What are some fun activities a couple can do together in an apartment?
October 2, 2013 11:53 AM Subscribe
My partner and I work thirds, so we often find ourselves hanging out in my apartment at ungodly hours like 3-6am. We're running out of things to do, or at least I feel we are, because things are getting boring. What are some quiet, not-costly activities I can have around for us to do?
Things we already do:
- Watch random youtube videos
- Watch movies/TV
- Play Facebook games
- Play Monopoly or scrabble
- Sit there and talk or cuddle
I have a PS3 and a computer available. He doesn't like any of my PS3 games, which consist of a small assortment of shooters and fighters. He really likes tower defense games, if that helps.
Things we already do:
- Watch random youtube videos
- Watch movies/TV
- Play Facebook games
- Play Monopoly or scrabble
- Sit there and talk or cuddle
I have a PS3 and a computer available. He doesn't like any of my PS3 games, which consist of a small assortment of shooters and fighters. He really likes tower defense games, if that helps.
My boyfriend and I started taking YouTube swing dancing lessons. Just search for "beginner's swing" or the like and you'll have a plethora of choices.
Cooking together can be rewarding or incredibly stressful, depending on your relative kitchen skills.
Reading plays together isn't always quiet, but it's free and fun. Assign parts and really get into it -- it's best if you can find something with dramatic fight sequences!
posted by Sullenbode at 12:06 PM on October 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
Cooking together can be rewarding or incredibly stressful, depending on your relative kitchen skills.
Reading plays together isn't always quiet, but it's free and fun. Assign parts and really get into it -- it's best if you can find something with dramatic fight sequences!
posted by Sullenbode at 12:06 PM on October 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
Bake or cook together.
Expand your game selection (cheap games can be found on Craigslist, at Goodwill/Salvation Army-type stores, or on eBay)/get some playing cards and check out a book on card games from the library (or look up rules online).
Make things: this may depend on your level of craftiness and personal taste, but my boyfriend and I spent a few evenings stamping dates onto index cards to make a perpetual calendar (kind of like this), and we had a blast.
posted by rebekah at 12:07 PM on October 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
Expand your game selection (cheap games can be found on Craigslist, at Goodwill/Salvation Army-type stores, or on eBay)/get some playing cards and check out a book on card games from the library (or look up rules online).
Make things: this may depend on your level of craftiness and personal taste, but my boyfriend and I spent a few evenings stamping dates onto index cards to make a perpetual calendar (kind of like this), and we had a blast.
posted by rebekah at 12:07 PM on October 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
Take turns reading a book to each other, maybe swapping short chapters or every x pages.
posted by codswallop at 12:10 PM on October 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by codswallop at 12:10 PM on October 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
Kick it up a notch from Monopoly with some new games.
Lost Cities is a cardgame designed for 2 players. Carcassone is a tile game that's fun with 2 players. Ticket to Ride is easy to learn and although I like it better with 4 people it plays fine with 2. If you're pressed for time or just want a quick brain workout Set is a pattern recognition cardgame.
posted by Wretch729 at 12:15 PM on October 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
Lost Cities is a cardgame designed for 2 players. Carcassone is a tile game that's fun with 2 players. Ticket to Ride is easy to learn and although I like it better with 4 people it plays fine with 2. If you're pressed for time or just want a quick brain workout Set is a pattern recognition cardgame.
posted by Wretch729 at 12:15 PM on October 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
Pick a language to learn from self-study materials. I like Assimil.
posted by Tanizaki at 12:17 PM on October 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Tanizaki at 12:17 PM on October 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
use your ps3 to go to the playstation network, and try out games that have a free demo - there's lots, and if you find a game you really like, it's not too expensive to download the whole thing
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 12:17 PM on October 2, 2013
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 12:17 PM on October 2, 2013
Jigsaw puzzles, and possibly those 3D ones.
Crafty things: it takes time to build skill, but if you have access to a kiln, you could make a set of storage pots like my parents did back in the day.
Potentially-useful stuff: pickling (but: can take a good bit of time, fills the apartment with vinegar vapor), buying food in large packages and separating them, making a huge pot of pasta sauce, etc.
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 12:42 PM on October 2, 2013
Crafty things: it takes time to build skill, but if you have access to a kiln, you could make a set of storage pots like my parents did back in the day.
Potentially-useful stuff: pickling (but: can take a good bit of time, fills the apartment with vinegar vapor), buying food in large packages and separating them, making a huge pot of pasta sauce, etc.
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 12:42 PM on October 2, 2013
We're running out of things to do, or at least I feel we are, because things are getting boring.
There's nothing wrong with just being quiet together while doing your own thing (e.g. reading a book to yourself while your partner watches videos with earphones on). Dr. TM and I have been spending a lot of our evenings together that way for more than 25 years.
posted by tully_monster at 1:05 PM on October 2, 2013 [3 favorites]
There's nothing wrong with just being quiet together while doing your own thing (e.g. reading a book to yourself while your partner watches videos with earphones on). Dr. TM and I have been spending a lot of our evenings together that way for more than 25 years.
posted by tully_monster at 1:05 PM on October 2, 2013 [3 favorites]
Purchase a book containing an enormous list of sex positions, test them out and then critique their practicality on a blog.
posted by emilyw at 1:20 PM on October 2, 2013 [10 favorites]
posted by emilyw at 1:20 PM on October 2, 2013 [10 favorites]
The lego video games are really fun for partners, cause they're co-op. They do involve tricky jumping sometimes, though. Pick one where you like the story; Pirates of the Caribbean was not nearly as fun as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.
We play a lot of bananagrams, Carassone (seconded), Dominion, and Ticket to Ride (the ipad version is way faster). I want to buy Pandemic, since it's co-operative. I have played the Settlers of Catan card game for two people but mostly it made me angry at the other person.
Could you do some workout dvds together, like yoga?
posted by carolr at 1:21 PM on October 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
We play a lot of bananagrams, Carassone (seconded), Dominion, and Ticket to Ride (the ipad version is way faster). I want to buy Pandemic, since it's co-operative. I have played the Settlers of Catan card game for two people but mostly it made me angry at the other person.
Could you do some workout dvds together, like yoga?
posted by carolr at 1:21 PM on October 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
Oh, bananagrams is great and can be extended by playing rude bananagrams, onomatopoeic banagrams (words don't have to exist but must sound fun), poetry bananagrams (no time limits or racing, most poetic construction wins), and all kinds of similar variations.
posted by emilyw at 1:27 PM on October 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by emilyw at 1:27 PM on October 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
Do you brew wine or beer? My SO brews his own beer and we both like wine, so when there is a glut of fruit or we get some cheap at the supermarket, we spend an evening plum-pitting, grape-squishing, apple-coring, whatever, and do the process together. It's messy and fun, and the product is superb!
posted by greenish at 1:57 PM on October 2, 2013
posted by greenish at 1:57 PM on October 2, 2013
Refinish a vintage dresser. Create photobooks to give to friends and relatives as presents. Crochet an afghan to donate to a charity auction. Learn to make pysanky (Ukrainian eggs).
posted by lakeroon at 2:07 PM on October 2, 2013
posted by lakeroon at 2:07 PM on October 2, 2013
Do you have to stay in the apartment? I love going out for long walks, or sometimes runs, at 4 or 5 am, when it's still dark and cold outside and there aren't really other people around. If you live in a safe enough place to do that, go outside!
posted by decathecting at 2:39 PM on October 2, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by decathecting at 2:39 PM on October 2, 2013 [4 favorites]
Make pillow and blanket forts! I made a post about them a while back with lots of ideas and lots of great links in the comments, too.
posted by Room 641-A at 2:52 PM on October 2, 2013
posted by Room 641-A at 2:52 PM on October 2, 2013
I know you asked for no-costly, but what about investing in a decent telescope and doing some serious stargazing? You can even sign up for email alerts for your area when the space station will be visible and it is always between 3-6am! Prime sky-time, that.
posted by lakersfan1222 at 6:17 PM on October 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by lakersfan1222 at 6:17 PM on October 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
Twister is fun, with or without clothing, and we used to play jacks with another couple until the wee hours - and Yahtzee.
You might visit Pinterest and see if there's a craft that interests both of you. There are good suggestions above - scrapbooking would be fun to do together also, or making Christmas cards. Or you might consider taking up Chinese or Indian cooking, or some other variety. Or - here's a fun one - if you have any bus service that runs all night, take a bus for a full-route tour in the middle of the night - it'll be like traveling in a foreign country.
The together is the important part - have fun.
posted by aryma at 7:34 PM on October 2, 2013
You might visit Pinterest and see if there's a craft that interests both of you. There are good suggestions above - scrapbooking would be fun to do together also, or making Christmas cards. Or you might consider taking up Chinese or Indian cooking, or some other variety. Or - here's a fun one - if you have any bus service that runs all night, take a bus for a full-route tour in the middle of the night - it'll be like traveling in a foreign country.
The together is the important part - have fun.
posted by aryma at 7:34 PM on October 2, 2013
I'll second the suggestion to go for walks or runs if the area is safe. Or cycling - if you have bikes, decent lights don't cost that much; here's some useful advice. There's something magical about being out and about when the streets are deserted and quiet.
posted by brianogilvie at 7:39 PM on October 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by brianogilvie at 7:39 PM on October 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
I second my own and brianogilvie's comment: out and about (on bikes with headlamps, 'scope in your backpack) might be pretty amazing if you are otherwise going to always be inside...do you live in a highrise in a city? What kind of apartment, where is it? That will help with more focused answers, I think.
posted by lakersfan1222 at 8:42 PM on October 2, 2013
posted by lakersfan1222 at 8:42 PM on October 2, 2013
Go on a bike ride on the deserted streets, ride past bakeries baking bread and find all night diners to stop in for a snack.
posted by dottiechang at 11:56 PM on October 2, 2013
posted by dottiechang at 11:56 PM on October 2, 2013
Get a giant sheet of paper, and then trace the outline of your partner's body on it. Then colour it in.
Have a competition about who can knit the longest scarf.
Turn off all the lights and play hide and seek.
Surprise your partner by planking when they get home. First person to laugh has to cook dinner using only ingredients that start with a vowel.
Have a backwards evening where you wear your clothes backwards, talk backwards and watch tv upside down. If you use VLC you can also watch the show backwards.
posted by devnull at 3:54 AM on October 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
Have a competition about who can knit the longest scarf.
Turn off all the lights and play hide and seek.
Surprise your partner by planking when they get home. First person to laugh has to cook dinner using only ingredients that start with a vowel.
Have a backwards evening where you wear your clothes backwards, talk backwards and watch tv upside down. If you use VLC you can also watch the show backwards.
posted by devnull at 3:54 AM on October 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
We play 20 questions laying in bed together.
posted by PuppetMcSockerson at 11:51 AM on October 3, 2013
posted by PuppetMcSockerson at 11:51 AM on October 3, 2013
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posted by jacalata at 12:03 PM on October 2, 2013 [9 favorites]