If you’re feeling in a particularly giving mood, take your date to an old folk’s home for this service date idea. They are the sweetest people and really do enjoy having visitors.
You don’t even have to know anyone that lives there; all you need is the willingness to have fun. But if you have a parent or grandparent or another family member at an assisted living facility, all the better.
Some things that you can do with them include playing cards or other games like bingo. Play music and dance with them, sing songs, play an instrument—whatever you want. You’ll truly make them happy, and will leave feeling pretty good on the inside.
What you need for this service date idea:
First, you need to find a place to go. If you have a relative there, most likely you will already know where it is. I would call ahead and make sure that it’s alright to visit first. You could bring a group with you if you wanted, or have it be just the two of you.
Maybe you can be the people that organize the games or activities for the afternoon or evening. Make sure and ask what kind of games and things they have there, in case you want to bring something different.
My commentary on this date idea:
I have visited old folk’s homes before as groups, not necessarily as a service date idea. On one occasion years ago, a group of us were going to provides service and the nearby assisted living facility.
I had a bit of a crush on a girl named Heather in the group. I’d planned it perfectly so I could ride with her to the home.
After getting there, we spent about an hour talking with the people in the activities center. We wheeled them back and forth from their rooms and dropped by the bed-ridden folks’ rooms to chat with them a bit as well.
We played games, and even danced with them. I remember this one lady who could still move pretty well for an eighty-five-year-old; she told me that she hadn’t danced for over twenty years and that she really appreciated the chance to bust a move with a “nice young fellow.”
While there I would glance once in a while at Heather and she would give me a smile—a flirty one, I might add. Yes, I can tell the difference. It’s a gift.
I left the home feeling quite happy; not just because I knew Heather was digging me, but also because I knew the people there really enjoyed having us come and visit them. Some of them hadn’t had visitors in over a year. Giving back something as littles as our time really is great, isn’t it?
During that next week, I asked Heather to go to a musical with me, and she said that she was kind of seeing someone and didn’t know if they were exclusive or not, but that she would call me back the next day to let me know if she could go.
She didn’t call back until that Thursday, which was the day right before the date, only to tell me that she better not go. Ummm, news flash to everyone: don’t wait until the last second to tell someone you can’t make a date. It’s a tad on the rude side. Oh well, such is life.
More recently I met up with a large group of singles that put together an activity to play bingo with the elderly at one of the local homes. It was a good mix of single guys and girls, and I met someone that I ended up taking out.
Next time you are looking for something different to do as a group or with someone special, try out a service date idea and visit a group home. Play bingo with them, talk to them, play other games, and just give them some of your time.
Watch this video I made about this service date idea:
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Here are a few other date ideas you might be interested in: