Date night challenges became popular most recently on TikTok, under the name “Target date night challenge” – but don’t be fooled. This isn’t your average social media trend. They’re a genuinely great date idea!
These date night challenges are a fun, novel way to get to know your partner better and engage in a little light competition to see who’s the real queen or king of the relationship.
Read more: 34 Date Night Ideas for Every Kind of Couple
What is a date night challenge?
The idea of the original date night challenge on TikTok is simple; couples head to Target, separate off, and pick out gifts for each other based on different categories, like “favorite drink” or “favorite color”.
Once you’ve both completed the hunt, you checkout separately and reveal the choices at home, category by category. Whoever gets the most “correct” answers is the winner – but even if you don’t get the category answer quite right, you each get the chance to learn more about each other.
And let’s face it, sometimes the wrong answer is better (funnier) than the correct one!
If you want to try out the OG date night challenge, here are a few categories to get you started:
- Favorite drink
- Favorite snack
- Favorite color
- Something that reminds you of them
- An everyday thing
If you want to take it up another notch, try setting a specific budget and/or a time limit for finding the gifts. 30 minutes under $30 is a good place to start!
4 more date night challenge ideas
If rushing around a Target isn’t your idea of fun, you can apply the same general idea of the OG date night challenge to other areas.
1) Music Date Night Challenge
If you and your partner are musically inclined, this is a great one to step up the tempo for your next date night.
Just like the original date night challenge, you each separate off to fulfill your set of pre-chosen categories. But instead of finding gifts in a Target, you’re each building a playlist!
Try these categories on for size:
- Their favorite song
- A song you think your partner thinks is your favorite.
- A song they secretly like.
- A song they’ve never heard before.
- A song that reminds you of them.
You can use Spotify or YouTube playlists to build these playlists for free. As a bonus, this is a great one for long-distance couples, as the playlists can be shared 100% digitally with no need for physical media.
2) Food Date Night Challenge
Fancy a date night challenge that provides both dinner and entertainment? Turn your evening into a gustatory delight with your partner and see who can outdo the other in the kitchen.
For this one, you each design a menu based on a selection of category questions about your partner, just like the other date night challenges. You could leave it at just a theoretical menu (maybe designed up on Canva?), but it’s much more fun to actually deliver on the meal!
Here are a few categories:
- What your partner would order as a “last meal”.
- An important recipe from your shared past.
- Something your partner has never tried.
- The worst food they’ve ever had – but made great.
This is also a great one to combine with drinks. Break out a shaker and/or a bottle opener and use the same logic to build a set of cocktail categories instead.
Pro-tip: This challenge takes a fair bit of work so it’s best to stick to smaller dishes where possible.
3) Travel Date Night Challenge
It’s said that you don’t really know your partner until you travel with them (especially once you bring traveling with a baby into the equation). This date night challenge puts that saying to the test by seeing which of you knows the other better when it comes to overseas adventures!
The aim of this one is to build an itinerary of the “perfect holiday” for your partner. Each of you create a list of people, places and activities that fulfill categories based on your other half’s preferences. Get back together and share – not only will you get to learn more about your partner, but you might end up with a great holiday planned too.
Here are a few categories:
- Where they go. You could stick with just the country or state, or even pick out a specific hotel or bed & breakfast.
- How they get there. Car, boat or plane might be traditional, but see if you can get creative.
- Who they go with. The correct answer should always be their other half – but that might not be the most entertaining answer.
- What they do once they’re there. The more specific, the better.
For bonus points, you can combine this with the physical gift aspect of the original date night challenge, especially if you/your partner have gift giving as a Love Language. Find or buy an object that represents your answer. Think a mini Eiffel Tower if your itinerary for your partner includes Paris, for example.
4) Hobby Date Night Challenge
If you and your partner are fanatical about a hobby – either the same one or separate – this date night challenge is a great way to connect with one another over an activity or skill.
For this challenge, the categories are based around a hobby that your partner enjoys. Think art, sports, entertainment – collections are always a good one. And like the original challenge, you go out and find an object that relates to the category; though unlike the original challenge, these categories are a little more directly practical.
They might be:
- Something they always need for their hobby.
- Some they’ve always wanted for their hobby.
- Something you’ve always wanted for their hobby (more storage so their stuff doesn’t end up everywhere is a good one!).
If you want to go one step further, you can put together a date night gift basket with the new gear for your partner and then indulge in each other’s hobbies together. This is fantastic for building a stronger connection with your partner – you might even discover a new shared hobby!
Date night challenges are great fun, but when both you and your partner live busy lives, it can be hard to find the time to do them.
Cupla is the shared calendar app designed exclusively for couples, helping you and your partner find a date night time that works for both of you, automatically. Combined with the dedicated To-Do list feature and in-app activity booking, it makes it easy to make quality time together.
