Dinner and drinks are great, but sometimes date night needs a little shake-up. If your usual plans are starting to feel a little too predictable, Ottawa has plenty of experiences that go way beyond making another restaurant reservation.
You can make your own Turkish mosaic lamp, step inside a virtual reality world, learn how to throw pottery or even try your hand at blacksmithing. Basically, there are plenty of excuses to try something completely new together.
Here are 10 Ottawa date ideas you probably haven’t tried yet.
Make a Turkish Mosaic Lamp at Mosaic Art Studio
Where: 115 Bank St
Instead of buying something cute for your home together, why not make it yourselves? Mosaic Art Studio Ottawa hosts Turkish mosaic lamp workshops where you’ll design your own colourful lamp using glass pieces and beads.
The experience also incorporates Turkish tea, treats and music, making it feel like much more than your average craft night. Best of all, you’ll leave with something you can actually use at home — and a reminder of the date every time you turn it on.
Try a Pottery Wheel Date at LOAM Clay Studio
Where: 131 Loretta Ave N
You’ve probably seen the pottery-date videos all over social media, so here’s your excuse to finally try it.
LOAM Clay Studio offers a Date Night on the Wheel experience designed specifically as an introduction to wheel throwing. You’ll spend an hour learning the basics and attempting to create your own piece on the pottery wheel.
Will your creation look exactly how you imagined? Maybe not. But that’s half the fun.
Step Inside a Virtual World at Sandbox VR
Where: 45 Rideau St
Forget sitting next to each other playing video games. At Sandbox VR, you’re stepping directly into one.
The ByWard Market experience uses full-body motion capture and haptic technology to immerse you in interactive virtual worlds where you’ll need to work together to complete your mission. Depending on the experience you choose, your date could involve battling enemies, surviving an adventure or encountering dinosaurs.
It’s definitely more memorable than another movie night.
Learn to Cook Something New Together at C’est Bon
Where: 200 Dalhousie St
Turn dinner into the activity itself at C’est Bon Cooking School – C’est Bon Ottawa.
Located in the ByWard Market, C’est Bon offers hands-on cooking classes where you’ll learn new techniques, prepare dishes together and, most importantly, get to eat what you’ve made when you’re finished. Ottawa Tourism also highlights C’est Bon as one of the city’s options for couples looking to learn a new skill together.
Plus, you might walk away with a new recipe for your next at-home date night.
Try Blacksmithing Together at Vans School
Where: 4265 McNeely Rd
This might be one of the most unexpected date ideas on the list.
Vans School of Blacksmithing offers hands-on blacksmithing experiences where beginners can learn techniques while working with actual tools and metal.
It’s physical, a little unconventional and definitely not something you do every weekend. If your ideal date involves learning a new skill and getting your hands dirty, put this one on the list.
Paint Pottery at The Mud Oven
Where: 1150 Bank St
If using a pottery wheel sounds slightly too ambitious, painting the finished product might be more your speed.
At The Mud Oven, you can choose a ceramic piece and spend your date painting and decorating it however you want. You don’t need to be an artist either, the whole point is to get creative and have fun with it.
Paint something for each other and keep the finished pieces as a souvenir from your date.
Become Detectives for the Night with Murder Mystery Ottawa
Where: 379 Preston St
Dinner theatre gets a lot more interesting when there’s a murder to solve.
Murder Mystery Ottawa puts on interactive comedy whodunnit performances at The Prescott in Little Italy. Instead of simply sitting back and watching, you’ll be following clues, interacting with characters and trying to figure out who’s responsible.
Make a prediction before the reveal and see which one of you would make the better detective.
Escape a Room Together at Escape Manor
Where: 292-A Elgin St
Nothing tests your communication skills quite like being locked in a room together with a countdown clock.
Escape Manor – Downtown offers themed escape rooms that require you to search for clues, solve puzzles and work together to make it out before time runs out. The downtown location also has a licensed lounge and additional games, so you can keep the date going once you’ve escaped.
Just try not to blame each other when you’ve spent 15 minutes staring at the same clue.
Try Glass Art at Loretta Studios
Where: 131 Loretta Ave N
Trade the usual paint night for something a little different at Loretta Studios and Gallery.
The artist-run Ottawa studio specializes in glass art and offers hands-on classes and workshops where you can learn techniques and create pieces of your own. Depending on the workshop, projects can include things like beads, rings and ornaments.
You’ll get to try a creative skill together and walk away with something much more personal than anything you’d pick up at a store.
Take Your Competition to BATL Grounds
Where: 2615 Lancaster Rd
If your dates always seem to turn into a competition, you might as well embrace it.
BATL Grounds Ottawa offers axe throwing alongside other target activities like archery and knife throwing. Beginners can get instruction before putting their skills to the test, so you don’t need any experience before showing up.
Keep score, make a wager and let the winner choose where you’re going for your next date.
Try Something New Together
The best dates don’t always have to be romantic in the traditional sense. Sometimes trying something neither of you has done before gives you a much better memory than another night spent sitting across from each other at a restaurant.
And with everything from pottery and cooking to VR and blacksmithing available around Ottawa, your next date might just become the story you keep telling.
Looking to take date night beyond Ottawa? Trade the city for a waterfront escape and see why a stay at Drake Motor Inn in Prince Edward County might be worth the road trip.
