We all love Chicago in the Spring, Summer and Fall, but tend to hunker down in the Winter and don’t get out as much.  To help alleviate some of the Wintertime blues, we’ve created a list of our favorite Winter Date Ideas in Chicagoland.  The list contains a wide variety of museums, gardens and other interesting places that we’ve visited over the past three years.  We hope you get a chance to visit some of them this Winter.  As always, we’re looking to add to our list Date Day Destinations.  Please share your favorites with us.

Tom and Theresa

Specialized Museums

Virtually everyone has been to Chicago’s big museums, but there are also plenty of smaller and more specialized museums in and around the city of which many have never heard.  We’ve made it our mission to visit, and write about, as many as possible.  Below are our favorites – so far.

American Toby Jar Museum (Evanston)

The founder of this museum acquired his first jug over 65 years ago and has been collecting them ever since.  We thought we would find a few dozen or maybe as many as a couple hundred jugs in the museum.  Holy Toby were we off!  The museum has over 8,000 jugs on display and is the largest of its kind in the world, and probably the universe as well.

Chicago History Museum (Chicago)

If you want to learn about the history of Chicago, there is no better place than the Chicago History Museum.   The museum was founded in 1856, burned down during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, was relocated several times and now has a permanent home in the Lincoln Park neighborhood.

Chicago Maritime Museum (Chicago)

The museum is by no means large, but it’s interesting and a great way to spend a chilly morning / early afternoon.  We had a good time and even learned a little about the history of Chicago’s various waterways.  We also got to see a master modeler building a scale model replica of a ship that once traveled the Great Lakes.

Halim Time and Glass Museum (Evanston)

The museum is five stories tall and opened in 2017.  It was built by Cameel Halim and his family to house their personally curated collection of timepieces and stained galls.  If you like stained glass windows, beautiful Tiffany masterpieces and have an affinity for time; this is the place for you!

Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago)

Since its inception, it has been the mission of the museum to exhibit new and experimental works in all media, paired with ambitious education programs.  If you want to find strange, interesting and sometimes thought-provoking pieces of contemporary art, try the MoCA.

National Veterans Art Museum (Chicago)

The museum collects, preserves and exhibits art inspired by and created by combat veterans.  The current exhibits are focused on the Vietnam war, but the museum’s collections include works by veterans from many conflicts.

Richard H. Driehaus Museum (Chicago)

The Richard H. Driehaus Museum explores the art, architecture, and design of the late 19th and early 20th centuries with a focus on the Gilded Age. The Museum is located within the meticulously restored Nickerson Mansion, renowned as Gilded Age Chicago’s “Marble Palace.”  Mr. Driehaus founded the Museum to feature his collection of decorative arts—particularly Tiffany glass.

Smart Museum of Art (Chicago)

As the fine arts museum of the University of Chicago, the Smart is home to thought-provoking exhibitions and an exquisite collection of more than 15,000 objects, including modern masterpieces, millennia-old Chinese artworks, rich examples of European painting, and provocative works of contemporary art.

Volo Auto Museum (Volo, IL)

Where can you find the Batmobile, a vintage Duesenberg collection, dozens of kiddie rides and a Show Biz Pizza place?  Toss in four antique stores, military equipment and a jet plane or two and you’ve got the Volo Auto Museum.

Ethnic Museums

Chicago is home to people of many cultures and backgrounds and learning about them is interesting and fun for us.  A great way to do this it to visit some of the areas ethnic museums.  Some of our favorites include;

Illinois Holocaust Museum (Skokie, IL)        

The 65,000 square-foot, Skokie-based, museum was opened in 2009.  It pays tribute to the millions of Jewish people that lost their lives during the Holocaust.  It also educates the public on, “combating hate with education,” and tells the stories of those fortunate enough to survive.  If you haven’t been there, you need to go.  Everyone needs to go.

National Museum of Mexican Art (Chicago)

This museum showcases 3,000 years of creativity from both sides of the border, connecting museum visitors to the diversity of Mexican culture.  

Museum of the Native American (Evanston, IL)

The museum’s primary exhibit, A Regional Tour of American Indian Cultures, includes artifacts from the five major Indian regions of the US and Canada; Woodlands, Plains, Southwest, Pacific Northwest, and Arctic.  It’s an impressive display of clothes, tools and religious items and even includes a full-sized birch bark canoe.

National Hellenic Museum (Chicago)

The museum is a four-story building that is home to extensive collections and archives of more than 17,000 artifacts spanning thousands of years.  The mission of the museum is to share the legacy of Hellenism and to preserve the stories and honor the contributions to the United States of Greek immigrants and Americans of Greek heritage.

Polish Museum of America (Chicago)

The museum, opened in 1935, is one of the oldest and largest ethnic museums in the US.  It features a large collection of art, artifacts and mementoes that chronical important periods of time, and significant events, throughout the history of Poland. 

Swedish American Museum (Chicago)

The Swedish American Museum has been active for 40 years in the heart of Andersonville, a traditionally Swedish area on the north side of Chicago.  Its 24,000 square-feet features two gallery spaces with special art exhibits, “The Dream of America” exhibit, the Brunk Children’s Museum of Immigration, a genealogy center.

Plants in the Winter

What do you do when the weather outside is frightful, but you still need a healthy dose of green plants?  If you’re lucky enough to be in Chicago, you have three great conservatories from which to choose. 

Chicago Botanic Garden (Glencoe, IL)

While not as large as the Garfield Park Conservatory, the Garden’s three greenhouses contain plenty of interesting plants to make the trip worthwhile.  If you happen to go during the annual Orchid Show (usually February / March) you will find an amazing array of over 10,000 of these stunning plants on display – all of which are for sale after the show.

Garfield Park Conservatory (Chicago)

The conservatory, one of the largest in the country, was designed by landscape architect Jens Jensen and opened in 1908.  To say it’s impressive is an understatement.  The inside of the Conservatory is comprised of 8 distinct zones and takes up over 2 acres.  The ceilings are covered in glass, stretch to 65 feet high and almost make you feel like you’re outside. 

Lincoln Park Conservatory (Chicago)

This conservatory is the most convenient to downtown Chicago and is a wonderful place to spend an afternoon.  It was built between 1890 and 1895 and displays lush, exotic plants from around the world in four display houses – The Palm House, Orchid House, Fern Room, and Show House.

Major Tourist Attractions

Of course, any city the size of Chicago has its major tourist attractions.  We visit our favorites several times each year, always at least once during the Winter.

Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago)

One of the great art museums in the country.  There are always new and interesting special exhibits, but we also enjoy visiting our personal favorites over and over again.

Adler Planetarium (Chicago)

All things space related, all the time.  If you are a buff of planetary exploration, this is the place for you.

Field Museum (Chicago)

This is no longer the dusty museum of our childhood.  Gone are the old displays of stuffed birds and animals.  They have been replaced by modern interactive exhibits that engage adults and children alike.  And, they still have the dinosaurs and mummies!

Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago)

The museum is a great place for a date any time, but something magical happens every year from November through early January when the Grand Rotunda is turned into a labyrinth of Christmas trees and other seasonal decorations.   This is the Christmas Around the World and Holidays of Light extravaganza that started in 1942 when a single tree made up the exhibit.  Today, you can wander through over 50 trees and displays that represent holiday traditions from around the world.  The exhibit also features periodic indoor, snow flurries, live holiday performances on the weekends and a four-story Grand Tree in the center of the rotunda.  For us, visiting the museum is a holiday tradition that we rarely miss.

Shedd Aquarium (Chicago)

The aquarium is a great place to spend a day.  It features fish from all over the world, with specific areas dedicate to the Amazon, Oceans and Great Lakes.  It also has its famous Beluga Whales and a pretty incredible coral reef.