If you drive low on date evening ideas for this Valentine’s Day you are not alone. Relationship experts emphasize These regular dates are important to maintain a strong and fulfilling connection, but when each excursion begins to feel like the same dinner-and-one-movie routine, date evenings can lose their magic. The problem here is not the date evening itself; Rather, it is the repetition. After all, predictability is the enemy of tension.

Thankfully, this Valentine’s Day is the perfect opportunity to cut away from monotony and inject some adventure back into your relationship. If you are looking for something fun, playful and a little unusual, here are two date ideas that promise to get laughter, spontaneity and lasting benefits in your relationship.

1. Take a “left-right” road trip

The “left -right” game is the perfect way to get spontaneity and adventure back to your relationship. The idea is simple: you and your second half jump in the car – no GPS or maps allowed – and drive.

There is no fixed final destination, nor should you actively search for one; All you have to do is take the first left you see, then the next possible right. Continue rinse and repeat the alternating left and right turns and observe the world around you.

After a while, the odds are that you come across neighborhoods, people and places that you have never seen before – or get lost. Don’t panic if you do; This is the point.

Dates like these – where couples are in new, unexplored territories and situations – are important. Like 2013 research from it Oxford Handbook of close relationships Explains, news is the key to self-extension within a relationship-that is to say the feeling that you are still growing and develops as a person and as a couple.

New, exciting or unknown experiences are crucial in this sense: they show news and excitement. Although the activity itself does not leave you with any new skills or resources, the experience of news alone is sufficient to get a lasting sense of refreshment and inauguration.

Given this, how the left-right game ends is really up to you. However, the best way is to quit when you see a new place that captures both your and your partner’s eyes. It can be an old school, an antique shop, a sexual wellness store, a pet store or an agricultural market-everything that is important is that it is a place that is new, fascinating, unknown or strange.

From there, explore everything that the place has to offer. Eat the strangest on the menu, become friends with the grinest pet in the store, try the ugliest clothes in the store or ask the owner questions about the place. There should be no goal other than curiosity, exploration and news.

At the heart of this date, the tension in the unexpected is: every left, every right and every choice is a company into the unknown. By stepping outside your usual routine, you can rediscover the tension not to know what is coming thereafter, while harvesting the concrete benefits of news and self -expansion. You may even find a hidden gem in your own city – or at least go away with a good story to tell your friends.

2. Find an IKEA and Play House

For children, there is never a lack of fun things to do. Put legos, a box of old clothes, some crayons or even dirt in front of them, and they can find something to do with it. Through imagination alone, they can create completely new things, ideas and people.

Old clothes turn into costumes for quirky characters, and backyards become backgrounds for action-packed scenes and gaming foxes that dirt can become an ingredient for a pretend meal, drink or painting.

Of course, imaginative play was both essential and fun in childhood; It taught us how to solve, communicate, share and be creative. Although we may have mastered all these skills already, the game is still as important and fun in adulthood –especially in romantic relationships.

As research from Personal relationships Explains, the game gives rise to a number of positive emotions – for example happiness, joy and surprise. When adopted with a romantic partner, playfulness at the same time results in a tangible boost in relationship satisfaction. Sharing the forgotten joy of games allows couples to feel close and intimacy in ways that feel nostalgic and free.

But for adults, it is easy to feel that there is no room for imaginative play between work, chores and recovery that follow – unless you actively take the time. That is why Date Night is the perfect opportunity to return playfulness. The challenge will then be to find a way Playing, especially since most adults are out of exercise.

That is why there is no better place for it than an IKEA-Din local, adult-sized, acquired dollhouse and the perfect environment to play houses. The goal of this date is to have fun to step outside your regular routine by going into a new one, pretending. Embrace the role play to build a life together, no matter how stupid or dramatic it gets.

Before you enter your new home, assign yourself and your partner a role. Will you be a newlywed couple entering your dream home for the first time? A snappy, old married couple who can’t agree on anything? Ultra-rich socialists highly criticize the peasant furniture? From there, all that is left is to move in and become comfortable.

Create fake morning routines in the display bathrooms. Sit down and watch non-existent television programs together on the empty walls. Make lavish, imaginary dinners together in showroom kitchens. Hash out pretends domestic disputes about furniture. And of course finish your long day by going to one of your many beds.

This type of date produces a lighter, playful side of your relationship that is often buried under the weight of non-prepaid adult responsibility. It is a rare chance to be stupid and laugh at yourself. And although it may feel like a short-lived game, remember that every day with your partner is a house-game-everything you need is a certain imagination to rediscover the joy of domestic life.

Is date nights a fairy tale story in your relationship? Take this science -supported test and find out if it is worrying: Relationship satisfaction scale