10 Fun Ideas For Sober Dating

You've met someone great. You get along, you have things in common, and they make you laugh. Now you want to ask them out. You pluck up enough courage to ask them, but something stops you. You have no idea what you are going to do. With alcohol no longer in the mix, you have no idea what to do for a date now that you are in recovery. Suddenly, everything you could think of involves alcohol.       

Unfortunately, dating and drinking have always seemed to go hand in hand. Like salt and pepper, you can't seem to think of one without the other. This may feel like you will never date again, now that you are living your new sober life, without drugs or alcohol. But in actuality, more choices have been open to you to get to know a person while sober. All "going for drinks" allows for, is a stagnant question and answer session and turns dating into more of an interview for a spouse position, rather than a fun experience. Below you will find ten ideas for sober dating - things that don't involve drugs or alcohol to have fun.   

1. Go to a Game Night 

 Many local comic book stores have scheduled events that can range from the average and universal - things like game nights that play classic board games like Monopoly and Risk, to more specialized and geeky - Magic the Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons. Depending on the event you chose, you can learn a lot about the person from the games they like and whether or not they are a sore loser!

2. Dance lessons

A quick search on Google will yield you many results for local dance studios. You could pick an intro class for something you both don't know, yet always wanted to learn, or intentionally pick the craziest dance class you see and just have fun with it.

3. Karaoke

Typically, karaoke occurs while alcohol is involved. However, there are places where alcohol isn't served, and karaoke is. Go for it! Sing off-key, do strange choreography. Commit to having fun and your date will too!

4. Bowling

Many bowling alleys have theme nights, like Cosmic Bowling, where they turn down the lights, turn on a blacklight and play top 40 music. Or you could just choose a simple couples bowling night, an event already geared towards the dating crowd.

5. Take a Class

Local community colleges sometimes host continuing education courses that only take up a couple of hours of your day. You could both learn a useful skill like cooking, or you could do something creative and fun, like pottery.

6. Local Sports

See a local, minor league game. Tickets are usually much more reasonable than the major league, and you can still chow down on all the concession stand goodies.

7. Food Trucks

If you both consider yourself foodies, you could go to your town's food truck event (they usually occur monthly) and make a game of it, where you try and judge all the food like you are the host of a cooking show.

8. See a Show

Sure, you could easily see a movie. But that's been done before. There are more entertainment options than that. You could see a touring Broadway musical, or see some local community theater. There are even improv troupes if you feel brave enough to be picked out of the audience.

9. Museum

There is something for everybody in a museum. If you walk around long enough, you are bound to find something you both enjoy and discussing the art can help learn more about each other.

10. Book Fair

Most major cities have a book fair. You could walk around and show each other your favorite books, see authors speak, or even have a book signed. Books are always a chance for endless discussion. If your town doesn't one, you could always go to a local bookstore or - the free version - the library!

It is possible to live a sober life and date free of drugs and alcohol dictating the things you do. There are so many options out there for you to try! If you or someone you love is recovering from addiction.