DIY Date Night: Strangers’ Stories

This DIY date night all about strangers’ stories can be done at home OR in a coffee shop or restaurant! There are a few variations you can choose from, so feel free to pick one that works best for you and your honey. This date night is unique because it takes the focus off of you and your love and onto a stranger—while still bringing the two of you closer!

Supplies:

• A Notebook
• 2 Pens
• A Little Creativity! (And/or this list of short story ideas!)

At A Coffee Shop/Restaurant:

The goal of this date night is to come up with a short story using help from strangers! As you’re sitting with your honey, take a look around the room for help writing your story. Check out these ways you can use your environment to pull in pieces of your story!

• First of all, take a look around the room. Choose one stranger to be the main character. 
• Pick another stranger to infer the location from (if they’re wearing a sports team logo, choose that city; if they have stickers on their computer from another state/country, choose that location; etc.)
• Use the coffee shop or restaurant you’re in to choose the setting/timeline (Is the furniture antique? Set it in the 1920s! Modern? Set it in the future! Find the origin of a dish/drink on the menu and when it was first introduced!)
• Pick another stranger to be the minor character.
• Decide together what the main conflict will be!

Then take some time writing your short story about strangers together.

At Home:

If you don’t feel like going out to a coffee shop or restaurant, try this variation of the date night! Grab that notebook and a couple of pens and sit on a comfy couch with your honey. Get some snacks and drinks together, too, if you want!

The goal of this date night is to write a fictional story about real-life strangers. Now, you have a couple options… If you have a neighbor that you’ve seen around but haven’t met, pick him/her! Or maybe there’s a barista in your local coffee shop that seems fascinating. Choose someone that is a part of both of your lives, but you don’t know very well.

Now, take turns coming up with “facts” about that person! What can you guess about their life based on the minimal interactions you’ve had with them? Where they’re from? What era they would choose to be from? The main conflict in their life? Then, write a short story based on those facts!

If you’re brave enough, next time you see that person, ask a few simple questions to get to know them and see how close you were!

Looking for more DIY date nights? Click here!

Image from Unsplash.com