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

We're always on the hunt for new things to do, scouring the city for not-boring Brisbane activities — and that includes different ways to spend time with your special someone. Need an idea that's guaranteed to take your next date way beyond done-before beers at the pub? We have suggestions.

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) options 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.

Free

End Your Working Week with Live Tunes Under the Stars

When the working week is done, folks just wanna have fun. We're paraphrasing Cyndi Lauper because she knows what she's singing about. If you and your date's idea of taking her advice involves listening to ace musos belt out a few tunes, then QPAC's Live at Melbourne Street Green is the Friday afternoon session that you're looking for.

All about live performances, tasty bites to eat and kicking back a stone's throw from the inner city, the regular event offers an ace start to your weekend from 5.30–7.30pm. Across its first season for 2025, running through autumn and into winter, it's happening most weeks except when Friday falls on a public holiday — so there's no tunes on Friday, April 18 or Friday, April 25.

Otherwise, each week you can enjoy the cooler weather with an outdoor songfest. The music lineup changes, with Elements Collective, Omiya and  talents from Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University all set to do the honours.

Food-wise, you can grab a bite from Storytellers, which means burgers, yiros, mezze platters, fish and chips, gourmet toasties and more — while sipping wine and beer, including of the non-alcoholic variety. Entry is free, but you'll obviously have to pay for the eating and drinking part of the evening.

Under $50

Hit Up Brisbane's Newest Outdoor Cinema

Brisbane is home to plenty of glorious cinemas, new and old, in former skating rinks and in art galleries alike, but sometimes you and your other half just want to see a movie somewhere other than an indoor picture palace. Cue outdoor cinemas, which the River City has its fair share of, too, including the permanent year-round setup at Dendy Powerhouse. Here's another that's just launched to get you catching flicks under the stars: Queen's Wharf's new Skyline Cinema.

A place to watch films was long promised as part of Queen's Wharf, over the years that the precinct was in the works before it finally opened in 2024. Skyline Cinema sits on the site's Leisure Deck on level seven, and pairs its range of movies with Brisbane by twilight as a backdrop. The one catch: it's only operating once a week, getting the projector whirring on Wednesday evenings.

From 6pm, you won't be catching brand-new releases, but rather settling in to watch recent-ish and retro fare while also peering out over the city. On the upcoming lineup in April 2025 and early May 2025: Sydney-shot action rom-com The Fall Guy, a blast of ABBA with Mamma Mia!, more musical throwbacks courtesy of Grease, and Aussie favourites The Castle and Red Dog.

Tickets cost $10, which gets you entry, a comfy perch on a beanbag, plus popcorn and a soft drink. Luke Nguyen's Fat Noodle is also delivering dishes such as chicken salad, seafood laksa, wok-tossed pad thai and caramelised honey pork bowls to your seat, although that'll cost you extra.

Under $100

Add a Heap of Cakes to Your Date

Forget finding a golden ticket — while scoring a free pass to a chocolate factory was everyone's fantasy as a kid (and, let's face it, is still a fantasy now), there are other ways for you and your special someone to indulge your Wonka dreams as adults. Cakes as far as the eye can see, classes on how to make them and a dedicated sweet zone aren't just things that floated through your head while you were asleep. They're real, and they're part of the returning International Cake Show at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre in 2025.

From Friday, April 11–Sunday, April 13, the South Brisbane venue becomes the sweetest place in the city, so prepare your tastebuds and stomach accordingly. The three-day show will feature a mixing bowl worth of live cake-making and decorating sessions, how-to demonstrations, hands-on classes and more — as well as hosting the Australasian Cake Oscars, the tastiest awards you're ever likely to come across.

Other highlights include stalls and shops, which'll help you bake up a storm at home, and plenty of tasty fare to devour. Basically, when you're not learning how to make sweet treats, you'll be eating them.

Oh, and you'll be looking at them, too — and not just your regular old desserts. This year's event will feature extreme cakers, giant sugar creations and a corporate pastry buffet challenge, too.

Under $250

Start Celebrating Easter Early Over a Japanese-Inspired High Tea

Wishing that you and your favourite person were spending chocolate season not merely feasting on sweet treats in Brisbane, but pairing Easter with a trip to Japan? Aren't we all. Thankfully, Indigo Isuta Soirée: A High Tea Affair is here to provide consolation for everyone still in the River City, and also to get you celebrating the occasion in a delicious fashion.

Here, Easter gets a Japanese spin, complete with yuzu custard bunny teacups, green tea yuzu tiramisu and matcha macarons, plus a glass of sparkling. The high-tea menu also includes green apple mousse flourless tartlets that come flecked with gold flakes, tamago sandos, mini wagyu burgers and, of course, both hot cross buns and Easter eggs.

You'll pay $99 per person, with a minimum of two people needed, to get feasting from 11am–3pm daily across the entire month of April — right through till Wednesday, April 30 — at Bar 1603 inside Hotel Indigo on Turbot Street.

Plus, for $15 extra, you can also sip a cherry- and chilli chocolate-infused umeshu cocktail.

One Big Blowout

Henry Ruggeri

See an Iconic Punk Band Live on Their First Trip to Australia in Almost Three Decades

Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols should never be far from anyone's ears — but there's listening to the iconic 1977 punk album, the only studio record from Sex Pistols, and then there's hearing it played live in full with your plus one. In Brisbane this week, lovers are being treated to that very experience.

Band members Paul Cook, Steve Jones and Glen Matlock are hitting town, as part of a project dubbed Sex Pistols Featuring Frank Carter. As the band's moniker makes plain, this is a case of punk figures joining punk figures, as first happened back in August 2024 for fundraiser gigs in London. Clearly the setup worked.

This will be Sex Pistols' first trip this way in almost 30 years, since 1996 — this time pairing drummer Cook, guitarist Jones and bassist Matlock with Gallows, Pure Love and Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes alum Carter on vocals. The group have announced seven stops, including at Brisbane's Fortitude Music Hall on Wednesday, April 9.

Hearing Never Mind the Bollocks live and in full almost five decades since its original release means hearing 'Anarchy in the UK', 'God Save the Queen', 'Pretty Vacant', 'Bodies', 'Holidays in the Sun' and more. If this feels like an incredibly rare chance to experience a slice of music greatness, that's because it is — and if you need any more motivation, Sex Pistols Featuring Frank Carter's UK gigs earned rave reviews.