Dining Through the Alphabet: How a Simple Game Turned Into Three Years of Dates, Discoveries, and Inspiration
A 3-year date night challenge with my wife where we visited new-to-us restaurants from A to Z. It turned into a joyful routine, inspired friends, and sparked the idea for Alive To Live, and soon, an app to help others do the same.
What started as a fun idea to be more intentional about our date nights turned into an almost three-year culinary adventure, and ultimately inspired the create of Alive to Live.
Our Game, Our Rules
In September of 2022, my wife came across the idea of “dining through the alphabet” in one of her many social feeds. She mentioned it to me and over one of our morning coffee sittings, we set our basic rules and decided to give it a go. The concept was simple, and so were the rules we made up:
- Start with a restaurant that begins with the letter A
- Next time, pick one that starts with B, then C, and so on
- It had to be a place neither of us had been to before
- Our game, our rules
That last part wasn’t in the original rulebook, but it became our motto, especially when we needed to get creative with “X” or invited friends to join us on the journey.
The Joy of Discovery
What we didn’t expect was how much fun it would be to explore all the local spots we'd somehow never tried. Some were hole-in-the-wall gems. Others were one-and-done experiments. But every meal brought something new, sometimes in the food, but always in the experience. We found ourselves looking forward to planning each new letter. It gave our dates a theme, a purpose, and just enough structure to get us out of our usual routine.
Unexpected Encouragement
We shared our journey on Facebook (actually my wife shared it and I made her tag me). Most posts were just a selfie (I held the menu if we remembered before the server whisked it away) and a quick blurb about what we ordered and liked. To our surprise, so many people started following along. Friends would comment things like:
- “We’re doing this now too!”
- “You’re already on L? We just finished E!”
- “Where are you going for Q? We’re stuck!”
Even in person, people would ask, “What letter are you on now?” or “What was your favorite one so far?” We weren’t trying to be Facebook-perfect, but it was fun to see the ripple effect and rewarding to know we had inspired others to try something new.
A Spark of Something Bigger
That experience is what ultimately sparked the idea of Alive To Live. I realized how many people want to be more intentional about how they spend their time. They just need a little structure, a little inspiration, or even just a fun idea to get them going.
This alphabet game reminded me: life doesn’t have to be grand to be meaningful. Sometimes, all it takes is a small spark to get out there and make memories.
What’s Next?
We finally reached Z this spring. It felt surreal. The question from others, and ourselves, quickly became, “So, what now?”
We’re already brainstorming our next regular date challenge. We’re not sure what it will be yet. But we are sure that carving out intentional time together, even in small ways, makes life richer.
And… I'm building on an app to help others start their own Dining Through the Alphabet journey. It will let you:
- Find local restaurants by letter
- Track your progress
- Share your photos and reviews
- Follow others on the same path
More on that soon.