When you go out with a girl, you want her to see you as very "together" and to have a wonderful evening totally planned out. And if you see the same girl over a period of time, that expectation does not go down. She looks to you to come up with wonderful fun dates, cool places to go, exciting adventures from time to time and romantic interludes that will never grow old or get boring. And as much as is possible, we try to keep our girls thinking we can keep up the pace.

But you and I both know that coming up with new ideas for dates is a big challenge. This is particularly true of ideas for romantic dinners. Part of the reason that "genre" of date may be more of a challenge is that guys sometimes are not always as romantic as we want out gals to think we are. So coming up with great ideas becomes a project and one you have to keep going all the time, especially if you are in a long term relationship.

It helps if men stick together in this effort because each and every guy who is dating has a girl somewhere who believes he can do magic and create a new romantic adventure to make her swoon with romance and feeling every single date. With that in mind, we must never overlook the greatest resource for new romantic dinner ideas and that is other guys.

Keep your eyes open and get to know the other couples in your social circle that seem to be having one of those "classic romances" that they make movies about. That guy knows something. The girls are ahead of us on this one because they commonly share romantic secrets. So while we may not sneak off to the bathroom together, look to make friends with other guys who seem to have lots of ideas for great dinner dates and share the wealth. This kind of brotherhood can keep all of our girlfriends and wives happy with each new date.

But everybody has to keep their eyes and ears open for new dinner ideas that have great romantic potential. The basics are to know your local restaurants well and which ones offer the best romantic experience. But we can't stop with that because there are only so many restaurants and Sonic and Burger King are out of the picture anyway.

We also have to be practical because we are not made of money. Sometimes the best romantic restaurants are also very good at charging the most for the dining experience. But there is a secret about our women that can help with this problem and that is that there are lots of ways to make a dinner romantic and not spend very much at all. In fact, low cost dates that are simple and creative are sometimes the most romantic ones of them all. Your girl may go wild for a simple dinner of TV dinners in front of the fire or a picnic meal on the hill over the bay. Many times a very simple evening is the most romantic because the night is all about the two of you and the love you share and she feels that and loves the idea.

By keeping your wits about you, you will find new romantic ideas for dinner dates flying at you every day. Movies, magazine ads, television shows and even stage plays all are bursting with great ideas because the people who write that stuff are paid the big bucks to come up with romantic concepts. So why not make them earn their money and take their ideas for your own.

Make it a rule that there is no such thing as a source of new romantic dinner date ideas that is too crazy or out of limits. And a huge population that is bursting with ideas are the other women in your life. Friends of your sweetheart know well what she likes and they also have encyclopedia size inventories of ways they would like to be romanced on dinner date with a handsome guy. They would love to share their romantic fantasies with you to use with your girl.

But the library of female knowledge of romance doesn't stop there. Don't forget ladies you are close to like female friends of yours, wives of your friends, ex girlfriends, sisters and sisters and law and even good old Aunt Dottie, Grandma and Mom herself. That's right, don't write the women of the last generation off one little bit. There is still the romantic princess inside those gals and even if their romantic ideas are a few decades old, that sometimes makes their ideas even more interesting if you just dust them off and put them to work.

Never close the door on finding new romantic dinner concepts because you are using them up all the time. Keep note cards, a portfolio or a computer data base with new ideas always being updated. And when you get well ahead of the need and have new ideas to spare, you will be able to relax knowing that you are going to be able to continue to be her romantic hero every single date with new ways to create that romantic atmosphere at dinner where love and intimacy can grow.