Whether you are shy or bold, these ideas can easily be adapted to fit you and your spouse’s personality. Be a risk taker and try something from every category, for a balanced couple is the best kind of couple.

Try something physical one afternoon, something spiritual on another, something artsy tomorrow and something unique today. Better still, combine them and have a great time surprising your spouse with your creative zeal.

But wait! Before you dive into these ideas to give your marriage a boost, do remember that the best way to keep a marriage exciting and loving is to take care of yourself first. Yes, it is important to do things as a couple, but you also need time to reflect on yourself. When you nourish your spirituality and your hobbies, you are in a healthier state of mind and will exude a much more peaceful heart to your spouse. It’s called being in an interdependent relationship.

It’s in between being completely dependent on your partner or entirely independent from your partner. An interdependent relationship requires the two of you to give and take to one another. This is the essence of any relationship.

To always give yourself is not the middle way and to always take is also not the middle way either. For a truly healthy relationship, you have to be able to give and you have to be able to take. With these two balanced wings of the bird in tact, the giving and the taking, your marriage will surely fly.

Set time everyday (ideal) or every week for the well-being of your heart. If you are a stay-at-home person, you might be able to divide your day from household responsibilities and nourish yourself before your partner comes home. If you are a working person, it might be trickier for you to find quiet time at work, but it is possible.

For example, it might mean you literally write a schedule on a wall calendar that you both can see that shows when your quiet time is scheduled (like Saturdays from 9am to 1pm). Your partner will surely benefit from having time to work on their hobbies and interests too! The key is to keep open communication lines and express your needs and of course remind your significant other that it will help you be a better person if you can fulfill your heart’s need for peace and tranquility.

Your marriage can be truly fulfilling and everything you dreamed of if you master the art of gentleness, timing, and compromise. Here are the 100+ ideas; open up to the possibilities and find or renew your love again.

Physical Activities

1. Ride bikes in the forest trails, sea wall or park and have a picnic after (in an actual brown basket.)
2. Rollerblade together (or one rollerblades, the other bikes vice versa, the rollerblader can hang off the back of the bike, be careful!)
3. Workout together
4. Go rock climbing (indoor or outdoor)
5. Try caving (with a professional, please!)
6. Walk along a pier hand in hand
7. Run a race that supports a noble cause in your area (Breast Cancer, Children’s Hospital etc.)
8. Hiking is a personal favorite
9. Have a water fight with water guns and balloons.
10. Camp in your living room (in a tent).
11. Make sand castles at the beach
12. Have a snowball fight
13. Go sledding down big hills at the local park.
14. Go ice-skating
15. Play frisbee or try frisbee golf at your local park (it’s free!)
16. Play 21 in basketball (don’t let him win – well, ok sometimes)
17. Go camping but not in your living room
18. Play volleyball with a makeshift net made from string (tie it from tree to tree or put up a real one.)
19. Bowling (but only if you choose fun names that you type into the computer).
20. Try Lazer Tag (again let your partner choose a funny name for you.)

Spiritual Endeavours

21. Visit a Senior’s home and read to them
22. Volunteer together once a month at the local Food Bank or Soup Kitchen.
23. Read scripture or poetry together, daily is ideal. Give it a name, “Let’s do Poetry Jam.”
24. Buy a whiteboard for the house, write a new quote a day or for the week on it with washable markers (take turns writing the quote on the whiteboard, $10 at most office stores.) The whiteboard is an excellent resource! You usually end up writing silly jokes and messages to each other.
25. Plant a vegetable garden (yes, you can also do this on condo or appt patios too!)
26. Sit together and meditate.
27. Memorize a special quote and say it to your partner.
28. Learn another language, think nonverbal, all couples should have signals that no one else understands, secret gestures are fun!
29. Ponder nature everyday, keep a journal at home that you both write in or better still, blog about it!
30. Keep an ongoing book that you write in everyday (taking turns) with thought-provoking questions about life. You write a question, he answers it, writes his own question of the day, you answer it, he reads it and so on. (This is a nice keep safe to reflect on later in life.)
31. Play truth or dare but not about the past about the present and the future (the dares are more fun anyway!)
32. Calligraphy each other’s names in fancy canvas and paint it
33. Walk in the stillest part of the night.
34. Look for the needy before the needy look for you and give to them.
35. Take care of the environment together (do a beach clean-up or park clean-up or neighbourhood clean-up).
36. Draw nature in a visual journal together.
37. Clean together. (Get into the habit and make it fun, make it into a game; healthy competition is fun.)
38. Learn a real language together (completely different than the both of yours)
39. Study a famous biography of someone who made a difference and reflect and converse
40. Play Bouquets, Beefs, Dragons and Mirrors

The Arts

41. Visit the local Art Gallery, the Zoo or Aquarium
42. Take a cooking class together.
43. Fly a kite (a personal favorite.)
44. Read poetry together by the fireplace, before you sleep, after dinner (complete with a blanket and tea.)
45. Get magnetic poetry from the local bookstore or card shop and write messages on anything magnetic like the fridge (or inside the fridge is funny too.)
46. Always leave notes around (on mirrors, in lunches, in coat pockets, in the car, in a book he’s reading, on the fridge) share a personal thank you or a compliment.
47. Feed each other food often.
48. Read self-development books paragraph by paragraph, stop, reflect and discuss (You can never be too old to have people read to you!)
49. Do photography together and capture unusual things as a game. (One day photograph things that are red, the next day look for orange, purple…upload and reflect.)
50. Read at the library or visit workshops often held at the larger libraries.
51. Make decorations for your house for the holidays – (Making the home extra special at this time is uplifting!)
52. Make up a story saying one line at a time and going back and forth.
53. Find shapes and animals in the clouds.
54. Build a birdhouse and put in a tree that you can see everyday.
55. Make cupcakes and give them away to random people outside.
56. Make a 30 reasons why I love being married to you book.
57. Be a tourist in your own country again and re-visit places and share childhood stories.
58. See the stars from the planetarium or through your own telescope in your yard or condo patio.
59. Go for a drive and get ice-cream, sit on the hood of the car and eat it under the stars.

Trinkets and Gems

60. Match your clothes every now and then (same colors and styles.)
61. Make your girl a scavenger hunt around the house with clues made from riddles (this is really fun!)
62. Collect artifacts from your time together (pick up a napkin, a stub, a brochure, a plane ticket, a petal, a piece of cloth, anything!) for your 10th anniversary scrapbook.
63. Make breakfast before she wakes.
64. Give each other hand, foot, head massages.
65. Have a theme dinner once a month AT HOME (take turns at the challenge, Mexican, Japanese, Indian, Malay etc.)
66. Make dessert or cookies together.
67. Turn off the lights and do things by candlelight for one night (eat, read, sleep.)
68. Make something extra for the neighbour and go over to their house to say hello.
69. Watch the sunrise together.
70. Feed the ducks at the pond (not bread but real bird food.)
71. Play board games with the family (this really brings the family together.)
72. Smile at each other a lot and don’t underestimate light touches.
73. Be generous in your affection and be spontaneous.
74. Grow caterpillars into butterflies and watch the process (seriously).
75. Make a care package if your partner travels (hand-written letter, candy, chocolate, travel accessories.)
76. Write hand-written letters and mail them with a stamp, let her be pleasantly surprised as she shifts through the mail.
77. Walk spontaneously barefoot in grass or sand.
78. Stretch together.
79. Walk in the rain or snow or hail.
80. Be lazy on a Sunday, wearing your pyjamas all day.
81. Climb up a mountain or go to the mountains often and reflect together.
82. Feed each other fresh berries.
83. Have a spontaneous pillow fight and break out of formalities.
84. Jump in puddles, don’t worry about getting your skirt dirty! (He’ll think you’re crazy and that’s great!)
85. Lay back and watch the stars (the real ones).
86. Lay back and watch the stars (put up the glow in the dark ones in your room one night and surprise her.)
87. Take an afternoon Siesta.
88. Watch the ocean and play “I spy” during lull moments.
89. Play footsie.
90. Blow bubbles (get them from the dollar store.)
91. Pop fresh popcorn and watch a documentary (not a Hollywood movie!)
92. Walk around in freshly fall(ing) snow.
93. Please go swing on the swings at the park.
94. And also play on the Teeter-Totter!
95. Take a sick day not for yourself but when your husband is sick to help him.
96. Stay up all night talking.
97. Be flexible. Try his interests too and persuade him in your gentle way to try some of yours!
98. Go out for a coffee together (bring your own mug and save the environment.)
99. Get in a canoe and paddle to the middle of the ocean.
100. Get in duo-kayak and see the lakes in your neighbourhood.
101. Make time for deep conversation and reflections on the Universe.
102. Skip rocks in the lake.
103. Challenge your spouse to a game of chess.
104. Find out the names of trees and flowers in your neighbourhood.
105. Send his mother a friendly card or call her out of the blue.
106. Try bird-watching.
107. Go to theater and reflect on what you saw.
108. Go to a play together.
109. Start a local newspaper together.
110. Collaborate on a project or an event together, take initiative!
111. Listen to inspirational CDs or scholars together on a long drive in the car.
112. Rearrange your furniture every month (break out of habits!)
113. Sit in a different spot when you eat your dinner (break out of habits!)
114. Rearrange posters, hangings, trinkets and plants.
115. Try all the different local small restaurants in your town.
116. Play soccer.
117. Roll down a grassy hill.

Remember, the goal is to enjoy together for who they are and to grow memories day after day. Love emerges in subtle ways, try these possibilities and you never know what may come! I hope you find balance in your marriage today.

An Invitation

What do you do for fun with your significant other that keeps the marriage sizzling?  Share with us in the comments below and let’s expand this list!

image credit: kjunstorm