The holiday season is hands down the most romantic time of the year. There’s just something magical about bundling up with your sweetheart and strolling through twinkling lights, falling snow, and the smell of fresh pine in the air.
As a relationship coach, I’m often asked by my clients for ideas to make the most of this special season with their partners. After years of advising couples, I’ve compiled the ultimate guide to Christmas date ideas that are fun, festive, and sure to bring you and your love even closer.
Why Christmas Dates are Important for Couples
The whirlwind of holiday activities can often overwhelm couples. Between shopping, parties, family visits, gift wrapping, and all the usual daily tasks, it’s easy to let your relationship take a backseat during this busy season. However, it’s incredibly important to carve out quality time together amidst the hustle and bustle.
Christmas date nights allow you to focus completely on each other, reconnect emotionally, and make memories that will last a lifetime. The childlike joy and magic of the season can rekindle the spark between you. Laughter, wonder, playfulness, and affection come easily when you’re immersed in the holiday spirit together.
Don’t let the holidays fly by without dedicating real time to strengthen your bond. The activities you choose for your Christmas date nights can range from quiet and cozy to exciting and adventurous. Regardless of your preferences, make sure to prioritize this one-on-one time with the one you love.
Creative and Romantic Christmas Date Night Ideas
Have a Christmas Movie Marathon
What better way to get in the holiday spirit than by watching classic Christmas flicks with your sweetie? Cuddle up with blankets, don your coziest pajamas, make some hot cocoa or mulled wine, and queue up your favorite films.
Consider watching childhood favorites like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or modern classics like Love Actually. You could also opt for a Christmas comedy like Elf or National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation for laughs. Make sure to end your movie marathon by watching It’s a Wonderful Life—it’s a timeless classic that will leave you feeling grateful and inspired.
Go Ice Skating
Ice skating together allows you to hold hands, embrace, and literally skate into each other’s arms. It’s incredibly romantic! Search for an outdoor rink in your area or visit a local indoor skating arena.
If you’re beginners, go during an off-peak time so you can get the hang of it without crowds. The chilly air will get you clinging closely to keep warm. And if you happen to fall, your partner can gallantly help you up. After working up an appetite skating, stop for hot chocolates or head home to make a steamy pot of mulled wine.
Sip and Shop at a Christmas Market
Europe is famous for its magical Christmas markets, but you can often find them in bigger North American cities too. Stroll hand-in-hand past colorful stalls selling handmade crafts, ornaments, jewelry, scented candles, warm sweaters, and an endless array of holiday decor.
Savor a mug of mulled wine or hot hard cider to warm you from the inside out. Don’t be shy about publicly displaying your affection—a quick kiss here and there will get you in the romantic spirit. Pick out a special ornament, stocking stuffer, or another memento from your market date to commemorate the occasion.
Drive Around to See Christmas Lights
Hop in the car with your sweetie and cruise around neighborhoods decked out in dazzling light displays. Turn on festive music, bring some hot chocolate or cider, and drive slowly to take it all in. Look online for tips on particularly bright blocks or houses known for their over-the-top decorations and animate light shows synced to music.
After an evening of ooh-ing and aah-ing over the bright lights, go home and keep the romance flowing. Trade massages, take a hot bath or shower together, and end the night between the sheets.
Have Christmas Karaoke Night
Laughing and being silly together deepens intimacy between couples. Why not belt out your favorite holiday hits in the privacy of your home? Look up the lyrics online or use a karaoke machine, then let loose! Duet on “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” take turns serenading each other with “All I Want for Christmas is You,” and get your Mariah vibratos ringing on “Silent Night.”
This is bound to spark giggles galore, bring you closer, and create priceless memories. End the night slow dancing together in your PJs.
Make a Gingerbread House
Gather candy, icing, graham crackers and your creative juices for an afternoon of gingerbread house making! Working together to design a tasty masterpiece provides great bonding time.
Chat and laugh as you decorate with gumdrops, licorice whips, mints, pretzel sticks, and whatever else you want to incorporate. Once your house is complete, take lots of pictures to commemorate your handiwork, then dig in! Taste-testing your decor is the best part.
volunteer Together
The holiday season is a beautiful time to give back and help those in need. Volunteering as a couple enables you to join forces for a heartwarming cause. Look for opportunities like:
- Serving meals at a soup kitchen or homeless shelter
- Sorting donated toys or clothing for underprivileged families
- Caroling or delivering gifts at a children’s hospital or nursing home
- Helping build houses for low-income families with Habitat for Humanity
You’ll leave fulfilled, closer, and likely feeling incredibly grateful for all you have. What better way to get into the Christmas spirit?
Have an Indoor Holiday Picnic
Who says picnics are only for warm weather? Set up a cozy indoor winter picnic complete with your favorite holiday nibbles and some festive cheer. Light a fire in the fireplace, scatter pillows and blankets on the floor, and create a feast of finger foods like cheeses, crackers, fruits, veggies, sandwiches, chocolates, Christmas cookies, eggnog, and mulled wine.
Chat, cuddle, sip, and savor—let the cares of everyday life melt away. Spark intimacy by hand-feeding each other treats. End your indoor picnic by making s’mores over the fire or even something racier!
Take a Romantic Sleigh Ride
Snuggle under a blanket in a horse-drawn sleigh for an old-fashioned romantic experience. The sound of jingling bells paired with magnificent views of snow-covered landscapes is pure magic. Many scenic towns or ski resorts offer sleigh rides around the holidays, or you may find a local farm that provides this nostalgic winter activity.
After your sleigh ride, head back home for hot showers or a bath together. Trade massages and watch the snow fall outside your window while staying cozy inside.
Have an Ugly Sweater Party
Ugly sweater parties have become a wildly popular holiday tradition. Why not host one together and invite other couples? Scour thrift shops for the craziest, kitschiest, gaudiest sweaters you can find. Award prizes for different categories—tackiest, funniest, ugliest, etc.
In addition to judging sweaters, you can play holiday games, decorate cookies, enjoy festive cocktails, and swap gifts. Your ugly sweater soiree is guaranteed to spark laughter and bring out everyone’s silly side!
Take Festive Couple’s Photos
Capture some photographic memories during the most wonderful time of the year. Dress up in your holiday best—maybe those matching red and green plaid shirts or reindeer antler headbands. Head outdoors for a mini snowy photo shoot; stand in front of a gorgeously decorated home, Christmas tree, or city lights display; visit Santa at the mall for some shots on his lap.
Strike cute poses exhibiting your affection, personality and holiday spirit! Print your favorite photo to frame or use for next year’s Christmas card.
Make Christmas Treats
Bake classic holiday goodies like sugar cookies, gingerbread men, fruitcake, fudge, peppermint bark or eggnog cheesecake together in your kitchen. Christmas tunes and hot cocoa make the experience even more festive.
Feel free to steal tastes and kisses throughout the process. Once cooled, pile your homemade treats on a platter to enjoy by the fireplace or deliver to family and friends for an extra dose of holiday cheer.
Craft Handmade Ornaments
Making keepsake ornaments together allows you to personalize your Christmas tree or gift holiday decor to loved ones. Unleash your creativity! For instance, decorate plain wood rounds with holiday-themed scrapbook paper, paint, glitter, ribbons, and other embellishments.
You can also craft sweetheart ornaments featuring couple photos. Other DIY ornament ideas include crocheting mini stockings, knitting tiny wreaths, sculpting clay snowmen, or tracing and cutting your hands to make heart shapes. The options are endless.
Read Classic Holiday Tales
Revisiting timeless Christmas stories and poems is a simple but meaningful holiday date activity. Curl up together and take turns reading passages aloud from classics like A Christmas Carol, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, A Visit from St. Nicholas, The Gift of the Magi, The Nutcracker, and The Polar Express. Discuss your favorite scenes, characters, and memories associated with each story.
Have a Christmas Pajama Party
Who says you need to actually leave the house for a fun date? Stay in and have a Christmas PJ party just the two of you! Build a blanket fort, pop popcorn, play board games, watch movies, and sip hot chocolate or cider donning your silliest holiday sleepwear.
Exchange small token gifts like ornaments, cozy socks or slippers, candy, or baked goods. Let loose and be as giddy as kids on Christmas morning!
Go Snowshoeing
If you live in a snowy region, go snowshoeing through picturesque winter landscapes. The crunchy quiet and natural beauty of snow-covered forests, mountains, or parks make for excellent romantic ambience. Stop to build a snowman together or steal kisses on a secluded trail.
Return home flushed from the fresh air and your active adventure to relax by the fire over mugs of steaming apple cider with a splash of whiskey or spiced rum.
Visit a Botanical Garden’s Holiday Lights Display
Many botanical gardens put on dazzling light displays during the holidays with lit-up trees, animal shapes, tunnels of lights, illuminated fountains, and more. Walking through the twinkling glow is dreamy. Huddle close as you meander and gape at the gorgeous sights.
Take cheesy couples’ pics amid the splendor! Grab a bite or drinks afterward someplace with a window-view of a lit-up city skyline.
Romantic At-Home Holiday Date Ideas
Make Christmas Cookies
Baking holiday cookies together allows you to get creative in the kitchen while producing edible works of art. Bake classics like sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, or gingerbread men. Feel free to shape dough into more risque forms to exchange secret smiles over.
Frost and decorate batches of cookies while sipping cider or cocoa spiked with a nip of brandy, rum, or whiskey. Once cooled, enjoy your sweet treats in front of a roaring fire or exchange decorated cookies as thoughtful gifts.
Assemble a Puzzle
Working quietly together on a common goal like assembling a puzzle is remarkably intimate. Pour some wine or cocktail of choice and put on a Christmas music playlist. Sit side-by-side on the floor, chatting lightly as you connect pieces.
Glimpse your partner’s facial expressions and the way their mind works. After completing your masterpiece, admire it proudly then transition seamlessly into steamy kisses and caresses.
Give Each Other Massages
Exchanging massages is an indulgent treat that melts away stress. The health benefits combined with the sensation of your partner’s hands gliding over your bare skin make for serious romance.
Set the mood with candlelight, cozy blankets, soft music, and massage oil or lotion lightly scented with balsam, vanilla, or something equally delicious smelling. Take turns giving and receiving languorous full body rub downs. Happy endings optional!
Make a Holiday Meal Together
Cooking a special meal as a team is tremendously satisfying. Find festive recipes you both love and grocery shop together for ingredients. In the kitchen, sip wine and assign tasks—you chop veggies while they sear the roast, etc. The whole house will smell incredible!
Light candles before sitting down to your homemade feast. Gush over how delicious everything turned out and how proud you are to have created it together. A meal cooked with love always tastes better.
Play Romantic Holiday Music
Music has a truly magical ability to set a mood. Curate a playlist of your favorite romantic holiday songs and snuggle up fireside together to relax and enjoy. Include classics like “The Christmas Song” by Nat King Cole, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by Judy Garland, “Let it Snow” by Frank Sinatra, and “Underneath the Tree” by Kelly Clarkson.
Croon along and steal slow dances as the sentimental tunes spark all the feels. End the night swaying together to “Mistletoe” by Justin Bieber for the inevitable kiss!
Out-of-the-Box Holiday Date Concepts
Do a Holiday Beer or Wine Tasting
Sample festive brews or wines side-by-side as you learn about the flavor profiles. Look for seasonal favorites like peppermint stouts, spiced winter ales, cranberry lambics, maple porters, and rich cabernets. Set out cheeses, chocolates, nuts, and other nibbles to complement your beverage flight.
Discuss your impressions, favorites, and recommendations to expand each other’s alcoholic beverage knowledge. Cheers to holiday cheer!
Attempt a Gingerbread House World Record
For a truly epic Christmas date night, attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest walk-through gingerbread house! While this may seem far-fetched, others have achieved it with detailed planning and preparation. Why not brainstorm your masterpiece design over leftovers and wine?
Even if your actual execution doesn’t pan out, imagining the process will spark creativity and laughs. And who knows—you may end up with a new wacky tradition!
Have a Christmas Pajama Fashion Show
Gather your silliest holiday sleepwear and accessories for a private couples-only Christmas PJ fashion show! Queue up festive runway music and take turns modeling looks for one another.
Strut your stuff wearing light-up antlers, Santa hats paired with boxers or lingerie, kitschy button-downs and pants sets—anything goes! Make ridiculous poses and faces. Reward the “sexiest” looks afterwards in the bedroom. What happens at your fashion show stays at your fashion show…
Visit an Alpaca Farm’s Holiday Event
For an unconventional and interactive holiday date, check local alpaca farms for Christmas events. Many offer holiday activities like taking photos with alpacas wearing Santa hats, crafting projects using alpaca wool, cookie decorating, hot cocoa sipping, sledding, and more. Hand-feeding these fluffy, friendly creatures is a rare experience.
Afterward, drive through the countryside looking at Christmas light displays and reminisce about your hilarious alpaca encounter over cider donuts and spiked apple cider.
Romantic Christmas Getaways
Rent a Cozy Cabin
Whisk your sweetheart away for a dreamy cabin getaway amidst snow-covered forests or mountains. Choose a secluded spot to completely unplug—just you, a crackling fireplace, steaming mugs of cocoa or cider, fuzzy blankets perfect for snuggling, and views of the wintry wilderness outside your window.
Cook simple comfort foods together in the kitchenette, soak in the hot tub, play board games, exchange massages, and make love beneath the glow of string lights.
Visit a Quaint Holiday Village
For storybook Christmas vibes, book a trip to a charming holiday village like Leavenworth, Washington or North Pole, New York. Stroll main streets illuminated by thousands of twinkling lights, pop in and out of cute shops and cafes, sip hot beverages while admiring the Bavarian architecture, and stay at a cozy bed & breakfast bedecked in wreaths, ribbons, and other festive finery.
Ride in a horse-drawn carriage, go sledding, and toast to your romantic getaway over indulgent hot chocolates with amaretto or peppermint schnapps. Create memories to cherish.
Check Into a Decked Out Holiday Hotel
Treat your sweetie to a stay at a lavishly decorated holiday hotel for next-level festive ambience. Look for locations featuring massive Christmas trees, miles of lights, epic gingerbread creations, carolers, cookie decorating, visits from Santa, and holiday movies around the clock.
Wear matching pajamas as you snuggle by the lobby fireplace. Cap your Christmas trip by joining other guests for a Christmas Eve candlelight service or breakfast with all the yuletide fixings on Christmas morning.
Relax at a Holiday-Themed Spa Retreat
Pamper yourselves with massages, facials, and other spa treatments tailored to the season. Look for holiday-centric options like cranberry body scrubs, peppermint foot soaks, hot stone massages with winter aromatherapy oils, and sparkling wine manicures or pedicures. Extend the relaxation into your guest room decked out for the season.
Enjoy gingerbread tea and snacks by the firepost-spa time before indulging in a romantic soak in your private whirlpool tub and sleeping soundly curled up together.
Bring the Magic of Christmas to Your Date Nights
The holiday season offers so many opportunities for memorable romantic excursions with your partner. From comforting traditions to new adventures, fun activities abound. Don’t let the holidays fly by without dedicating real couple time to connect and deepen your bond.
Prioritize celebrating the magic of Christmas together, just the two of you. These date ideas offer inspiration, but feel free to get creative and make the season your own based on your shared interests and values.
The memories you create will far outlast any gift found under the tree. Wishing you and yours a holiday season filled with laughter, wonder, affection, and togetherness!