Your Ultimate Summer Date Guide - One Swainky Couple

K: One of the major areas of focus for our blog is providing dating tips and ideas for other couples. Brandon and I feel like it’s so important to date your spouse and try to give meaningful ways for you to connect and broaden your relationship. I’m so excited because today, we’ve teamed up with some amazing travel and lifestyle bloggers, all in relationships, who are here to share their advice and opinions on three questions that we asked:

1. What’s been your most creative summertime date?

2. What do you suggest for a summer date outfit?

3. What’s the most romantic summertime trip for couples?

We’re giving you our answer, plus theirs. We’ve also got a very cool interactive challenge for you at the end, so be sure to read everything!

1. To start out, we wanted to get the date ideas going to inspire you for your next date night. We asked Blair from The Fox and She, Daniel and Niki from Wanderlust Us, Bryn from Waketon Road, Claudia and Michael from Part Time Travelers, and Maha and Bilal from Life Better Together. Here’s what they said about their most creative summertime date:

The Fox and She: We packed a picnic for a movie in the park one year and rode our bikes there. We brought small bites, sandwiches and drank wine out of solo cups. Nothing fancy, but it nice to switch up our typical date night for something easy and casual!

WanderlustUs: When in Mykonos we packed up a picnic basket with delicious treats, sandwiches and a bottle of bubbles and headed to the lighthouse. It was Dan’s birthday at the time too which made it extra special, we even took along some blue and white balloons. We sat and chatted for hours whilst watching the sunset over the Aegean Sea. We love going on a picnic and think they make the perfect summertime date.

Waketon Road: Our most creative summer dates involve getting out and enjoying nature. One of our favorite things to do is to is to take a picnic to the lake and enjoy the sunset. We bring our fur-baby and spend the evening together free from distraction. I think anything that gets you out and enjoying nature during the summer is a perfect date night.

Part TimeTravelers: When we were in Thailand, one day we decided to combine dating with adventure. We went to visit few small island around Phi Phi. On that boat trip we’re snorkeling with exotic fish and feeding them with bananas. It was very unusual experience and for sure we will remember it forever!

LifeBetter Together: It’s not our most creative date but one of our favorites! We recently stopped by a meat store and bought fresh cuts of meats, breads, some side dishes and fresh juices and went down to the park in our neighborhood where we lied out on our picnic blanket, cuddled, ate our yummy foods and spent some great quality time together! It was the perfect date for a weekday evening when the weather was stunning!

One Swainky Couple: We love anything that will take us outside! Something like this picnic date, riding our bikes, or exploring a nearby town are a few of our favorite creative dates. The key is to search for a new experience or something that you don’t get to do very often. That will make the date feel unique and exciting.

2. For our second question, we asked about the ideal outfit for a summer date.

The Fox and She: My go-to outfit for a summer date night is a dress. Long or short—doesn’t matter. They’re feminine, classic and easy! If we’re going somewhere a little nicer, I’ll add wedges or mules!

Wanderlust Us: For him- a casual shift with tailored shorts and a comfy pair of converse.

For her- a floaty floral dress with comfy sandals ready and waiting to be kicked off. Depending on where you are/weather, sunglasses are usually a must!

Waketon Road: For a summer date night I go for feminine and casual. My favorite options are off-the-shoulder tops and midi dresses . Both styles show enough skin but aren’t over the top. Summer is also the perfect time to play with fun prints like citrus and gingham.

Part Time Travelers: Of course it depends on the destination where you are going to. We don’t think that there is an ultimate date outfit, same as the date location. But for most of the occasions we would say for a girl a summer dress, which is rather girly than sexy. For a guy it would be definitely a shirt and nice shoes!

Life Better Together: For girls I would suggest a flirty summer dress and for guys I would suggest a nice pair of shorts with a dress shirt!

One Swainky Couple: I think everyone seems to agree that a sundress is always a perfect option for girls and a short-sleeve button down is a go-to for Brandon. We’ve put together a few options that you can shop below:

3. What’s the most romantic summertime trip for couples?

The Fox and She: Last year we took a last minute trip to Miami. It was so nice to just hang out by the beach and pool with no real agenda. We ate at great restaurants everyday and just enjoyed being together! I loved it!

Wanderlust Us: Ireland holds a very special place in our hearts, this is where we got engaged and therefore always feels extra romantic for us. We like to fly into Cork and head down to the south coast where the landscape is luscious green and the sea is turquoise blue.

Waketon Road: Anywhere that you can get lost together. Brian (my husband) and I love to explore new cities together. We plan trips to places where we can wander around the streets and just enjoy each others company. We love to visit places with great architecture and culture. After a full day of exploring we find a cozy restaurant and finish the day with a glass of wine and recap the day. Just being able to spend quality time and connect is the best!

Part Time Travelers: For our first trip together we went to Rome, which was definitely very romantic and one of the most important trips for our relationship. There is a lot of culture and places to enjoy romantic meals together.

Life Better Together: We love going away for the weekend in the summer, booking a cottage near a beach and spending the weekend cooking nice meals, lying out in the summer and really enjoying each other company. We will have a blog post on our most recent cottage trip going up in July!

One Swainky Couple: We had our honeymoon in central Mexico and specifically loved the charming city of San Miguel de Allende. Beautiful cathedrals, stunning architecture, cobblestone streets, and beautiful shops are only a few of the things to look forward to. It’s a small city, quiet, and had the best spots for a romantic getaway.

Summer Date Challenge:

Summer seems to be the season for adventure and we want to encourage adventure with the one you love. We’re challenging you to take part in our summer date challenge to “up” your dating game or just get more creative in your activities! We promise, by the end of the challenge, you’ll feel like you’ve had more quality time with your guy or girl, AND you’ll have new ideas on what to do for dates. We hope that you sign up below and choose to join us!

How it Works: This is going to be a community based challenge. We won’t officially begin until July 10th because we want to ensure as many people as possible can be a part of this! You’ll need to sign up to receive the challenge emails and starting on the 10th, you’ll have one email delivered to your inbox per day. The challenge will end on July 16th, giving you one week to take part.

What We’ll Do: In the emails, you’ll be given a “date challenge” or something that you can do with your partner each day. For example, we’ll go ahead and tell you that the first challenge will be to brainstorm dates and create a date jar where you’ll have the ability to pick a date at random for those weekends when you just can’t think of anything to do. You’ll be able to tweet, or document the whole challenge using the hashtag “swainkydating”. At the end of each day, we’ll highlight one couple on our Instagram Story and give them a shoutout for accomplishing the day’s challenge. Some days will be easier than others as far as the challenge goes. However, we promise that no matter where you live, you’ll be able to participate!

Why Join In: We want to encourage you to join in for several reasons. First, it’s going to be fun! We can also guarantee that it’ll bring you closer to your significant other and give you awesome new ideas on what to do together. Second, it’s community based! We want to cheer each other on in increasing relationships, committing time to our relationship, and see what everyone else is doing for awesome date ideas. And lastly, we want to highlight you! As mentioned, we’ll highlight one couple at the end of every day. At the end of the week, we’ll post a full Instagram picture of you and your guy or girl, showcasing how you’ve met the challenge. We’ll also be sending resources (like 30 creative date ideas that you can replicate) right to your inbox. Who doesn’t need a little inspiration for their next Saturday night date?? If you’d like to join, just click here or on the button below.

Remember, we won’t start until July 10th so if you know of anyone else who might like to join in, be sure to send them over here to sign up! As always, thanks for reading and let us know if you have any comments or questions!