Best Date Ideas for New Year’s Day 2023

Ah, New Year’s Day! The year is as fresh and bright and full of possibilities as it can be. Why not enjoy a New Year’s date whether you have a long-time love or are meeting a potential new beau for the first time? Here are some great ideas to enjoy the day together.

Brunch at a Cozy Restaurant

After all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, this is a natural choice. Make sure to check out what restaurants will be open on New Year’s Day and if they have special hours for the holiday. Sitting down and enjoying a quiet meal (that you don’t have to cook) and having some one-on-one face time and a chance for conversation with your date will be delightful. New Year’s Day is a perfect time to talk about plans for the year, new activities you would like to try, or old activities that you would like to get back on your calendar. Is there a favorite sport or hobby that you would enjoy pursuing? Perhaps you and your date could enjoy it together.

Another great part about brunch out is that it is both loose and timebound from a scheduling standpoint. You can linger over brunch, but it can also be short by definition. If you are a little tired from the New Year’s Eve festivities or end up having just an “okay” first date at brunch, you will still have an enjoyable meal out and the perfect reason to just take it easy for the rest of the day afterward.

Brunch at Home with Your Sweetheart

Perhaps a romantic brunch at home with your sweetheart is in order. This has several advantages. You can make the menu as simple or elaborate as you would like (including things like store-bought baked goods), you can both wear your flannel pajamas if you prefer, and there won't be a schedule that you need to adhere to or reservations to make.

If you opt for this one, make sure to have brunch supplies handy. Your favorite coffee, eggs and bacon, some fresh fruit, and pastries are all possibilities. Just make sure you won’t run out of anything, including condiments. Dashing to the store will not support your romantic brunch at-home vibe.

A Quiet Stroll Through the Park with Coffee

Is there anything better than an outdoor walk on New Year’s Day? Unless the weather is frightful, it’s the perfect date. Many places will be closed for the holiday, but parks and walking paths are almost always open during the day. Put on your warmest winter coat, grab some coffee, and enjoy some conversation and exercise. This is also a perfect first date if you are dipping your toes back into the dating pool. The scenery and holiday will give you some automatic conversational topics, and walking and having coffee are easy activities to give you something to do and plenty of opportunities to learn more about your date. If your date is a “dud,” all you have lost is a little time while still gaining some exercise, enjoying some scenery and a cup of joe, and knowing that you took a chance by getting to know someone new. Sounds like a nice start to the New Year! If your date goes well, you can always linger on your walk or opt to go out to lunch or dinner together afterward.

An At-Home Movie Marathon

If you and your sweetheart have been a little too busy over the holidays, this one is the perfect at-home, relaxing date. What movies do you both like? Are you both Star Wars fans? Do you both love classic movies? Is there a dystopian series that you both geek out over? Make sure to choose the movies in advance and that they will be available when you want them. With streaming services, this is a snap, but if you want to watch that trilogy, make sure that you have all three movies at your fingertips when you will want them whether they are digital, on DVD, or being broadcast at a special time for the holiday.

An obvious advantage of this date idea is no dress code. Do you want to hang out in your favorite oversized shirt and women’s yoga pants or does your hubby wants to wear his new holiday pajamas? Go for it!

A Movie on the Big Screen

This one is an easy date out for New Year’s Day. There are always new movies that come out over the holidays, and chances are that you and your date haven’t seen some of them yet. Pick a movie that you will both enjoy, plan time to hang out and chat afterward (maybe over coffee), and you have an instant date.

For a fun look, wear your favorite women’s jeans and an ever-beautiful women’s cashmere sweater. If your date goes well, who knows? Someday you could be telling people how you met over a movie on New Year’s Day all those years ago. If it’s not so great, you still saw a fun movie and enjoyed some conversation and that buttery movie theater popcorn that you can’t buy anywhere else.