A few months ago, Eden made the decision to head back to school. I knew that once it started, he would be extremely busy with attending classes, studying after hours as well additional homework on weekends, and so prior to that, I suggested that we go on a date every weekend up until school started. I began to research different activities that we could do in and out of Toronto. While there were many different events happening in and out of the city, I was looking for something different – something that was easily accessible via public transit, something that wasn’t too crowded and something that we’ve both never done before.
We came up with a really great list of ideas and started to check some of these off before school started. We thoroughly enjoyed each activity and have shared our completed ideas with you below (we are saving an even longer list for future date ideas!!!). These places are great as date spots or group activities if you know of any upcoming birthdays, bachelor/bachelorette parties, or any get together – just because! Some activities brought out our competitive side, whilst others were simply fun and geared towards our inner child!
Please enjoy this list we put together and be sure to leave me a comment if you have suggestions for any other date ideas!
1. Get your nerd on at Museum of Illusions
Heading to the Museum of Illusions was a no brainer for us. We love optical illusions and Eden has an adorable nerdy/geeky side to him so I knew that he would LOVE spending a long time here exploring & poring over each and every section of the museum. Located steps away from St. Lawrence Market & Union Station, the Museum of Illusions opened its doors towards the end of 2018. This Toronto location is the Museum’s first Canadian location and presents many great photo opportunities for the ‘gram! We visited on a Thursday evening and took our time looking at everything and it took us about an hour or so. Before purchasing tickets for any larger sized attractions, I usually double check Groupon to see if there are any deals and I happened to find a Groupon for the Museum that was valid for any day of the week for a couple of bucks cheaper. When you book a reservation to visit the Museum of Illusions, you will have to book a time slot so they can space out the amount of people in the museum at any given time. Once you get in, guests are welcomed to stay however long they like.
READ ALSO – My Top Go-To Weekend Restaurants in Toronto
All the rooms were photo-friendly. The most intense section of the museum was the vortex tunnel. Good luck walking through that!
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2. Join a food tour by Local Food Tours & learn about a new neighbourhood
Speaking of being nerdy, Eden and I both love to explore new and familiar neighbourhoods in and around the city. Local Food Tours is the perfect activity to do with people from out of town, a group of friends or on a date! You get the best of both worlds by learning about the different neighbours in Toronto while visiting 7-8 restaurants and munching away. This walking tour is roughly 3 hours (1.3km) with a tour guide. Recently, we went on a Kensington Market & Chinatown area and I wrote a piece of 5 reasons you should join a tour with Local Food Tours to learn about a neighbourhood.
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3. Get your artistic side on at Crafty Pots
Both of us haven’t painted anything since grade school so it was nice to take a trip down memory lane and get crafty at Crafty Pots! The shelves are decked out with an assortment of ready-to-paint ceramics that range from $15 for a smaller item to $35 for larger items. There is no additional studio fee and all supplies and materials are included in the price of the item you choose to paint. Essentially the price of your entire experience depends on the ceramic that you select to paint. At the time of our visit, there was even a clearance pottery section that you can also choose from!
The painted ceramics are fired in the kiln and are ready to pick up around 5-7 days later. It’s great activity for date night and with friends or kids! We didn’t need to make any reservations prior and just walked into the store on a Saturday afternoon.
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4. Channelling your inner child at Scooter’s Roller Palace
It’s probably been 15 years since I’ve been to Scooter’s Roller Palace but who says you can’t rollerblade or rollerskate with disco music & lights at the fine old age of 29! We visited Scooter’s Palace, steps away from Clarkson GO Station, on a Saturday afternoon for $12.50 per person (rentals extra). The space was bumping with groups of people from all ages. Scooter Palace offers different sessions throughout the week for different age groups so I would suggest checking their website before visiting.
Eden and I had an amazing time and probably spent 2.5 hours skating & dancing away. They have a small snack bar offering hot dogs, pizza, nachos with prices that are relatively cheaper than what are we used to seeing at most Toronto events and activities. I highly recommend visiting Scooter Palace for a fun date night!
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5. Join a Supper Club At The Depanneur
Our very first Supper Club experience was a couple of weeks ago at Le Depanneur on College Street and I recommend joining one if you haven’t done so already! Every Saturday, the Rusholme Supper Club invites chefs, both amateur and professional to prepare a multi-course meal for 24 guests to dine together in a family style atmosphere.
Le Depanneur offers Supper Clubs every Saturday and you can see what who the chefs are and what you will be prepared to eat on their website. The supper clubs are booked out way in advance so we were luckily enough to snatch the last seats for Chef Patryk Laskowski’s Ontario Grown Themed Dinner party. It was 5 courses in total and a whole lot of fun meeting people from around the city.
Supper Clubs are great for the foodies that want a different dining experience!
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6. Try painting on a Canvas with Art Factory
Art Factory makes a great date night and activity for a large group! Whether that’s heading to their studio in Downtown Toronto or having the Art Factory team come to you, the staff are great and professional! We recently participated in a canvas painting session with Art Factory and it was TONS OF FUN! I’m not the most artistic person but I do OK following step by step instructions and the teachers were great at showing us what to do! We’re pretty proud of our art piece and can’t wait to hang it up in our home!
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7. Try Indoor Skydiving with iFLY
Saving the best for last, let me tell you guys all about iFLY. I wanted to surprise Eden for his birthday and I purchased and booked our iFLY reservations several weeks prior. iFLY is indoor sky diving in a wind tunnel and they currently have 2 locations in the Greater Toronto Area – Oakville & Whitby. The reservations at the Oakville location fill up fairly quickly but we were lucky to snatch up a prime spot on a busy Saturday afternoon.
The entire experience from start to finish was about 2.5 to 3 hours long, and flying only made up 1-2 minutes of that depending on what package you pick. The prices are a little hefty but worth the splurge if you are an adrenaline junky. The staff at iFLY are great and helpful. The instructor brings the group of 10 to a room and instructs you on the best way to position your body to maximize your “flight” time and of course, the safety procedures. This is followed by suiting up and watching the group ahead of you fly.
iFLY also offers photo packages & add on’s such as flying WITH the instructor in the air. Great experience and I do recommend this for special occasions!
That’s it from me guys! Hope you guys find this post useful & be sure to leave a comment if you have any suggestions of other date night spots that you want us to try! Feel free to also follow along my Instagram page where I update daily with what I’m up to.
Written by Grace Yeung
Edited by Eden Yeung
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