Check out this week's article on 20 Creative Activities for couples.

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What creative activities do you do with your partner (or by yourself) that spices things up and breaks the usual dinner and a movie routine?

We'd like to hear from you...

Deb, what a great article! My hubby and I are definitely in a rut when it comes to dating! We are in such a rut that dinner and a movie are actually exciting!!! HA HA HA!!!

We've been together over 20 years though, so we really need to put a bit of effort into it

We are pretty creative together though. We write music. We used to play in a rock band - now we just play together, and being that creative together is really a nice way to reconnect.

I'm gad you liked the article, Deanna. I've been married over 24 years and have been with my husband closer to 28 years, so I know what you mean when you talk about being in a rut. When our son moved out we really had to take a personal inventory of our lives because our lives used to be structured around going to Little League games and tournaments. We're pretty athletic so that helps us do active activities.

That is really neat that you and your husband write music together and used to be in a band. That can always be a bonding factor for the two of you no matter how old (young) you are. I play the piano and my husband plays the guitar. I think that when he doesn't have such a hectic work schedule that someday it would be nice to play sheet music together for the piano/guitar. That would be cool. Thanks for the idea.

Some good ideas I find what one of us enjoys is usually not so much fun for the other. Like, theater. I used to love going to plays or musicals. It seems like a chore to drag hubby along And he's into RPGs and gaming, which aren't my thing.

It was surprising to find that we both had a great time at a ceramic painting place (Color Me Mine).

Hey Laura, it's great that you and your husband found a creative activity that you enjoyed together. My eyes kinda got big when I read your post because I would never be able to get my husband to go to a ceramic painting place. And I think that would be loads of fun for the both of us. When I wrote the article I asked him if he would take a ceramic wheel throwing class with me. He said no and that it was my thing. That's when I asked him what sorts of things he would do. He said, "no artsy stuff like that!" Yikes, I'm still working on him. He enjoys my art but doesn't want to do art with me. Good job in getting your hubby to be artistically creative with you.

I've been meaning to share with you a hobby that my husband and I have enjoyed for several years. We play games. We usually play with our daughter and my sister-in-law and, ocassionally, a few other family members and friends, but when it's just the two of us we have enough games which are good for two players that we grab to enjoy for either a 'filler' sized game or one that lasts anywhere from one to two hours (usually closer to one hour).
Most two players games tend to be more abstract IMO. I REALLY don't like chess so my husband will save that abstract game to play with our daughter.

Lately he and I really like to play Taluva. It's all about building villages among errupting volcanoes. It's a blast.
Get it?
okay.

Once we played Carolus Magnus - and ONLY Carolus Magnus - for the span of about 3 months. I like to change it up a lot more often than that but my hubby thinks he gets better the more he plays a game. I'll let him think that.

One great 2 player game that he won't play is Jambo because he doesn't like card games. If you can get your spouse to play that you're in good shape! The thing about card games is that cards are good at enhancing a game theme. The best games are when you don't notice the sophisticated game mechanics that make it work.

Anyway, games are great for rainy days and we've been getting plenty of those lately!


My best to all,
Real Tweet

Thanks for sharing your post about playing games, Real Tweet. It sounds like you have some really interesting ones, especially Carolus Magnus. I never heard of that one, but to keep it going 3 months, I would be interested in a challenge like that. I recently cleaned out our attic and called our 20-year-old son to see if he wanted to take any of his games to his apartment. To my surprise, he took a whole slew of them. Some of the games are too young for any of us to play anymore so I bagged them up for a niece and nephew. But there are some remaining ones I kept just for my husband and I to play when he doesn't feel like playing me chess. Trivial Pursuit is one of my favorites and if you have lots of time on your hand, Monopoly is an old time favorite as well. But I do need to explore some newer games that are in the stores. I got out of the habit of buying games when my son was young and it would be fun to buy them for my husband and I again. Too cool. Thanks again for your post.