15 first date ideas for single parents

First dates can be fun and great, but scary! The pressure of starting something new or completely falling flat is almost too much sometimes. Picking the perfect first date with someone you’ve been chatting to can make or break an encounter.

Surviving – and thriving – on a first date can mean calming those nerves with a good location or dispelling any tension with an activity. Luckily for you, we’re full of great first date ideas that might not just be drinking in a bar or dressing up for cocktails. Hopefully, with these first date ideas, you’ll get to know someone in no time – and perhaps you’ll get a second date too!

So, what do I do on a first date?

It’s important to remember that going on a first date makes everyone a little anxious. No matter whether you date often or it’s your first time going out in a while, everyone has those voices in our heads wondering what could go wrong. It’s normal, but try to quiet them! Dating is a normal part of life that you have a right to enjoy in a safe and (most importantly) fun way!

Being a parent is the most significant part of your life, we know that, but you’re entitled to finding romantic partnership if that’s something you want, and we are here to help you when you’re ready to get back out on the dating scene.

Fun first date ideas

The best bit of dating is finding someone new to take to all the things you don’t (or can’t) do by yourself. So, have a laugh, enjoy your day or night and see where the fun takes you – it’s not just for kids, you know.

• Play around in an arcade or at a board game café – big kids invited! Have a first date that eliminates nerves, but might bring out your competitive side.
• Test your knowledge at a pub quiz – try not to get too rowdy during the music round (the most exciting one, if you ask us).
• Get competitive trying mini golf – a hole in one might not be on the cards, but at least you can laugh about the tiny sculptures and silly themes.
• Go dancing! –  there’s very little more fun than looking silly and going totally rainbow rhythms with someone new.
• Take them out to the ballgame – pick a sport you both aren’t huge fans of to avoid any potential over-explaining. Try going to a curling match or Gaelic football and figuring out the rules together.

Memorable first date ideas

Everyone wants their first date to be memorable. No matter if you don’t see yourself as a smooth operator, you will at least make sure to have a time to remember (not for the wrong reasons, hopefully).

• Get some new interior décor by painting pots – painting some kind of pottery is a two-fold first date, you get to chat, get to know each other and laugh at your lacklustre craft skills.
• Have a stroll around a seasonal fair – Christmas markets, your local fruit and vegetable sellers, support local businesses and have a relaxing date wandering around.
• Take a brewery tour – drinking isn’t required, but will probably be encouraged. Taking a tour of a brewery is a good way to get to know someone and you get to learn something new!
• Walk around a botanical garden – there’s nothing more romantic than the smell of fresh flowers and overhead foliage. It can make your first date feel like a movie, and you get a sense of calm from being in touch with nature.
• Laugh until your stomachs hurt – at a comedy show, of course! Watching someone else be funny takes the pressure off and if you can’t remember any jokes of your own for afterwards you’ll at least have something to talk about.

Cute first date ideas

Allow your inner romantic to take over, after all, it’s good to set the tone for sweet dates right from the start. Meet-cutes might happen by chance but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a slightly choreographed cute first meeting with a potential someone.

• Wander aimlessly around an art gallery – take your time on a date and whisper to each other how you don’t quite get modern art, but it does look interesting.
• Go to a pick-your-own fruit farm – prepare to get a little muddy in the UK’s fields as you go searching for the perfect summer strawberry – now that’s romance.
• Walk your doggies together – dogs are a part of the family, and it’s important that someone you’re dating likes yours (if you have one). If you don’t have a dog, try taking shelter dogs for some much needed walkies and attention.
• Spot the fishes at an aquarium – channel your inner Romeo & Juliet (Baz Luhrmann edition, of course) and exchange longing glances across a fish tank.
• Pick up some bits at the market – two birds, one stone. Going to a market on a first date can be incredibly romantic, but maybe try a flower market, not a meat one.