Are you planning your next date night? Maybe you’re after something a little bit different to the usual activities like dinner, drinks, a movie, bowling. Here’s a rundown of some fun alternatives you can try!
Axe Throwing at Whistlepunks
Book into Whistlepunks, for an hour and a half of throwing axes at a board! It sounds random, I know, but I’ve been to Whistlepunks twice now and it’s lots of fun!
They have 4 lanes in Manchester and you could find yourself sharing your lane with a mix of people in each session including people on dates, mates, work socials, stag and hen dos and other groups.
The first time I visited, I went with a group of work colleagues and realised I’m actually pretty good at it! It’s all about technique, and being strong doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be good at it – I ended up beating guys who were twice the size of me!
You need to book in advance, and they ask what the occasion is with “Date Night Deeeelight” being on the options. When I went on a date, I selected this option and we found ourselves sharing a lane with other couples.
Each lane has an instructor and they start you off, two at a time with some practice, trying out one arm and two arm throws. After everyone’s warmed up and got into the swing of things (pun intended!) they set up a tournament between everyone on the lane! And this is where it gets really fun and competitive.
Price: £25 per person Weds – Sat. £20 per person Sun – Tues
Fun Date Factor: This one’s all about the competitiveness, against each other and against the other people on your lane!
Location: Great Northern, Deansgate, Manchester, M3 4EN
Website: whistlepunks.com
Play 80’s Arcade Games at 17Below
This 1980’s themed cocktail bar offers drinks out with a handful of retro arcade machines to keep you entertained! I love ’80s music so to me, this place was a perfect place to start a date night. It’s quite small and intimate inside, with space to sit and chat in between drinks and playing games.
I came here on a second date, we had a few drinks, played some games (I found the games surprisingly difficult!) and then headed out to dinner.
Price: The arcade games are all free, so you just pay for your drinks
Fun Date Factor: The arcade games are fun, especially if you remember them from first time around and even if you’re really bad at them!
Location: 17 Bow Ln, Manchester, M2 4FW. It’s in the basement so you have to walk through Dogs n Dough to reach it.
Website: 17Below.com
Solving Puzzles in an Escape Room
You’ll find there’s loads of these “escape room” type experiences in Manchester. There’s rooms with different themes and stories, from spooky horror rooms to fantasy, sci fi and history.
You get “locked” into one of the themed rooms and have 1 hour to solve the clues and make your escape.
I’ve done these before with a group of friends and with work colleagues and we needed lots of hints and clues so when it was suggested as a date activity I was a bit unsure. How would we manage just the two of us?
It was tricky, but we escaped with 1 second to spare! The teamwork element was fun, and was super impressed with ourselves for solving some of the more difficult puzzles.
Price: From £18 per person off peak
Fun Date Factor: This one’s all about teamwork!
Location: Various in city centre
Websites:
Lucardo
Breakout
Escape Hunt
Escape Reality
Escape Rooms
Hitting Baseballs at Base Mcr
Base is a bar with baseball batting cages. You hire out the cages in 30 minute slots, the team there give you a safety briefing, show you how the batting machine works and then they leave you to it!
I visited Base with some work friends, so I technically haven’t road tested it as a date venue. It’s actually pretty difficult and my hit rate was terrible…perhaps that’s why I’m keen to go back – to redeem myself! You pay a set fee to book the batting cage regardless of how many people attend, so in my group of work friends I only got one turn. Visit on a date just the two of you and you’ll get loads more time batting each.
Price: £25 for 30 mins of batting time
Fun Date Factor: You can get nostalgic about playing rounders at school and team up to load the machine with baseballs for each other.
Location: 5 Millow St, Manchester, M4 4DR
Website: basebar.co.uk