9 Botanical Garden Date Ideas That Will Surprise Your Partner

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Botanical gardens are popular locations for a romantic date, especially during daytime. And that’s for good reasons! Between the beautiful flowers, greenery everywhere and water flowing around you, botanical gardens make the perfect spot for a romantic walk date.

However, walking around flowers can quickly get boring, especially when you’re not an avid plant enthusiast. In our opinion, a date in the park should be about connecting with each other and getting to know  your date and partner better.

In this post, we have gathered 9 ways to make your botanical garden date more romantic. These tips will help you create a more unique date that your partner won’t forget anytime soon.

1. Botanical Garden Bingo

The first way to upgrade your date at the botanical gardens is to play bingo as you wander around the gardens. To do so, the preparation is actually super easy and reusable (yes we get lazy too!).

What you need:

• 2 pieces of paper
• 2 pens

What to do:

• create a 3 by 3 grid on each piece of paper
• in each of the 9 spaces created, write 9 different items you can find at a botanical garden
• for example you can use some of these ideas: yellow roses, white roses, palm tree, broken tree trunk, a maze, pampa grasses, wooden bridge, river, pond, ducks, glasshouse, waterlilies, historical building, tulips, fountain, grass sculpture, bird house, waterfall, Japanese garden, Japanese steps, gazebo
• On each card, add different items or the same items in a different order, or a mix of both!

Once you’ve made your way to the gardens, you each get a card and a pen. Every time you see one of these items in the gardens, you get to cross it off your card. The first one to fill out a full row wins! 

This is a great way to level up your date and make it more fun! It also makes for a great morning idea as it will wake you up and make you laugh together early in the day!

2. Romantic Botanical Garden Scavenger Hunt

You know we’re absolutely fond of scavenger hunts. Anything that remotely looks like an escape game or a mystery detective activity and were in. 

Well, we had to include one to do at the Botanical Gardens. The way it works is you can only move to the next area (next step) of the gardens if you have found all the items listed for your current area. We’ve created a list for you but depending on your local botanical gardens’ structure, you’re welcome to adapt it.

Step 1 Rose Garden

• red roses
• bees
• fountain
• bench
• arched alley

Once you’ve found all these items, you can move to Step 2 and so on.

Step 2 Pond

• ducks
• waterlilies
• wooden bridge
• row boats
• waterfall
• small river

Step 3 Glass House

• large cactus
• small cactus
• fluffy cactus
• palm tree
• white door
• dome ceiling
• orchid
• Venus flytrap

3. Romantic Picnic 

One of the classic but efficient botanical garden date ideas is to simply have a picnic at the gardens. There are many ways in which you can upgrade your picnic date but even the simplest set up can be romantic. 

Some items that we recommend bringing include food, drinks, a blanket, and a fun card game. Depending on the time you have, you can also play some couple games together including playing truth or dare to deepen your connection.

There are so many ways you can make a picnic date fun such as bringing breakfast and reading books together! The only non-negotiable is to pick a dry day, otherwise you risk your date to get soaked, and that’s not the most fun!

4. Romantic Botanical Garden Challenges 

Romance is always better when laughing together. This is what this garden date idea will help you achieve. Before heading to the botanical garden, you each need to write a 3 to 4 challenges you want the other to do there.

Some challenges can be cute, some can be funny and some can be spicy. For example, here are some that we’ve thought of for you:

• I challenge you to imitate a cactus in the middle of the aisle and in front of everyone
• I challenge you to kiss me like you mean it in front of everyone
• I challenge you to say three latin plant names backwards
• I challenge you to create a 3 line poem with the words cactus, orchid and gardens in 3 minutes.

5. Botanical Garden Date by Night

A botanical gardens date night can be difficult to organise as most botanical gardens close at the end of the day. However, you might get lucky here and there when the gardens are hosting special events. 

For example, some botanical gardens might be hosting a stargazing evening, an astrology event or even a Winter Wonderland light show. All these are great opportunities for a romantic date. You should check out your local botanical gardens’ website for upcoming events.

6. Couple’s Photoshoot

A super cute way to make your date more romantic is to surprise your partner with a couple’s photoshoot. There are couple photographer in every town and city these days so you should have no trouble finding a budget-friendly professional to help you with the photos.

Our favourite places to take photos at botanical gardens are the glass house and the rose garden. But some of the botanical gardens we’ve visited also had waterfalls, wooden bridges, cute rivers and really green spaces that were all perfect for cute photos together. Honestly, you’ll have endless options!

7. Painting Competition

This is a great date idea at the botanical garden for creative couples. Painting is fun but painting together as a competition is even more fun! The best part? It’s super easy to organise:

What you need:

• 2 pieces of paper: it can be everyday paper or if you prefer, watercolour paper to have something a bit more robust
• paint: this is up to you but our favourite are acrylics and watercolours
• 2 brushes
• a small bottle of water
• a couple of notebooks to provide support under your piece of paper

What to do:

This part is pretty much up to you but here is what we recommend. You both agree to paint the same part of the botanical gardens. This can be the glass house, a specific palm tree or plant, a specific flower, etc.

You then each get 15 to 30 minutes to paint the chosen item. You cannot look at what your partner is doing during that time. At the end, you each get to rate the other’s masterpiece out of 10. The one closest to 10 wins. 

Of course, you’ll have to be objective. Criteria for objectivity include: resemblance with the chosen item, painting style, choice of color, and could a stranger guess what it is.

To level up the competition, you can also choose a theme. For example, the themes can be caricature, cartoon, Christmas. If you choose “Christmas”, it means you both have to paint your chosen item in a Christmas style.

8. Rose Garden Serenade

Another way to upgrade your botanical garden date is to serenade each other in the rose garden. this is a great way to feel like you are in a movie. You can each write a short song about your love for your partner and go all out in the rose garden.

Whether you decide to go down on one knee while singing or you take your partner’s hand and make them twirl while you sing, it’s all up to you. Your objective should be to “scream your love at the top of your lungs” and make it clear to everyone around you how in love you are.

Trust us when we say, it will all end up in a big laugh and funny forever memories!

9. Guess the Plant

For our plant enthusiast, this is a fun way to make your botanical visit more interactive. For each plant you come across, take turns guessing the name. The one who can guess the most names in 10 minutes wins!

Botanical Garden Date FAQ