Couples Challenges

Couples challenges are fun, productive, and competitive. What’s more, is science suggests that couple competitions can strengthen your relationship.

So, grab your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, or wife and start scheduling in these challenges for couples.  Let the games begin! 

the best challenges for couples

We’re always up for a good couples challenge!

Couple challenges are a healthy way to strengthen your bond and learn more about yourselves as a couple. Whether you’ve been dating for a few days or married for a few decades, there are many benefits to some friendly competition!

Plus, psychologists agree that couples challenges can reignite passion and is one way to spice up your marriage or relationship — particularly in couples who have been together for a long time.

Relationship experts have long cited that couples challenges increase playfulness (something that is linked to high relationship satisfaction), fun, competitiveness, and excitement.

This was confirmed in an interesting study comparing couples who, culturally, were in a more competitive landscape to hold onto their partners (ie. they had to work for it!)

The study concluded that the couples who embraced the challenge and competition ended up having higher passion levels and a stronger commitment to each other.

Why Take A Couples Challenge?

In addition to the fun, competition, and relationship benefits, couples challenges can also be downright productive.

From competing in exercise challenges to money-making challenges, couple competitions can add to your skillsets and make you a happier, healthier person.

Plus, research shows that having your partner as an accountability buddy makes you up to 3 times more likely to stick to a task.

So what are good challenges for couples? What’s a fun challenge for couples to do?

While the challenges should be as unique as you are as a couple, we’ll share ideas that will help enrich your lives while bringing you closer together as a couple.

Have fun and good luck!

The Best COuple Challenges

The following are fun challenges for couples that we’ve personally completed.

If there’s a fun couples challenge game we missed, please share your ideas in the comments. We’re always up for something new.

1. 30-Day Declutter Challenge

Inspired by Marie Kondo’s stellar book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, we’ve spent a lot of our time at home decluttering.

Not only is it freeing — space-wise and mentally! — we turned it into a productive competition and couples challenge.

In our 30-Day Declutter Challenge, we share our tried-and-true timeline on how to tackle your home and get yourself prepped for a garage sale at the end of the month!

Throughout, learn how (and where) to list your unused items online to make some moolah while helping the world recycle your old treasures. Make it a couple competition by seeing who can sell the most stuff.

The last time we did this challenge, we earned several thousand dollars worth (and I won, of course!)

2. “Bottom of the Pantry” Challenge

How creative can you get with just the food in your pantry and freezer?

Inspired as a spin-off of the 30-Day Declutter Challenge, see how long you can go before heading to the grocery store.

Do this by getting creative with your meals and using up every last thing in your pantry.

If you’re anything like us, there are probably packets of food stuffed into the pantry that hasn’t been touched for years. From cans of beans to frozen patties in the freezer, it’s time to put that food to good use.

Considering that the non-profit, ReFed, estimated that 35% of all US food went unsold or uneaten, don’t become part of the statistic!

Of course, continue to buy fresh fruits and vegetables but make a plan to eat through everything in the pantry!

Plus, this challenge for couples gives you and your partner opportunities to get creative with your date night meals!

3. 30-Day Ab Challenge

As two health coaches, we had to add in a fitness couples challenge. What better opportunity to hold you accountable and get your exercise on?

Additionally, research shows that you’ll increase effort and be far more likely to stick to a workout program when working out with your partner.

This study from Kansas State University shows that this increase in work time and intensity is as much as 200 percent!

For a structured plan, we recommend doing our free 30-Day Ab Challenge together.

These moves are challenging but work all parts of your core. Plus, they’re the perfect add-on to your current workout routine and only take a few minutes of your day!

4. The $1000 Money Couples Challenge

Talking about finances isn’t easy as a couple, something we share extensively about in our finance guide for couples.

But what if we were to tell you that it’s not too hard to save $100 in just one month?

Known as the “monthly money challenge,” for the next 31 days, put a few bucks a day into a jar. On Day 1, you each put in $1. On Day 2, you each put in $2. On Day 31, you each put in $31. Get it?

It’s fun to use cash but you can Venmo it to a shared bank account as well.

After a month, you’ll have an incredible $992. While we can’t tell you where to spend it (our finance guide would recommend putting it towards retirement!) know that you can save big bucks as a couple.

The challenge becomes more fulfilling if you’re able to forego some minor expense that day to put the money in the jar. Maybe that means ordering water instead of a soda or cooking at home instead of ordering out a pizza.

It’s these little changes that can make a big impact. As you can see, every little bit goes a long way, especially when there are the two of you!

5. Steps Challenge

Can you walk 12,000 steps a day for this couples challenge game?

There are few healthier things you could do for yourself… and your waistline.

A study published in The Obesity Society found that dieters who lost 30 pounds and maintained or continued to lose weight tracked 12,000 steps per day.

Overweight adults only tracked 6,500 steps.

We like to track our daily steps with fun apps like SweatCoin and Achievement, which we rank as our favorite fitness picks for the best self-care apps. Both pay money for your steps, and it’s all for free.

For you over-achievers with weight loss goals in mind, view our ‘Walking to Lose Weight Chart‘ to set your mileage target. 

So, who can work the most in the next 30 days? Ready, set, walk!

6. Couple’s Yoga Pose Challenge

How many crazy acroyoga poses can you and your partner do? This couples challenge is hilarious, pee-your-pants funny. Plus, you’ll get some epic photo memories out of it, too!

We share our favorite couples yoga poses for two people, from beginner to advance, to get you started. These poses will challenge not just your flexibility and strength, but also your communication skills.

Couples yoga is an incredibly healthy activity that studies show increases attraction and reduces stress among couples.

If you’re not sure that you’ll like yoga, give it a try. I was in the same boat but now I’m so happy that Ryan pushed it. It’s a weekly favorite and time for us to relax and reconnect together.

We even partnered with a professional yogi to create the world’s first couples yoga flow program.

7. 30-Day Gratitude Challenge

Psychologists have long studied the effects of practicing gratitude on our health and wellness.

In a study by the University of California, Davis, after ten weeks of writing down things they were grateful for, participants experienced higher optimism and quality of life than that of the control groups.

Interestingly, these participants were also more likely to exercise and had fewer doctor visits.

When looking specifically at practicing gratitude within a relationship, couples who did report higher happiness levels than those who didn’t.

You don’t need to convince me. As a couple who practices gratitude regularly, we recommend starting a gratitude couples challenge.

You can follow the ideas given in our 30-Day Gratitude Challenge and work to do them together.

Things as simple as cooking a family recipe together to volunteering are a wonderful way to enhance your love and relationship together.

8. Movie Challenge for Couples

Here’s a fun challenge for couples. Did you know that watching certain Hollywood movies can be just as effective as couple’s therapy by cutting divorce rates in half?

In a study from the University of Rochester, couples were split into three groups. One group watched a series of movies and answered questions about them. The second group went to marriage counseling and the third group did nothing.

Three years later, both the first and second group had double the amount of couples still married as compared to the control group!

The key here is not to just watch any movie, but movies that replicate real-life relationship challenges.

We share the top 25 movies on this list, as well as the questions to ask each other after, in our article, “Best Movies for Married Couples.”

For this Movie Couples Challenge, we challenge you to watch one movie a week for the next year (about one every other week), to cover this list.

From Date Night to Couple’s Retreat, we promise that this challenge will be a fun one — and one that truly strengthens your marriage!

9. The Love Language Challenge

If you’ve never read The 5 Love Languages, then you’re in for a treat.

While it’s an older book, we promise reading it will be the best $8 spent on your relationship. At the minimum, take the free quiz.

The 5 Love Languages is a concept that everyone prefers to receive love in different ways, either through words of affirmation, quality time, physical touch, acts of service, or receiving gifts.

With your partner’s combination in mind, how can you better show your love for them?

During the Love Language Challenge, strive to speak your partner’s love language as often as you can.

To track this, get ideas, and set reminders, you can download the free Love Nudge app, created by the same folks behind The 5 Love Languages.

See how many times you can speak your partner’s love language this month! Whoever gives the most “love nudges” wins the love challenge for couples!

For a challenge that packs a punch for relationship value, this is the one for you.

If there is one activity that checks off all the Love Languages —quality time, physical touch, acts of service, receiving gifts, and words of affirmation — it’s giving your partner a good massage.

If you need to learn how, we took this couples massage class (review below) and our massages are now better than professional quality

10. Board Game Night Challenge

For a couples challenge that really flexes your love for competition, take it to the board for board game night.

Baylor University even ran a study on this and found that couples who played board games together released more oxytocin (aka the love hormone) than those who didn’t.

As board game lovers ourselves, we scoured what’s out there and asked all of our gamer friends for the ultimate list of best board games for couples.

From Spiel des Jahres winners (the best board games of the year) to simply the funnest games for two, we’ve included a long list of not just competitive board games, but also relationship-building and cooperative games.

A few of our favorites include Off Topic, Codenames: Duet, and Azul. 

For the best card games for couples, including classic games that only require a regular deck of cards, check out our article below. 

11. Couple’s Bucket List Challenge

Talk about the ultimate couples challenge: completing a couple’s bucket list.

We have had so many bucket lists (for the places we’ve lived to the things we want to do), and can attest to how inspirational and fun they are to make.

Honestly, just talking to your partner and hearing their lifelong dreams teaches you so much about them, and makes you fall in love with them all over again.

While the science on bucket lists are light, psychologists believe they can help frame your long-term goals and set you on a path towards completing them.

We also believe in the value of an accountability buddy here and think that completing your bucket list is always funner with two.

So, take some time to talk about the different types of dreams you have (from the skills and hobbies you want to start to the places you want to visit) and make your ultimate bucket list!

In need of a few ideas? Here are a few couples bucket list ideas that you’ll see on our personal list.

Closing Thoughts on Challenges for Couples

These are our favorite challenges to do with your partner. We hope you implement and see one (or all) of these couples challenges strengthen your relationship.

Of course, these aren’t the only couple challenge games out there. If there is one that we need to add to our list, please let us know in the comments.

We love learning about new tips and tools to continuously improve our relationship.

For more helpful resources for couples, such as the best “would you rather” questions for couples, or the best books for couples to read together, head over to our Healthy Couples page.