right.
At Red Threads the first case, Room 412, is free and takes about 40 minutes — enough to know whether you want more.
2. Dinner from a country you've never been to
Pick a country, find one simple dish and cook it together. Put on that country's music and a few photos of its streets on the screen. It's a small trip without leaving the kitchen.
3. A film picked from a hat
Each of you writes down three films the other hasn't seen. Draw one and watch it with no right to switch. The one rule: phones stay in another room.
4. A night of questions
Ask each other the questions there's never time for: what's your earliest memory, where would you like to live in ten years, what were you afraid to tell me. It sounds simple, but those conversations stay with you longer than any film.
5. A board or card game
If there's a deck of cards somewhere, learn a new two-player game. If not, plenty of board games have online versions. A small stake — the loser does the dishes — livens things up.
6. A look back
Open your photos from the past year, or from when you met, and each pick your five favourites. Say why those ones. Print the best and put them on the wall.
7. A one-evening project
A 500-piece puzzle, a paint-by-numbers, the shelf that's been in its box for three weeks. Working on one thing with a clear finish brings you closer than you'd think.
8. A tasting night at home
Buy three kinds of something — cheese, chocolate, tea — and taste them blind. Score out of ten and write it down. Arguing about the difference between two almost identical cheeses is surprisingly fun.
9. A night without screens
Switch everything off for two hours. Read to each other, play charades, run a bath with candles. The first ten minutes feel strange; after that it's good.
How to choose
If you want excitement and conversation, go for the detective case or a board game. If you want closeness, the questions or the photos. If you're both tired, the film from a hat or the dinner. Better still, make it a habit: one new evening from this list every week.