10+ Cute Winter Date Ideas For Christmas & New Year
By
3 years ago
From riverside raclette to moonlight swims, get creative with your date nights this season
With temperatures dropping and the dark nights creeping in, it’s tempting to opt for at-home date nights, snuggled on the sofa with a takeaway. Yet winter is arguably the most romantic season in London, with twinkling lights, cosy terraces and festive markets popping up across the city, and plenty to get out and experience. Whether you’re looking for the perfect venue for your next Hinge outing or are planning a special evening with your long-term partner, these winter date ideas are sure to get sparks flying.
10+ Cute Winter Date Ideas For Christmas 2022
Watch a film at a secret rooftop hideaway
Upgrade your next Netflix and chill at Marylebone restaurant Kitchen at Holmes, which has launched a hidden, fairy light-bedecked terrace complete with a screen for festive films. Enjoy a seasonal dinner at the restaurant before heading up there and settling down to a feel-good classic like The Holiday or Love Actually. Don’t miss the truffle popcorn.
Available every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 17 November to 16 December 2022, designmynight.com
Try your hand (and nose and palate) at a blind wine flight
Fancy yourself a bit of a wine connoisseur? Love a bit of healthy competition? Head to The Colony Grill Room at The Beaumont, where the new ‘Wine Discovery Journey’ offers a blind wine flight along with a delicious a la carte meal. With wines selected by sommeliers Giorgio Scavarelli and Antonio Verrando, guests try four wines – from classics to more unusual choices – chosen to match their specified dishes and taste preferences, and accompanied by a smattering of vague clues. Perfect for experts and novices alike, those who guess correctly will win the flight free of charge. colonygrillroom.com
Go ice skating at Battersea Power Station’s new rink
Fun activity, riverside location, live music – the new ice rink at Battersea Power Station has lots of potential for a good date. Opening this weekend, Glide comes from the team behind the Natural History Museum’s rink, which sadly ran its last season in 2021. After a few loops around the ice, head for a warming tipple at the on-site bar – or go all out and book one of the igloos.
11 November 2022 – 8 January 2023, glidebatterseapowerstation.co.uk
See Kew Gardens’ winter light festival
Always a highlight on London’s festive calendar, Christmas at Kew makes the perfect winter date. Stroll through the illuminated trail – featuring glittering archways, dancing waterside reflections and more – before ending at the Palm House Pond finale, which sees Kew’s famous glasshouse spring to life with laser beams and kaleidoscopic projections. Ignited a romance? Carry on the date at nearby pub The Botanist on the Green.
6 November 2022 – 8 January 2023, kew.org
Unleash your inner artist
The London Art Bar hosts painting workshops throughout the year, hosted by a practising artist – and this winter, the class is being given a festive spin. You’ll have a go at painting Gordon Bruce’s Lights of London painting, complete with a themed playlist and prosecco. Afterwards, you can keep the canvas, so if the date goes well it will be one for the memory box.
Various dates, £39.99pp, popuppainting.com
Cuddle up at a heated winter terrace
Nothing more romantic than a tucked away winter garden – God’s Garden is toasty-warm, too, but don’t let that stop you cuddling up with your date. The Moët Hennessy bar offers a range of tipples to be enjoyed, including the oh-so-dreamy ‘Hot Angel’, a twist on mulled wine. As you chat and get to know each other, enjoy the DJs and live music also on offer, while feeling like you’ve stepped right out of a Hallmark Christmas movie set.
Try your hand at curling
Swap bowling for curling this winter, a seasonal sport which involves sliding stones on a sheet of ice. Take your date to King’s Cross, which is being transformed into a winter wonderland for the next couple of months, complete with a residency from Club Curling. Post-match, you can enjoy hot chocolate and alpine-inspired cocktails, and browse the nearby Christmas markets.
From 9 November 2022, kingscross.co.uk
Go for a moonlight dip
Who says al fresco swimming is just for summer? Take the plunge at Hampton Pool, which is renowned for its out-of-hours swimming sessions – including a special moonlight offering during the winter months. The good news? It’s heated. Splash around beneath the stars and let the love affair blossom. Booking in advance is essential.
11 and 26 November 2022, hamptonpool.co.uk
Explore a gingerbread city
Returning to the capital this December is The Museum of Architecture’s popular exhibition, The Gingerbread City. It features five miniature cities made from gingerbread, with each representing a different climate: Polar, Continental, Temperate, Dry and Tropical. Keen to get involved yourself? Book one of the evening workshops, where you and your date can get hands on with some house building.
3 December 2022 – 2 January 2023, thegingerbreadcity.com
Eat raclette by the river
If food is the way to your heart, plan a date to Jimmy’s Pop Up on the Southbank, where you can cosy up around a fire pit with unlimited raclette and mulled wine. Afterwards, toast your own s’mores before taking a walk along the river. The pop-up, which is called Fire and Fromage, is also home to a collection of snow globes where you can enjoy a festive menu – though be warned, these come with a minimum spend, so if there’s just two of you it might end up being an expensive date…
£35pp for the Raclette and S’mores Bar experience, jimmyspopup.com
Enjoy dinner and jazz at Louie
If you’re celebrating something special with your other half, or are just really keen to impress someone, book dinner at glitzy restaurant Louie in Covent Garden. There’s an interesting French Creole menu featuring dishes like oysters Rockefeller and Louisiana style crab cakes, and on Tuesday nights there’s live jazz. After dinner, head upstairs and settle into one of the bar’s velvety nooks for a post-dinner cocktail.
Catch a festive comedy play
Break the ice with a giggle at A Christmas Carol-ish, a rewrite of the Dickens classic written by Ted Lasso star Nick Mohammed, also known as Mr Swallow. Running at the Soho Theatre this December, the show will also star Mr. Goldsworth (David Elms) and Jonathan (Kieran Hodgson), and is sure to be a hoot. And being in Soho, you’ll be spoilt for choice for good restaurants and bars to head on to afterwards.
7 – 23 December 2022, sohotheatre.com
