Five Romantic Brisbane Date Ideas for This Week From Budget to Blowout

Tired of the classic movie and dinner date night combo? Us too. That's why we're always on the hunt for new things to do, scouring the city for not-boring Brisbane activities — ones that are guaranteed to take your next date way beyond done-before beers at the pub.

Whether you're taking someone on a second date or doing your 100th with your significant other, we've got some killer (and, yes, cute) ideas for dates to go on this week, no matter how much money you've got to spend.

Just think of us as your cultural wingman. You're welcome.

Under $5

Enjoy an Ice Cream by the Beach From Just 36 Cents

Sun, surf, sand, ice cream: what a combination. As cemented in the childhood memories of most Australians, there's nothing like pairing a trip to the beach with a frosty dessert. Haven't had the pleasure of that experience lately? Keen for a sweet treat by the shore just because? Fancy enjoying one of life's simple delights for just 36 cents — and with your other half? Enter the ALDI ice cream truck.

For one day only on the Sunshine Coast, the supermarket chain is sending an ice cream van to the beach with cheap chilled bites. While the 36-cent price only applies to mini yoghurt sticks, nothing else on the nine-item menu costs more than $1 each.

So, you can enjoy ALDI's take on choc-coated ice creams on a stick for 40 cents, its version of Splices for 50 cents and its Paddle Pop alternative — in both chocolate and rainbow — for 62 cents, for instance. An ice cream sandwich will cost you 95 cents, a Drumstick equivalent is 92 cents and the brand's version of a Golden Gaytime is $1.Queenslanders need to make the trip to the Alexandra Heads Surf Life Saving Club at Alexandra Headland on Saturday, February 8, with the truck serving up its menu from 11am–3pm.

The reason for the pop-ups is to spruik ALDI's in-store ice creams, which is what it's dishing up — and at the same price that you'd pay per ice cream if you were to purchase a box of each in the supermarket. Buy them individually from the truck and you'll also be helping a good cause, with 100-percent of the sales going to Camp Quality.

Under $50

Party on a Sunnybank Rooftop

There's never a bad time to party while you're perched above the rest of the world, especially when there's a new year to celebrate. December 31 isn't the only time to do just that, of course, with Brisbanites able to climb up high from 5–8.30pm on Saturday, February 8 to mark the start of the new lunar calendar on a shopping centre's rooftop.

As it has in the past, the 2025 BrisAsia Festival is throwing a huge Lunar New Year Rooftop Party. To join in the fun for the Year of the Snake, you and your significant other will want to head to Sunnybank Plaza and head up to the top of the Hoyts Cinema carpark.

Expect dragon and lion dancers, live tunes and plenty to eat. Expect to feel like you're at a traditional lantern festival, too, but without leaving Brisbane. Past years have featured tea ceremonies, calligraphy classes and more — and fireworks at 8pm are always a big highlight.

Entry is free, but bring your wallet to feast on dinner from the nearby restaurants.

Under $100

Get a Taste of the Laneway Fun (or Continue on After the Fest) at the Official Afterparty

First, the bad news: if you and your special someone don't already have tickets to Laneway Festival 2025 in Brisbane to see Charli XCX, Djo, Beabadoobee, Clairo, Barry Can't Swim, Remi Wolf and more, they've completely soldout. Now, some good news: in the Queensland capital, Laneway is throwing an official afterparty. The small club show features STÜM, nate sib and more — and it's your next chance to get in on the Laneway action.

The date for the shindig is obviously the same as the Laneway date. Accordingly, you'll be heading to The Brightside on Saturday, February 8.

Brisbane's gig also features DJ Ivan Berko and Cyber DJs. Tickets are limited — so, like all things Laneway, getting in fast is recommended.

As for the festival itself, if you've been lucky enough to nab tix, its lineup also features BICEP doing their CHROMA AV DJ set, Olivia Dean, Eyedress, Skegss, Hamdi, Joey Valence & Brae, 2hollis, Ninajirachi, Julie, Girl and Girl, and more.

Celebrate Australian Film and TV

As a filmmaker, he co-created the Saw and Insidious franchises, and has since been tackling iconic horror tales with The Invisible Man and 2025 release Wolf Man. As an actor, he popped up in The Matrix Reloaded. Before all of that, he was a film critic on beloved late-90s Saturday-morning music TV show Recovery. That's a helluva career so far — and next, Leigh Whannell is heading to AACTA Festival to chat about it.

In 2024, the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Awards launched a festival to sit alongside its accolades, and to celebrate the latter's move to the Gold Coast. That event is back in 2025 in a bigger guise, running for five days between Wednesday, February 5–Sunday, February 9, and hosting more than 100 sessions. This is a perfect date idea if your favourite person has a screen obsession.

AACTA Festival will also welcome Australian The Greatest Showman filmmaker Michael Gracey, who has been earning some love from the academy of late. Better Man, his unconventional Robbie Williams biopic, topped the 2025 AACTA nominations — and attendees will hear all about the film at his festival session. Equally huge news is enlisting Paul Kelly to perform at the live How to Make Gravy concert, which also features Meg Washington, Brendan Maclean and Beddy Rays — and yes, it's easy to predict what the Australian icon will be singing.

Plus, Late Night with the Devil is in the spotlight via filmmakers Colin and Cameron Cairnes getting talking. Another massive drawcard: the Working Dog team, aka Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, Jane Kennedy, Michael Hirsh and Rob Sitch, coming together for an in-conversation session that's bound to touch upon everything from The Castle, Frontline, Thank God You're Here and Utopia to The Dish, The Hollowmen and Have You Been Paying Attention?. The Dish is also the screening program, and the Working Dog team will receive the prestigious AACTA Longford Lyell Award. And, the lineup goes on from there.

One Big Blowout

Benny Capp

Catch a Smash-Hit Stage Musical Based on a Beloved Film

The year was 1992. Aladdin, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Batman Returns, Lethal Weapon 3 and A Few Good Men ruled the international box office. Slipping into a habit and sliding in next on the list, becoming the sixth-biggest hit of the year: Sister Act. The film about singing nuns spawned a sequel, with word of a third movie floating around for years since — and, as everything from Mean Girls and Muriel's Wedding to Groundhog Day and Beetlejuice has also done, it inspired a stage musical as well.

The theatre take on the Whoopi Goldberg (The Color Purple)-led film franchise debuted in California in 2006, then hit West End in 2009 and Broadway in 2011. Now, it's finally Australia's turn — including in Brisbane. After seasons in Sydney and Melbourne, Sister Act plays QPAC's Lyric Theatre in the River City from Saturday, February 8, 2025.

The first movie was filled with songs like 'Rescue Me', 'My Guy' and 'I Will Follow Him', ensuring that its soundtrack was a smash, too, so the film was always primed to tread the boards. The Sister Act musical features original tunes, with Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid) doing the honours. Among the show's rewards so far: five Tony Award nominations and six Olivier Award nominations.Story-wise, the production follows Deloris, who witnesses a murder and has to go into protective custody. Her hideout: a convent. It's there that the nightclub singer finds a struggling choir, which she begins to help.

For the Australian run, Casey Donovan (& Juliet) is leading the cast, while Genevieve Lemon (Billy Elliot) co-stars as Mother Superior.