Mother-daughter date ideas for you and your teen

The teen years are an intense time for your children. So much is changing – but the one thing that will never change is the love you have for them. Spending intentional time with your teen, by trying these mother-daughter date ideas, is a special way to keep connected in the teenage years. 

Any of us who have had kids hit their teenage years are probably familiar with this sentiment – who is this child and what did she do with my son / daughter?

After all, seemingly overnight they seem to transition from being a Mini Me who wants nothing more than get into bed with you in the morning and have a long snuggle to being someone who won’t even walk next to you in the mall.

The teenage years can be tough, and as someone who not only has been a mom to two teens but also taught at high school for 20 years, I can tell you that it’s natural and normal for your child’s focus to shift from you to their peers (even if it really, really hurts).

But that is not to say that (in this case) your daughter does not still love you and still need you – and importantly, want to spend time with you.

For that reason, just as you make time to date your husband, you should also make time to date your daughter.

Whether you’re searching for a simple mother-daughter date at home, or ideas for a mother-daughter day, you’ll find activities here that will help keep you connected with your teen through these trying times.

You might also like: Mother son date ideas for you and your teen.

Mother-daughter date ideas at home

Sometimes busy schedules mean that the easiest mother-daughter activity is one you do at home.

Luckily there are plenty of fun things for moms and daughters to do together without leaving the house.

Spring clean her bedroom

Now this is only a fun mother-daughter date if your daughter likes a clean room. My daughter inherited my love of cleaning and organization so this was always something she loved to do with me.

My son, however, would have viewed this as torture of the worst kind.

Grab all the tools you need to do a thorough clean and declutter, and get started. Change sheets, vacuum under beds, tidy desks.

This is also a great opportunity to sort through her closet which may result in the need for a shopping trip!

Take a trip down memory lane

As much as I love to declutter, I also believe in keeping memories. Our brains are wired so that a trigger can spark a memory, which can spark yet another memory and so on.

Thinking about where we’ve come from and reflecting on happy memories is a fun way to spend a mother daughter day.

So grab out the photo albums, the collection of cards you received when she was born, and her first exercise books from school.

Pour over them together, talking about the things you remember, and she can share her memories too.

You may discover things you never knew!

Take a trip down memory lane: Version two

While the above activity above was all about your daughter, this one is all about you.

Share your pics from when you were a teen. Talk to your daughter about the boys you dated, the activities you enjoyed, the family members who may now be gone.

Maybe share some diary entries (though I have to say my own required some heavy censoring!).

This helps your daughter see you as a real person with her own hopes, dreams and fears – not some curfew-setting demon out to ruin her life.

Bake together

Whipping up a cake or a batch of cookies together is another mom and teenage daughter date idea that’s a win win for the whole family because afterwards you can all share in the fruits of your labor.

You can make this into a whole experience – making the cookies, cleaning up together, setting a nice table, and enjoying the cookies still warm from the oven with a cup of hot chocolate.

Watch a movie

And by this, I’m not talking about the crash on the couch and put on Netflix option. This requires a little more effort but is a fun thing to do at home with your teenage daughter.

Now chances are, your child once had a movie they liked to watch over and over and over again.

When my daughter was little, her favorite movie was Barbie and the Nutcracker.

Go back to those days with a bowl of homemade popcorn and one of these delicious mocktails.

Put on the movie and enjoy!

Practice a natural makeup look

I had no problem with my daughter wearing makeup – and as a dancer it wasn’t something I had to teach her, but something she had been doing herself for years.

However if your daughter is new to makeup and is looking more drag queen than teen, then one fun activity is to watch You Tube makeup tutorials together and experiment with creating a natural look.

By the way, I don’t wear a lot of makeup, but these tutorials are seriously addictive. You could lose a whole day in there.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

If you don’t want to go down that rabbit hole, here’s a quick, natural look:

Do an at-home spa date

Why not create your own mother-daughter DIY spa date?

In a similar vein to the above, you can have a mani-pedi session, learning the secrets of the pros from You tube. Grab that emery board, hand cream ,and nail polish and get busy!

You could also give each other a facial.

We used to love putting on clay masks and keeping our faces super still and then having a contest to see how much we could crack off!

Fun mother-daughter date ideas: Out and about

If none of these at home mother-daughter date ideas appeal, or you want to make a mother-daughter day of it, there are also plenty of fun activities you can try with your teen daughter that take place out of the home.

Level up her interests

As I already mentioned, my daughter was a dancer. Ballet was her passion for many years.

One of my most favorite things to do with my daughter was to take her to professional ballet productions.

We both got a lot of pleasure from watching the performances. It was something I had not experienced before she developed her love for ballet, so it was a new thing for me also, though as a child I had read all the ballet stories.

If your daughter is a dancer, take her to professional shows.

Jazz musician? Take her to a jazz concert.

Baseball player? Go watch a game.

Show her what’s possible, and show her you are interested in the world her passions and interests live in.

Have your own careers day

Now this is a mother-daughter date idea that needs to take place during the week as a rule, so might be better saved for summer vacation.

Using your contacts, plan your own careers day.

If your daughter has expressed interest in becoming a vet, for example, ask the vet if you can book a consult but use the time to talk about it as a career.

Is one of your friends a lawyer? Have the three of you go out for coffee and discuss what the job is like.

Then afterwards you can go home together and do some more research into the career that interested her the most.

Try out a class together

Life isn’t all about careers though.

Talk together about things that you might both be interested in learning more about, or incorporating into part of your wellbeing practice.

Do some investigation into what classes are available and go to try one out. 

If you enjoy it, you can sign up for a longer time frame and therefore easily have a built in mother-daughter activity to do on a regular basis.

Possible classes include:

• yoga
• meditation
• pilates
• tai chi
• spin
• cross fit
• hip hop
• ballet
• flower arranging
• interior design
• furniture making
• upholstery
• cooking
• painting
• Spanish
• Chinese
• French

Really, the list is only as short as your imagination!

Go on a shopping spree

Now remember how you spring cleaned her room together and also sorted through her wardrobe?

Or how she used up all your makeup in your makeup date?

Time to buy some organizational supplies for her room, restock the wardrobe, and get some makeup (or any combination thereof). 

Go armed with a list and also a rough budget so expectations are clearly set beforehand.

It may also be appropriate to discuss what kind of clothing you’re happy to buy.

Many teens are happy to show more skin than you might be comfortable with, and again, setting expectations first is a good way to stop any conflict ruining your bonding time.

Have a spa day

Now, not saying that your at home efforts weren’t great, but it can also be a lot of fun to get someone else do it for you.

Get a professional manicure, or facial, or – my fave- splurge on a mother-daughter massage.

Enjoy the feeling of someone pampering you for a change while you get the bonus of some quality time with your teenager.

Volunteer together

Teenagers can be very passionate about causes they hold dear.

Tap into that passion by doing some volunteer work for their cause. It could be an animal shelter, homeless shelter or nursing home.

Volunteering is also a great activity because most teenager’s brains have gone back to that of a toddler, where it can be a little bit of “all about me.” This can help show them a different perspective.

Should this be something you both enjoy, this is another one of those mother and teenage daughter activities that could become a regular occurrence.

Have high tea at a luxury hotel

For this date idea, put on your best dresses, do your makeup, and take yourselves off to the nearest upmarket hotel serving high tea (or more correctly, afternoon tea).

I love everything about high tea: the beautiful tea cups, the delicate sandwiches and delicious bite-sized treats … and the whole experience of taking your time to eat and talk.

High tea is a fun and sophisticated experience you both are sure to enjoy!

(If you can’t find any in your area, here’s how to have an English afternoon tea at home).

Go on a road trip

Sometimes, as much as you’d like to ask your daughter how things are going in your life, you’ll find that direct conversations are unproductive.

The best thing to do is to engineer a situation where you are in a close space together, and yet there is no pressure for conversation.

The car is the perfect place for this.

Think of a destination one, maybe two hours drive from where you live, and pop in the car together for a mother-daughter road trip. You can even make a night of it and have a mini getaway!

Let your daughter be in charge of the music too – that’s a great way to get the mood upbeat and positive!

(You could ask these 150 questions for teens or 100 would you rather questions for teens on the drive.)

Go to a concert together

If you were wondering where to go on the road trip mentioned above, then a concert together is the perfect answer.

I have to say, I used to try and persuade my daughter to attend concerts with me and she was never keen. No lie, she even turned me down going to Taylor Swift!

However this changed as she got older, and one of my most fun family memories (while not strictly a mother-daughter date) was when my husband, son, daughter and I all went to Fleetwood Mac together and bought matching t shirts which we all wore (and which my son promptly lost. He’s that kind of kid).

The importance of mother teenage-daughter dates

The teen years are an intense time for your children. So much is changing – but the one thing that will never change, no matter what, is the love you have for them.

Spending intentional time with your teen, by trying these mother-daughter date ideas, is a special way to keep connected during the teenage years.

You might also like: At home family activities to do with teens.