Much like Miss Congeniality‘s Cheryl from Rhode Island, we wouldn’t hesitate if asked to describe our perfect date. Because, you know what? April 25 is “not too hot, not too cold,” the sort of spring day that only requires a light jacket.
But it’s also probably not the type of date night that experts are always encouraging couples to schedule.
With three young kids in their Dallas-area home, Sean Lowe and Catherine Giudici Lowe have had to get creative to ensure their love continues to bloom.
Because for all the over-the-top, champagne-soaked dates the parents to Samuel, 8, Isaiah, 6, and Mia, 5, enjoyed while the former Kansas State linebacker was courting the graphic designer on The Bachelor, “Our favorite thing is watching movies together,” she told E! News in 2023. “And so it’s kind of like date night, every night. We get that connection every night even if it’s not a big, fabulous way, which is so not us. We’re like, ‘Okay, what’s the earliest we can get them down?’ And that’s what we do.”
Retired gymnast Shawn Johnson East and her husband Andrew East, meanwhile, strike that careful balance between passion and parenting by scheduling a weekly outing.
“Postpartum, I feel like, for the first year, we’ll go to the same place,” Shawn, who welcomed their third child, son Bear in December 2023, explained to E! News. “It’s just trying to get out of the house. But now that we’re a year postpartum, we really started picking back up our activities and adventuring to new restaurants and stuff.”
And dare we say they’ve really stuck the landing with some of their bold outings. In honor of Valentine’s Day Feb. 14, we asked the athletic pair and more celebrities to share their fave date night ideas with E! News. Allow yourself to fall head over heels for their ideas.
Renée Zellweger
It is a truth universally acknowledged that romance shouldn’t just be reserved for Valentine’s Day. “I think if you’re together for a really long time, it’s lovely and romantic,” Renée Zellweger told E! News at the premiere of Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy. Notably, she’s been dating Ant Anstead since 2021, but, “If you’re brand new dating,” the actress added, “you got to get your game right. But that’s amateur day. You should send notes every day.”
As she sees it, “It’s never a bad idea to leave a sweet note, you know?”
Alix Earle & Braxton Barrios
TikToker Alix Earle is down to receive whatever NFL pro boyfriend Braxton Berrios throws her way. “I always lean on Braxton because he’ll always plan some fun surprise for me,” she told E! of the Miami Dolphins wide receiver at the GQ Bowl. “He usually picks me up with flowers or something, and then the element of surprise is really fun. No matter what we do, we always have fun together.”
Though the athlete was eager to keep the Xs and Os of their Valentine’s plans to himself, he did throw E! one little bone. “She knows we’re going to adopt a dog and foster it and fit it a permanent home, hopefully,” he shared. “And then Friday morning she can’t know yet.”
Joan Vassos
Hot tubs and helicopters are nice and all, but this Valentine’s Day Golden Bachelorette Joan Vassos is just eager to soak in the City of Brotherly Love with fiancé Chock Chapple.
Set to be in town to celebrate the birthday of her son’s girlfriend, “I don’t really care what we do,” she admitted to E!, while discussing her new partnership with Aspercreme. “I just like being with the guy.”
And so, they’re eager to discover if Philadelphia is the perfect place to stay in love. “We’ll just walk down the street and find a restaurant and sit at the bar,” she predicted. “That’s perfect for me.”
Camille Kostek
Truth be told, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model Camille Kostek prefers huddling up at home with retired NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski, particularly when it comes to Valentine’s plans.
With Feb. 14 generally falling within days of the Super Bowl—a game Rob played in five times—”It’s always a very hectic week for the both of us,” she explained to E! at a special SiriusXM show at Radio Row ahead of the big game. “And we just get excited to go home, be with our dogs, sleep in our own bed. We have a lot of life on the road which we feel so lucky to do but there’s nothing like your own bed, your own kitchen your own home.”
Her ideal game plan, added Camille, “is candles lit, taking a bath, go to sleep early.”
Shawn Johnson East
No surprise that Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson East and her retired NFL long snapper husband Andrew East are game for just about anything.
“We’ll try wild new restaurants and go axe throwing or go for a bike ride,” she detailed to E! ahead of the launch of Beam Kids, the greens powder she helped develop. Their most recent outing saw them hole up at Nashville spot Puttshack. “It’s putt-putt,” she explained, “but it’s on steroids. It’s really cute.”
Dixie D’Amelio
The way to TikToker Dixie D’Amelio‘s heart involves sweats and a compelling binge. “My ideal date night is probably at my house,” the singer admitted to E! at the GQ Bowl. “I’m such a homebody, so anywhere at home.”
Brie Garcia & Nikki Garcia
Nikki and Brie Show cohost Brie Garcia never has to wrestle with how to spend Feb. 14 with husband Bryan Danielson. “I do a perfect date day for Valentine’s and it’s a spa day,” she explained to E! at a special SiriusXM show at Radio Row ahead of the Super Bowl. “We do a full day, the 90-minute couples massage, we do the full shebang.”
Her sister Nikki Garcia, meanwhile, isn’t the least bit salty about flying solo following her split from Artem Chigvintsev. Her perfect date is “anything with my son,” she shared of 4-year-old Matteo. “He gives me the greatest love ever. He fills my cup up beyond. So it would be having a really fun lunch with French fries, of course, because that is his favorite.”
Paige DeSorbo
Safe to say Summer House star Paige DeSorbo isn’t exactly charmed by cupid’s favorite holiday. “Let me tell you something about me, I hate a prix fixe menu,” she recently detailed to E!. “I don’t like when someone tells me what to do and you’re certainly not gonna tell me what to eat for dinner, so I feel like I truly haven’t been out to dinner on Valentine’s Day in years.”
Rather, “I do think it’s a fun holiday to do at home,” she said of cueing up some rom-coms with “some cute Valentine’s Day pajamas and eat some chocolate.”
Kordell Beckham
You can catch Love Island USA stars Kordell Beckham and Serena Page enjoying their own little piece of paradise this love season. “Flowers, candles, just cooking for her, maybe hire a chef, just little things,” he told E! at the GQ Bowl of his date night musts. But the most crucial piece, he added, is “just time together.”
—Reporting by Emily Curl, Elyse Dupre, Brett Malec, Dayn Nanda & Kate Rosen
