21 Unique Car Date Ideas For Couples

Looking for fun & unique car date ideas? Great you have come to the right place.

What is a car date you might ask? Well, basically, it is a date you have without leaving (or going too far away from the car!) These dates are perfect if you are too busy to do anything elaborate, you can literally just go for a scenic drive and pump the tunes (one of the best free date ideas ever if you ask me!).

I’m sure you can think of things like a drive in movie yourself, although I did sneak it in the end of the list because I’m a huge fan, so we have done some hard work for you and thought of some more fun but out of the box unique car date ideas to enjoy with your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband or wife.

21 Unique Car Date Ideas For Couples

1. Become a famous couple for the night!

Act like Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, or Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi. Dress up, put on airs, act the part! Take papparazi photos of each other, with obnoxious flashing lights.

Drive-thru a fast food place, and ask for the Beyonce and Jay-Z Special. Get sparkly, and wild. Turn up the tunes, and seat-dance across the haughtiest neighborhood in town. Sign napkins for people at stoplights and hand them out. Throw out a red carpet, and have a “trunk show”, wherein you perform stand-up, music, or a play!

Act like the center of the universe (one night only folks)! Expect to be treated like royalty. Be gracious and obnoxious (playfully) at the same time. Sometimes it’s fun to get out of your own head, and into another.

2. Have a dash-board buffet – a great car food date!

This suggestion is going to cause stress for some people already- but calm down. You can go into your car prepared with handy-wipes, paper towels, plates, forks, and air freshener. Drive around town, and drive-thru your five favorite fast food spots, but only get the one thing you really want (like cake, or stuff jalapenos!), and keep everything in a cooler/warmer until you can find a nice spot at a park.

Then, after taking care to keep the dashboard from becoming yucky (heaven forbid), line up all of your goodies, like a buffet, and begin to gorge!

Go back in time to the days of high school when doing stuff like this was your version of freedom. Relish in the greasy taste, the music on the radio, and the time together. You might even feed each other a bite of two. There are no rules, (except for throwing your trash away in the proper collection container).

A truly cozy car date idea!

3. Drive to a small shopping complex which neither of you have ever been to, and research every business in it.

Is there a mom and pop dry cleaners? What year did they start? What about that laundromat? How many machines do they have? A chain grocery store, or an independent? How many employees do they have? There might be a mail drop, a tax preparer, a nail salon.

An All-You-Can-Eat BBQ Buffet, a toy store, a bank! Read reviews. Look at websites. The list is endless. You may just find a new favorite donut shop, because people can’t stop talking about the one in front of you, on social media!

In fact, you might be able to make a whole future date out of a strip mall. Food, entertainment, shopping, a sports bar, dancing. Some places might have “curb side delivery”, so you can order (food, lotion, whatever!) and have it brought to your vehicle. Score!

See more: Fun Quick Date Ideas

4. Use the car as a gym.

Sometimes you’ve gotta move, so why not take advantage of the built in items in you car to see what muscle groups you can workout.

Use the seat-back adjuster to work the abs, and the ski rack to do pull-ups. The step up into the truck would be great for glutes, and the fold down, back seats can work your biceps. Think “outside the car” on this one. Do you have an old enough car that you have manual windows?

Ding! Your very own wax-on/wax-off station! Sit on the tailgate and do some crazy lift maneuvers, or one armed push-ups. At the very least, you can run circles (literally) around the vehicle for some cardio. Always wanted to try parkour?

Guess what, your car is the perfect outlet, inside and out! Raise and lower the hood. Take off and put back on, the tires, by hand. Climb in the window face first, but climb out, legs first. Scramble over the seats. You don’t need a diagram, just get moving!

5. Stop someone on the street and ask them a question.

In fact, stop at every intersection (in a relatively safe area) and ask someone a question. It could be directions to the nearest ice cream shop, or bookstore, or church.

It could be to ask them how their day is going. You might ask them if they’re satisfied with life. Be free about it. If you like someone’s necklace, ask them where they got it, without freaking them out, of course. If they’re really fit, ask how they do it. If they just look happy, ask them what makes them shine.

Positive vibes are contagious. If you make someone feel good, the next person they encounter will feel the ripple effect, and it will continue on. If all else fails, just compliment someone, genuinely. There is never a bad time to be kind to another human being.

More Romantic car trunk dates

6. Learn a new culture by immersing yourselves in the food, language, and music.

Drive to an area which is distinguished for its’ culture (for example, “Chinatown”), and use all the tools at your fingertips to dive in, such as your cell phone, tablet, or laptop.

Search engines can help you find the best drive-thru or take out in the area, so you can try new foods, outside of your comfort zone. Use an online language tool to learn to understand and read the business signs in the area.

Use the abundance of music websites to capture the music relative to the area you’re in, and try to understand the words, as you get into the rhythms. Tour around the streets for a couple of hours to immerse yourselves into the sights and sounds. Stop someone to ask how to say certain words or phrases. Just have fun on a cultural adventure!

7. Play an audio book, wherein the main characters are similar to you both, or better yet, read a book aloud to your car mate.

You may not be the best at reading aloud, but it is an age old tradition, like storytelling near the fire, and it can bring you two closer together.

It allows for pause and reflection, humor, and all the feelings that make us human. The literature could be anything from a steamy romance novel, the latest thriller, or a comedic memoir.

But if you want to get really intense, you could try reading aloud, a Shakespeare play! Anyone who’s every read Old English can attest to the fact that it’s an adventure unto itself, but it’s likely to put you both “in stitches”, as William, himself, would say.

8. Have a one car parade.

Decorate your vehicle, inside and out, then drive down a low traffic street, roll down the window, blast your favorite patriotic music, and wave to your fellow humans! Sing along with your national anthem.

Recite an inspirational speech (printed out, and in your hands) to give encouragement to those around you. Share positive accolades, such as “Beautiful lawn!” or “Good job riding that razor!” Buy a bag of popcicle sticks from a cheap store, write something heartening on each of them, using a marker, and then toss them to people who are outside as you pass by.

It can be a simple phrase, such as, “I am loved”, or “I am smart”. Make sure they’re in first person, which is powerful. Stop and take selfies with some of your new friends, and share emails, so you can send them a copy. Our world is its biggest, right in our own backyard.

9. Play car “Twister”.

Come up with a set of rules just like the child’s game, but instead of colors, you use locations. Left hand, passenger seat. Right foot, rear window.

Granted, a vehicle is larger than the normal space, but this is your own version, so you can bends the rules any way you want them. Maybe when you reach a certain goal, you get a kiss on the cheek.

Or if one of you wins a certain move, the loser has to buy the other a milkshake. Have fun with it, and be creative. You might even set up a dash-cam to film your crazy vehicle venture, then post it on social media, and have people vote for the winner.

For the spinner, you can use the standard one which comes with the official game, or you can create your own. A small piece of card board, a marker, and a couple of twist ties, and you’re off to the (twisty) races!

10. Drive-thru an automatic car wash, and make up story for each part of the cycle, including the water spray, soap, scrubbing, rinse, and dry.

Are you going to another planet, and the spray is your rocket going through the atmosphere? Or are you a pirate ship, and your ship is on choppy water during a storm?

Don’t forget to create your protagonist and antagonist (good and bad characters). Figure out what the plot will be, from start to finish, but let the story evolve as you feel and say different things to one another.

Use the age old idea of “show, don’t tell”. Rather than saying, “It was a rough road”, you might say, “The road was pitted, and full of large rocks, making our double-decker bus bounce up and down, as well as side to side”. Be a master of words, and use the language to create beautiful visuals, and emotional dialogue. Then create an ending that no one saw coming!

11. Play twenty questions, but the version with a twist.

Each of you come up with your own list of questions, but the responder has to answer as if they are the asker. For example, if you ask the other person, what is your favorite saying, they will answer what they think your favorite saying is.

This is a fun way to get to know the other person, and to get to know what you both think the other person thinks about you! Make your questions off the wall, and come up with quirky answers, too.

This is supposed to be fun, and light, so you want to always be kind in your responses and questions, but you may be surprised to discover how others think, what you think about things!

12. Drive like a (safe) stunt-person!

You know you’ve always wanted to try this. Find as many curving, switch-back, narrow, and awesome streets that you can, and (safely) play like you are a NASCAR driver.

Perhaps you’ve seen some films about “drifting”, and want to try it out. There are probably a thousand videos on social media for tips. Drive on different driving surfaces, like blacktop, water, dirt, gravel, or grass. You could try driving backwards, through a self-made obstacle course, in an empty parking lot, and don’t forget about learning to stop on a dime, and do skids.

Go up hills, and down valleys. Driving tends to become rote as we get older, so why not bring back some of the memories from the days of arcade driving? Naturally, safety is you number one priority during this date, but you can still have fun, without putting anyone in jeopardy. Give it a go!

13. Play “would you rather”, but use a theme.

Pretend that you two are from the Prehistoric Era, or the 1800s, for example. That will make for much more interesting questions!

Some questions might be, “Would you rather eat wild berries or wildebeest?”, or, “Would you rather use a chamber pot, or walk to the outhouse, in the middle of the night?” Choose a time period with which you are both familiar, and feel free to use your phone to look up details, but keep the questions fun or quirky. “Would you rather wear farthingales or a shift” from the 17th Century?

How about, from the 5th Century, “Would you rather play the bagpipes or the psaltery?” You see where this is going- not only will you have fun, and laugh a lot, but you’ll learn a lot, too!

14. Create a “life size board game”, using your car as the game piece!

You can take over an empty parking lot, or use a strip mall, or a neighborhood. Make the rules, figure out what your goal is, and then treat it like a real board game.

Roll a pair of dice, then move three spaces, or circle around a lamppost, or make a u-turn. Decide what you will use as the dice- will it be the timer on your phone? Hit go on the timer, then the other person says “stop” and that’s how many feet you move forward!

Or maybe you use rock-paper-scissors, and the winner chooses a number between 1 and 5. Whatever you can think of is fair game! Just remember to share the driving privileges. In fact, that could be one of the game rules. If someone doesn’t make the grade on their turn, they must relinquish the steering wheel!

15. Create your own “live” novel while you’re driving. It will be like an interactive play.

\What type of novel will it be? An adventure, a thriller, a comedy? Who are the characters? A clown, a nun, or a car salesman? What is the plot?

Will they have to find the treasure? Or the antidote? Or maybe save the planet? Use the audio recorder on your phone to record the narrative, and then take turns on the dialogue.

Remember to agree with whatever the other character says, then add more details! Alternatively, you can write your novel down by hand, type it onto an app, or even use the “speech to text” platform. When your date is over, go back to the beginning, and listen to your novel from start to finish!

Cute Car Date Ideas

16. Surprise yourselves.

Get on a freeway or highway, then off at the second exit, and make a left, and a right. Discover what’s there! Is it a quiet urban neighborhood, or a scary industrial block?

Unless you drive for a living, you’ve likely never been there before. Is there anything to check out, like a quirky restaurant, a comic book shop, or a vintage store? What about the architecture of the neighborhood? Is it from the 90s, or 40s? What’s on the next few blocks, one down, and two over?

Use your phone GPS to find “what’s near here” and then go check it out. Don’t get lost for real, and of course, keep your safety in mind, but get lost in the escapade of not knowing where you are, and what you might find there.

17. Have an “Easter egg hunt” in the car.

Find some plastic eggs, or anything similar (such as tiny draw string bags), that you can close up, and place in small spaces.

Pick out a few small items ahead of time, to put into those eggs. It might be a plastic ring, lip balm, or sticker from one of those standing machines you find at arcades and laundromats. How about tiny furniture from a doll house, or items that fit into an aquarium?

Or it might be a nice note to your date, telling them something you like about them. Get silly, or serious. Make it as easy or difficult as you want. Just be sure to keep count of how many you put out, and how many were found! Although, unlike real eggs, there won’t be an odorous consequence of losing one or two!

18. Prior to your date, both of you buy three, inexpensive, random items from a thrift store, then try to use them on the date somehow.

But buy them separately from each other, so you don’t know what each other bought until the date, then hand each other your bag, and take them out, one at a time, for a maximum surprise!

For example, if you purchased a classic book, you could read a chapter aloud, or if you bought some truly ugly jewelry, put it on each other (although you might consider using hand sanitizer on them first).

Find a tiny picture in a frame to put on the dashboard, or get money from another country. You could try using it at a fast food place, just to see what they say!

You could find a painting kit, and do an artistic piece on your date, or buy crazy colored crochet tissue box covers! There are cuff-links, costumes, and award plaques, just waiting for you to find them! Alternatively, you could give those items away to people to pass on the street. Who doesn’t like a nice pair of chartreuse flip-flops?

Romantic Car Date Ideas

19. Take on your date, twenty, one-dollar bills.

Find a place to spend one dollar at each stop, to buy something interesting, and/or try to buy something from someone else out for the night.

Perhaps they’ll trade you a pen for a dollar, or an old video store rental card. Then go to the next person and see if they give you something in exchange for, either for a dollar, or the item you just got from the previous person.

Or you could try your hand at a fresh version of bingo. Create a card using symbols for items (like a pen, cup, ring, etc.) and see if you can get those items from someone around you, or from your own purse or vehicle. The goal is to see if you can exchange all twenty, one-dollar bills, within two hours.

20. Become a one stop help shop.

Before your date, go to a big box store, and buy bulk items to give away to people who have no choice but to live on the street. They’re always in need of socks, hand sanitizer, water, ibuprofen, hand warmers, ready to eat food, t-shirts, toilet paper, sundries, and more.

Then find a well-lit area, near a place where those folks tend to congregate, and open your trunk and/or back doors to give the items away, and hear some stories.

This is a great opportunity to do something good for your community, while truly appreciating what you both have in life, that perhaps, you take for granted sometimes. You might coordinate ahead of time with a local church, library, or other social services organization. Giving one night a month can make a huge difference in your life, and the lives of others.