If you’re attached we suggest you ditch dinner this year for something far more exciting instead. There’s the whole weekend to enjoy the romance and let your partner feel like they’re one in a million, so make the most of it!

Go To The Coast Whether it’s serene or stormy there’s always find enchantment and romance at the coast. Stroll hand-in-hand with the sea breeze in your hair and then find a pretty restaurant with sea-views for a spot of lunch.

Take To The Road Impulse always gets the heart racing, so surprise your lady with a road trip of her choice. It might be somewhere they’ve always wanted to visit or a trip down memory lane to the town the grew up in. Just ask them their destination and whisk them away for a day they’ll never forget!

Plant A Valentine’s Tree Plant a Valentine’s tree together in Shropshire, lose yourselves in a blanket of white snowdrops at the Scottish Snowdrop Festival or enjoy Kew Garden’s Tropical Extravaganza and Valentine’s dinner for £99 a head.

Up, Up & Away! Spend this year’s Valentine’s amidst the dragon-like roar of the burners as your relationship soars to new heights on a sun-rise Champagne hot air balloon flight. You can depart from various locations all over the UK and prices start from around £150. To book visit Flights For All

Plan A Surprise Getaway There are still plenty of getaways available online so surprise your partner with an unexpected note telling them to bring an over-night bag and their passport, and enjoy the moment as you reveal the secret destination!

Cocoon Yourselves! Turn off the phones, stock up the fridge and turn your home into a sanctuary for the weekend, complete with flowers, candles, massage oils and romantic music. Need we say more…!

With a chill in the air and fairy lights everywhere, there’s a certain romance to December – especially when you’re dating.  Arm in arm, wrapped up in woollies, you can soak up the ambiance together with these December date ideas taking place before and after the big day.

We’ve also added our seasonal gifts to DatingAgency.com so you can spread some festive cheer to other DatingAgency.com Members.   So login and make someone’s day with a scattering of mistletoe magic!

December is the time to….

Visit A Winter Wonderland With their outdoor ice rinks, Christmas markets and festive entertainment, you and your date can revel in the magic of Christmas as early as you like! The one in Hyde Park spans twenty acres and has free entry, whilst others in Cardiff, Edinburgh, Northumbria and Centre Parks need to be booked. Find out more about Hyde Park at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland, or do a quick search on Google to locate one near you.

See It’s A Wonderful Life It isn’t Christmas without it! Take you date for some classic feel-good 1940’s cinematic action and watch It’s A Wonderful Life at Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall. The screening starts at 1pm on Christmas Eve so there isn’t a better way to start the weekend’s festivities. You can book box seats for £6.50 each or standard tickets for £5.50 each. Telephone 0151 709 3789 or visit Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall website.

Theatre Date: Morecambe Morecambe and Wise fans can put Eric back into their Christmas agendas with a date to see Morecambe at London’s Duchess Theatre. It’s a biographical play about the comedian’s life with an uncanny portrayal by Bob Golding following his sell out Edinburgh Festival run, which had rave reviews from Ronnie Corbett and Nicholas Parsons. Tickets cost £20 – £37.50 and you can read all about it on the DatingAgency.com Blog.

Cinema: The Avatar If you and your date are both sci-fi fans, make sure you go and see the Avatar, in cinemas from December 18th. It’s the most ambitious 3D film ever made and will be available in 2D, 3D and in IMAX cinemas. Director James Cameron of Titanic, Terminator and Alien fame, says his inspiration for the script was; “Every single science fiction book I ever read as a kid.” The premise is a paralyzed man controlling an alien body and it stars Sigourney Weaver and Sam Worthington.

Visit The UK’s Largest Winter Garden Blow out the cobwebs before New Year on a visit to the seven-acre winter garden at the National Trust property Dunham Massey in Cheshire. With 400 metres of new pathways, 700 plant species, 1,600 shrubs and 200,000 bulbs it’s no wonder it’s the UK’s largest winter garden! December brings the bright yellow of witch hazel and fragrances of mahonia, winter honeysuckle and Christmas Box. You’ll find visitor information on The National Trust website.

Racing At Kempton Park Get your glad rags on and have a flutter at the races on the 26th and 27th December. Kempton Park’s Winter Festival boasts two days of top quality jump racing featuring the William Hill King George VI Steeple Chase. Will Kauto Star re-write history books and take a fourth successive title? Tickets cost from £8 or you can book the best view of the action at the Panoramic Bar & Restaurant from £49.95 per person. For tickets telephone 01932 753518 or visit Kempton Park.

Visit Yorkshire Sculpture Park You and your date can walk off some Christmas pud on a trip to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the only one of its kind in the UK. The permanent collection contains work from Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth; artist Rob Ryan transforms the visitor centre with imaginative paper cuts and screen prints; and there’s sculpture and art in the Underground Gallery from one of Britain’s foremost artists, Peter Randall-Page. It costs £4 to park and entry is free. Visit Yorkshire Sculpture Park for visitor information. (Image of Peter Randall-Page, courtesy of Jonty Wilde).

Star Gazing in Galloway Forest Take your date to gaze at the stars in the darkest place in the UK, Galloway Forest in Scotland. Set in open farmland, away from light pollution you can stay at Galloway Astronomy Centre and perhaps even catch a glimpse of the partial lunar eclipse taking place on New Year’s Eve! Hot drinks are provided throughout the night although you might want to take your own Champagne! A double room is £28 per person per night. Telephone 01988 500594 or visit Galloway Astronomy Centre for more information.

New Year’s Eve If you haven’t any plans, see in 2010 with a stay in Allendale, Northumberland where the Flaming Barrels ceremony takes centre stage. This Pagan tradition starts with a colourful procession through the town by a team of local barrel carriers, dressed in fancy costumes and balancing flaming whiskey barrels filled with hot tar on their heads. Once they reach the unlit bonfire shortly before midnight, each man tosses his flaming ‘headgear’ onto the bonfire, setting it ablaze. On the stroke of midnight, everyone joins hands to dance around the fire, singing Auld Lang Syne. For details visit Allendale Tar Barrel Ceremony.

Eric Morcambe is reborn in a biographical play about the comedian's life

If you’re dating in London and the surrounding areas, take you date to the theatre to see Morecambe, a biographical play celebrating the comedians life.

For an entire generation the Morecambe and Wise Christmas show was the highlight of Christmas Day.   In 1977 they had 28 million viewers – half of the UK population watching at the same time.

Eric Morecambe died at the age of fifty-eight in 1984, but in the twenty five years since his untimely final curtain, his popularity has not waned. With numerous tribute programmes, TV re-runs and DVD releases, his work as one half of Britain’s most popular double act ever, has been kept alive and introduced to a whole new generation of fans.

Now the first biographical play about Eric Morecambe opens at The Duchess theatre in December for a strictly limited run starring Bob Golding as Eric Morecambe, and directed by Guy Masterton.  The play is a fictional account, inspired by Morecambe’s life and whilst many of the events and characters described in the play are real, the story and words are those imagined by the playwright.

The play came about after Golding’s sell out Edinburgh Festival run, where he did a moving and gloriously funny portrait of the ‘affectionate lad with the funny bones’ – the man born to be an entertainer.   Tim Whitnall has created a deliriously funny memorial that swallows up everything from Morecambe Pier to Andre Previn and Glenda Jackson, that will leave the audience crying tears of laughter at the man who ‘brought us the sunshine’.

Golding has won an army of admirers. These include some of the country’s favourite comedians who have been bowled over by the actor’s extraordinary likeness to the man himself, many of whom were Eric’s contemporaries and friends.  Ronnie Corbett has described Bob Golding portrayal of Eric Morecambe as; “Spectacularly wonderful; Golding has hit the bullseye with this stunning portrayal of Eric.”  Whilst Nicholas Parsons said; “Eric is brought to life again with all his humour and charm.  Quite brilliant.”

Tickets cost between £20 and £37.50 and runs at the Duchess Theatre from 9th December 2009 until 17th January 2010.  You can buy tickets from the box office on 0207 492 1602.

Suzie Kennedy and Hope Augustus are Marilyn and Ella in a new play on this November

If you’re dating in London, take your date to see a new show on in the West End this November, which explores the extraordinary friendship between Marilyn Monroe and Ella Fitzgerald.

She may have been famous for her music and her looks, but Marilyn Monroe was much more than a blonde bombshell.  Way ahead of her time she took a dramatic stand against racism in 1950s America by befriending the black singer Ella Fitzgerald at a time when black music and black singers weren’t welcome on the mainstream theatre and club stages.

It’s a friendship and an aspect of Marilyn’s character that’s rarely touched on in biographies about the icon, but even Ella Fitzgerald herself once said of Marilyn that she “was ahead of her time and she didn’t even know it”.

New to the West End this November, Marilyn & Ella is a play with songs by acclaimed writer Bonnie Greer which explores the unique friendship between the pair.  Marilyn helped Ella gain her lucky break in an LA club called Mocambo in the 1950s, which ultimately led to worldwide iconic status.

Writer Bonnie Greer first came across the unusual friendship while watching a documentary on the Biography channel in the US.

“It was an incredibly poignant friendship,” Greer explains. “All black singers were banned from the stage, so Marilyn was taking a massive personal risk in seeking out this friendship. She could have been sacked by her film company and never worked again, but to Marilyn, Ella was a great artist whom she worshipped from afar and finally needed desperately to meet. This is a fantastic and deeply moving true-life story, and one that still resonates 50 years on.”

Marilyn & Ella will play at London’s Apollo Theatre on the 15th, 22nd and 29th November with both matinees and evening performances. The play is directed by Colin McFarlane and features one of the world’s most famous Marilyn performers, Suzie Kennedy alongside Hope Augustus as Ella Fitzgerald.

Tickets cost £32.50 – £37.50 and are available from the box office on 0844 412 4658 or you can book online at www.marilynandella.com.

Hayward Gallery, London

If you’re dating in London you’re surrounded by modern art, so spend some time wandering around a gallery together before finding somewhere for a bite to eat.

If you both enjoy art, a wander around a gallery is a great way to spend some time together and it’s bound to give you plenty to talk about!   If you’re dating in London or visiting the capital, you’re spoilt for choice with many galleries staying open late into the evening or putting on music performances in their cafes and bars.

Here’s a run-down of some of London’s must-see modern art galleries.

Last year’s big news was the opening of the Saatchi Gallery in new premises in Chelsea. Housed in a magnificent new home at the Duke of York’s HQ on the King’s Road, it is now one of the largest contemporary galleries anywhere in the world, and admission to all shows is completely free.  The current exhibition (on until January 2010) is Abstract America containing work from Kristin Baker, John Bauer, Tom Burr, Mark Bradford and Joe Bradley among others.

Whitechapel Gallery in the East End of London has recently exapanded its premises so there’s now a cafe and bar where music and film events take place into the evening.  There’s a saxophone jazz quartet in October, film nights and workshops for the public at this contemporary gallery.

The ever controversial Turner Prize is on at the Tate Britain until January 2010, and whilst you are there, you can also see the Turner & The Masters exhibition.

Of course  no one even vaguely interested in contemporary art should miss it’s sister gallery, the Tate Modern on Bankside.  The building itself is splendid enough to justify a visit, and its riverside setting gives wonderful views. All permanent exhibits are free, but temporary shows charge admission and even the restaurant is pretty good!   On until January 2010 is Pop Life; Art In A Material World, looking at art from the 1980s onwards which  includes work from Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami.

Another mainstream modern art venue on the South Bank is the Hayward Gallery, renowned and reviled in equal measure for its brutalist post-war architecture.  The current exhibition looks at 50 years of the influential American artist Ed Ruscha.

Other galleries worth a visit include the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts), the Barbican, and the Camden Arts Centre who put on innovative multi-media exhibitions throughout the year. Smaller public galleries dedicated to modern art include the delightful Serpentine in Kensington Gardens, while in a stylish marriage of form and function, the Design Museum casts new light on everyday objects and inventions that shape our lives.