100 Things to Do Together (That Are Chaste and Fun)

Your commitment to chastity doesn't need to stunt your relationship.

A recent Facebook post by The Culture Project recounted one missionary’s experience of being asked by a young woman, “If my boyfriend and I can’t have sex until marriage...what do we do?” The CP Missionary recalled the St. Vincent de Paul quote that “Love is inventive to infinity,” and observed that “incredible creativity” is truly a “hallmark of love.” 

The missionary shared further, “I once heard a story of a boyfriend who, upon committing to chastity, wrote down 100 things that he and his girlfriend could do together (other than have sex). Upon finishing the list, the couple grew more deeply in friendship and relationship than they ever thought possible, and so he wrote down 100 more.” 

Whether you’re in a season of sexual abstinence due to dating or engagement or out of a need to avoid pregnancy within marriage, here are 100 suggestions of things to do together with your significant other. 

Go Out: 

1. Try out an escape room. 
2. Take a tour. The closest big town to my husband and I has Christmastime tours of downtown, complete with carriage rides, as well as tours of a Frank Lloyd Wright house throughout the year. My hometown’s Historical Society offers free guided tours each summer of local places in the historic landmark register. What’s available in your local area?
3. Surprise your SO with tickets to an event they will love. One of James’ bucket list items was to see a University of Notre Dame football game, but the ticket prices aren’t generally a good fit for our budget. Several years back, though, I happened to come across significantly discounted tickets to a game just a few days later. All the details fell into place, and we took a fun, whirlwind roadtrip that Saturday.
4. Make homemade food to bring to an event. If you’re looking for a quick team-building exercise that will yield a product you can share, you can’t go wrong with homemade lemonade or salsa. (This salsa recipe by the Pioneer Woman is my personal favorite) 
5. Hike together. Depending on your geographic location, this might mean hiking in your backyard, or finding a local trail. 
6. Babysit! If you are dating, babysit for a married couple or single parent with kids. They’ll be forever grateful, and you’ll get to see how your SO interacts with children. If you’re married, offer to swap babysitting services with another couple so that each couple ends up with a free sitter for date night. 
7. Take dance lessons.
8. Go on a picnic. 
9. Go on a bike ride. 
10. Go on a double-date
11. Go on a progressive dinner date.
12. Join a recreation league softball or sand volleyball or ultimate frisbee team. 
13. Explore your nearest state park. 
14. Get ice cream together, but each of you tries out your SO’s favorite flavor instead of your own.
15. Serve at a soup kitchen. More here on why serving the poor together as a couple is so valuable. 
16. Pray outside an abortion facility.
17. Tutor at-risk youth. 
18. Try karaoke or open-mic night.
19. Try a new-to-both-of-you restaurant.
20. Go bowling. 
21. Go miniature-golfing. 
22. Visit a museum. 
23. Take a drive! 
24. Visit a family member or home-bound parishioner or neighbor. 
25. Try out a trampoline park. 
26. Sign up for a fun run like the Hot Chocolate 5K/15K or a bike ride like the Tour de Donut. 
27. Go camping. 
28. Listen to live music, anything from a rowdy country concert to a night at the symphony. 
29. Ride a train.
30. Check out a farmer’s market. 
31. Visit a water park. 
32. Test your knowledge at a trivia night. 
33. Play a game of pool.
34. Take a daytrip.
35. Visit a zoo.
36. Walk through an aquarium. 
37. Visit an orchard and pick apples together. Bonus points if you make applesauce or apple pie with your purchase. 
38. Go rock-climbing. 
39. Tour a brewery or a winery, whichever is more your style.
40. Visit each other’s hometowns, showing your SO where you went to school, church, hung out with friends, etc.
41. Ride in a hot-air balloon.
42. Order for each other at a restaurant. 
43. Attend a lecture on a topic of interest to both of you. 
44. Go paintballing. 
45. Go roller-skating. 
46. Go fishing. 
47. Volunteer at an animal shelter.
48. Walk in the park. 
49. Make your way through a corn maze. 
50. Attend a local fair or festival. 
51. Visit a botanical garden. 
52. Donate blood. 
53. Go sledding. 
54. Try out Toastmasters and improve your public speaking skills. 
55. Go berry picking. 
56. Perform a random act of kindness together, like paying for the coffee of the person behind you in the drive-through, or shoveling snow for an elderly neighbor. 

Stay In: 

57. Create a garden. In our situation, James made the raised bed frame, and I picked out and planted the veggies. 
58. Learn to cook (or to cook better!). With apps like the Food Network app, you can bring a cooking class right into your kitchen or his.  
59. Make a puzzle. 
60. Bake a cake. If sweets are your thing, but from-scratch baking isn’t, give yourselves a leg up by doctoring a cake mix. 
61. Read a book together. 
62. Read poetry aloud to each other. 
63. Watch a sunrise (or sunset). 
64. Watch a movie. Low budget option: rent one or stream one at home. More expensive option: hit the nearest movie theater. Option with a twist: find the nearest drive-in movie theater. 
65. Invite friends, acquaintances, coworkers, or fellow parishioners over for a meal. No need to be fancy, the meal can be carry-out pizza. 
66. Play a board game together. 
67. Try a Date Night In a Box. There are options for a one-time box as well as for a subscription. We tried this out several years ago when they were first getting started, and enjoyed that the box included things like a link to a playlist, snacks to eat on the date, and then the actual date activities. 
68. Build a campfire. 
69. Write each other a love letter. 
70. Look at old photos of each of you growing up.
71. Talk about your future hopes and dreams. Dreaming together is a valuable relationship skill to develop. 
72. Make a reading date. Borrow books from the library...for each other. 
73. Create a playlist together. 
74. Build a...snowman, sand castle, pile of leaves for jumping in, etc. 
75. Work on a DIY project together. Truthfully, James does most of our household DIY projects solo, but I’ve got my eye on some peel and stick patterned wallpaper for our guest bathroom that we could apply together. 
76. Make cocktails at home. 
77. Enjoy a candlelight dinner in. 
78. Fly a kite. 
79. Make sidewalk chalk creations. 
80. Take a personality test and learn more of what makes your SO tick. 
81. Take the 5 Love Languages Quiz and discuss how your SO tends to give and receive love. 
82. Play 20 Questions. 
83. Listen to a podcast together and discuss what you hear. 
84. Make a list of the things you appreciate about your SO. 
85. Discuss your answers to these five questions about your expectations for a marriage. 
86. Develop relationship rituals. Maybe your good-night text every night is always the same. Maybe you have a secret handshake, or a codeword for when you’re feeling stressed. 
87. Unplug from technology for an evening or a day and see what conversation topics arise!

Grow Your Faith: 

88. Go to Mass together. 
89. Try out couples prayer, using the acronym PRAISE. Each of you Praises God for one thing, Repents of one thing you’ve done wrong that day, Asks for something for yourself, Intercedes for others, Seeks to know God’s will or clarity in discernment about one thing. End with a spontaneous or written prayer. 
90. Go on pilgrimage to a shrine or to the United States’ first approved Marian apparition site. 
91. Pray the rosary together. 
92. Listen to a recording of a talk from a Catholic conference and discuss what you learned. 
93. Learn about a saint together and ask for their intercession for your relationship. 
94. Go to Adoration together. 
95. Go to confession and then enjoy ice cream to celebrate. 
96. Make your Marian consecration or prepare for a consecration to St. Joseph together. 
97. Read a papal encyclical and discuss. 
98. Volunteer together at church (if you’re both local), in the choir, as ushers, lectors, or Eucharistic ministers. 
99. Join a Bible study. 
100. Pray and fast together for a specific person or a specific intention.