Since my last couple of posts have been on the sad side, I wanted to lighten things up with a happy post highlighting the ways I like to have fun with my daughter. Some of these 10 mommy-daughter date ideas are simply things I do with my daughter every day, others are infrequent times when we do something a little extra special together.
Many of these 10 mommy-daughter date ideas will work whether your daughter is a toddler or preschooler (or even school-age). So if you’re looking for some fresh ideas on how to bond with your daughter, keep scrolling!
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10 Mommy-Daughter Date Ideas
1. Bake or Cook Together
I’ll admit, this one is pretty basic and obvious. But it’s one of those every day things you can do with your daughter even when you don’t have a lot of extra time to spend with her. Why not just involve your daughter in the activities you otherwise have to do on your own anyway?
Baking together is something my daughter and I have always enjoyed. I love to bake and my daughter has taken after me in that department. More recently, she has taken a deeper interest in helping me cook as well. Although I still do not let her near hot pots, she helps measure out spices and mixes wet ingredients for me.
And if you want to make it more fun for your daughter to help you in the kitchen, get her her own set of colorful measuring cups and spoons and spatulas to use. A family member bought the ones below for my daughter for Christmas last year and she loves them.
I have to admit that I am a bit OCD when it comes to messes in the kitchen (and in general), so it can be a bit challenging for me to relax and let her make a little bit of a mess sometimes. I like to clean up messes as I make them and try to avoid making them to start with. But with a toddler or preschooler, you are bound to have some messes.
Just the same, she gets so much joy out of helping me that it’s worth it. And I love sharing the baking experience with her. Cooking … well, let’s just say I could do without the cooking experience whether or not my daughter is involved.
To get some of my own healthy snack and breakfast recipes that you can make with your daughter, enter your email address here and you will get free access to my exclusive content and free printables.
I also highly recommend this candida dessert recipe book. It has a bunch of delicious, sugar-free, low carb dessert recipes that I frequently make for or with my daughter.
If you do purchase the candida dessert recipe book, You are likely also going to need to order some xylitol (excellent no-sugar sweetener made from birch tree bark) and probably also some almond flour. A lot of the recipes in the book use these ingredients and it allows you to make very low-carb, sugar-free treats that are still yummy (and high in protein).
2. Take Her to an Indoor Park
This is something that costs money, so we only do this once every couple of months usually. The availability of indoor parks will also depend on your location. Where we lived previously, we only had a couple of options so I always took my daughter to a trampoline park near our house that was very reasonably priced for toddlers and preschoolers.
However, where we live currently, there are numerous options of different kinds of indoor parks, most of them running roughly $15 for one child (adults are usually free at the parks that are specifically for kids). Some indoor parks offer various discounts on certain days or for certain ages.
Personally, I enjoy taking my daughter to indoor parks almost as much as she enjoys playing at them! They are usually full of a variety of fun activities to entertain children for hours on end, and some of the activities are parent-friendly too. There are some pretty fun trampolines, slides and games that I’m not going to turn down when my daughter asks me to join in. Think of it as a small-scale, air conditioned, comparatively cheap theme park.
3. Go on a Picnic – Inside or Out!
Going on a picnic might sound pretty basic but if your daughter is anything like mine, she will find it super fun and dub you, “the best mom ever” for making an ordinary lunch into something special.
During the warmer months, go to the park or a hiking spot for a picnic – or just set one up in the backyard. At our old house, we had a sliding glass door in the kitchen, so my daughter and I would frequently scooch our breakfast out onto the deck for a picnic breakfast.
During the cooler months, you can still do a picnic lunch or breakfast on a blanket on the floor. Or, alternatively, plan a picnic tea party and surprise your daughter when she gets up from her nap or quiet time. I did this for my daughter not too long ago, and she was thrilled to eat cookies and drink tea-tinted cream from a tea set on a blanket on the floor for her snack.
4. Have a Movie Night
I did a movie night once a few months ago with my daughter and she has been asking to do another one ever since. For our movie night, I made up a few refined sugar-free treats to snack on while we stayed up late watching a movie and playing Go Fish.
We also fulfilled her dream of sleeping in the living room inside her tent. Well, she slept inside the tent. Mama slept on the couch. Overall, it was a fun night dedicated to just being together and doing whatever felt fun in our own living room.
So if you need something new and exciting but relatively easy and laid back to do with your daughter for a mommy-daughter date, make up a couple of easy treats (don’t forget to grab your free recipes here), pick out a movie and get your jammies ready for a movie night!
5. Throw Her a Just-Because Party
Okay, I have to admit, I have not actually done this for my daughter yet, but I am hoping to at some point. I absolutely love this idea because a) my daughter is a party girl and loves any excuse to have a party, and b) my sister and I had a BLAST throwing parties for each other when we were kids!
However, this one is a lot of work, so it’s obviously not something you’re going to do more than once in a blue moon. And the biggest thing hindering me from throwing my daughter a just-because party right now is the fact that I threw her a bigger birthday party this year than usual. We invited a few more people than just the typical family gathering and I planned food, games, prizes, etc.
I imagine you may be having the same thoughts I am having on this one: She already gets a birthday party every year. Which is why I am not doing a just-because party as a mommy-daughter date just yet. But I definitely will once a little more time has passed since her big birthday party.
But I have to clarify that a just-because party is very different from a birthday party. Let me explain how it works. A just-because party is exclusive. It usually only consists of the party-thrower and the main guest of the party. It’s an intimate affair that allows for more girly giggling, secret sharing and overall fun than the typical birthday party.
Also, a just-because party does not involve any presents like a birthday. Instead, there are lots of prizes for the numerous games that will be played. In addition to games, there are usually crafts involved as well as fun snacks. Sometimes there is also a movie or music playing during the festivities. And most importantly, the party must have a theme that dictates the nature of every game, craft, activity and snack. Oh, and decorations are a must.
Update 4/23/2024: I did finally do a “just because” party for my daughter recently. We decided it would be her reward for filling up her reward chart for getting around for school on time each morning. I have to admit that I had almost as much fun planning it as she had participating in it! The prizes were cheap, fun little things from Hobby Lobby and the Dollar Tree. The treats were home made brownies sweetened with coconut sugar and topped with sugar-free melted Lilly’s white chocolate and pretzels dipped in the same white chocolate. The games and prizes were a hit, although she was too excited to sit down and do the crafts. Overall, it was a good time!
6. Take Her Shopping
I know not every girl likes to shop, but what kid does not like to look at and try out toys? I’m sure you can relate to me when I tell you that the majority of my grocery shopping trips involve desperate pleas from my daughter to look at the toys. And most grocery shopping trips, I let her look for a total of about 3 minutes because I have to finish my grocery shopping and get home to get lunch ready.
So occasionally, when I want to take my daughter out to do something fun, I take her to the store specifically for the purpose of looking at toys for an extended period of time. I sometimes explain before we leave that we are not going to buy, just look. Other times, if she has money, she can pick out a toy to buy.
Honestly, the times I tell her we are not going to buy, she actually enjoys trying out the toys more than when she’s looking for something to buy. It’s as though she’s in an obsessive desperate-to-spend-money mode when she knows she gets to buy something as opposed to just enjoying looking at all the options and exploring the different toys when she knows we are not buying.
Obviously, this will depend on how well your daughter does with window shopping. My daughter has always done pretty well with just looking and not buying, but some kids might just find this tortuous.
7. Get Samples at Costco
Now, tell me. Do you know of anyone who does not look forward to samples at Costco? I do not. In fact, one day while we were shopping at Costco, I heard a child in a cart frantically exclaim to her daddy, “We missed one!” I had to laugh because it’s exactly how my family is with Costco samples.
And my daughter definitely loves those Costco “examples” as she calls them. Especially because she usually ends up with some yummy treats we don’t normally eat at home. And the best part for me is that I feel like I can say, “yes” to a treat knowing that it is a very small portion. And if she asks for more, I can honestly tell her everyone is only allowed to have one.
Read our story on childhood tooth decay here.
For once, Mommy isn’t the bad guy limiting the treats. Costco is. Thank you, Costco, for allowing me to be the fun mom once a month.
I have to admit though, Costco trips are usually something we do as a family, so it’s not technically a mommy-daughter date. This one is more of a family date for us.
8. Do Pedicures Together
Doing pedicures together is a simple, free, easy but still fun mommy-daughter date idea. My daughter and I do our nails together now and then and she always gets excited about it. Even though I’m not one to always have my nails painted, somehow giving myself a pedicure is a lot more fun when I get to do it with another girl.
Personally, I really like the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri nail polish because it dries extremely fast, which is especially great for wiggly little girls who want to hop up and play as soon as the nail painting is done.
9. Take Her to the Library
Sometimes a simple trip to the library is all it takes to connect with your daughter in a way that you just don’t have time for at home when you are distracted by all the things you need to get done. Sometimes I take my daughter to the library, not really because we want to bring books home, but because I want to spend some quality time focused on her, just reading for an extended period of time.
And since the library has a virtually endless supply of various kinds of books, it’s also a lot more fun than sitting down to reread all the familiar books you have at home. It’s easy, it doesn’t take half the day, and most people can get to a library with less than a 15 minute drive. Some libraries also have toys for kids to play with.
10. Do a Craft Together
Doing crafts together is a great way to connect with your daughter. My daughter happens to love any form of arts and crafts, but really, what kid doesn’t enjoy paint, glue and stickers? Even if you are not very crafty yourself, there are plenty of super-easy craft kits out there that include all the parts you need and simple instructions on how to put them together. There are always fun craft kits at crafting stores like Hobby Lobby, Michaels and Jo-Ann.
You will be amazed at how proud you both feel at having created something that actually looks like something out of a bunch of random pieces! And the process of figuring out how to do something together is a great way to bond.
What are Your Mommy-Daughter Date Ideas?
I hope these ideas spark some inspiration in your own mind of some fun things you can do to connect with your daughter. Because let’s face it – the older she gets, the harder it can be to find those satisfying ways of connecting with her. Sometimes we have to get creative. Or share other mamas’ ideas! So tell me, what are your favorite mommy-daughter date ideas? Let me and other mamas know in the comments!
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