Stuck in a dating rut?

Here, have some impressive ideas (no need to thank us)

Nathan Ross

Arts Editor

If the phrase “date night” for you means arguing over what to do, doing the same thing as last week, or staying in because it is easier, it sounds like you need a jump start to your evening extracurricular events.

Calgary is a fun city to be adventurous in. You can try out an incredible variety of dates that give you options from the first time around to your anniversary date. Find that special someone and trot them over to any one of these places for a guaranteed night on the town that you’ll be glad you tried, regardless of how it finishes.

The Loose Moose

For a first date, throw a twist on your boring dinner and a movie and make it dinner and the Loose Moose.

Having a couple of these in your hand should make your date night go better than tickets to Warm Bodies. Photo Illustration: Nathan Ross

It’s a great way to break the ice because you can show your date that you have a great sense of humour, which is a good thing to flaunt if you’ve got it. If you don’t, you can at least show that you know when other people are funny, and are good at fitting in. That is also an admirable quality.

The shows there cost less than a movie. You’ll feel like you got your money’s worth and your likelihood of date success is way higher than going to see another awful date movie that you’ll either wish you could relate to or hate yourself for doing so.

Glenbow Museum

An underrated place for a pleasant date is Calgary’s art staple, the Glenbow Museum. Most people haven’t been since a field trip in elementary school and are missing out seeing what it is like through adult eyes.

There are four main collections you can lose yourself, or each other, in for hours. These include the Museum, Art, Library and Archives collection because you can learn about history while learning about each other as well.

The current exhibits feature a look at Alberta through the eyes of recording artist Corb Lund, a stellar display of street photography, and coming up soon will be Made In Calgary. It’s totally worth the price of two for admission for a fun day of learning. After all, brainy is the new sexy.

Ironwood Stage & Grill

If you’re looking for some live music, take a chance and head down to the Ironwood in Inglewood. You will get to have a nice sit-down meal and listen to the world-class artists the Ironwood is known for bringing in, as their stage is full every single night.

The Ironwood is easier than most venues for a date because you won’t be crammed around strangers while you wait for acts. On top of that, you won’t have to debate whether to save your spot or go get a beer. It’s the ideal live music date.

With the Ironwood, make sure that you book your tickets in advance as they will sell out, and you won’t look all that impressive if you show up and the door and get turned away. Forgetting to make reservations and ending up ruining date night is a tired cliché, but this is the biggest place that it will haunt you.

Gamer Sundays at Dickens

Finally, get your nerd culture on and head down to Dickens Pub on a Sunday and treat your date to Gamer Sundays.

Whether it’s on the console or the extensive collection of board games they have behind the bar, your world becomes an endless opportunities of games which are a perfect flirting platform. It works doubly well as a first date, as it gives you something to do instead of struggling to find the conversation starter that will get things rolling.

Best of all, the games are included free of charge so you can keep on coming back for more without breaking the budget.