Top 10 Thrifty Date Outings
You don’t have to spend a lot of money on dates for them to be fun. Fortunately, there are some entertainment options that don’t have to break your budget.
1) Bowling - You don’t have to be a good bowler to go bowling. Being silly and laughing at yourself are part of the fun.
2) Parks - It’s ok to swing on the swings and slide when there’s no kids around. Plus, it’s dark and you don’t have to worry about looking foolish.
3) Natural attractions - Just a few weeks ago our family visited my parents. My husband and I always know we’ll get a date night there. We went out to eat and then we drove to the water front. We walked around the pier and then went to the park. Yes, we climbed on the jungle gym since no one could see us. ;)
4) Ice cream - Stopping for ice cream is usually inexpensive. You can get your ice cream and go to the park to sit and talk. Or just get your ice cream and sit inside the freezing cold building and talk for a while.
5) Coffee - Provided you don’t go to “FourBucks”, it won’t cost too much. Even if you do go to expensive coffee shops, the two of you can probably spend less than $10. I just have to say . . . you can do some good people watching at coffee shops. Right Kelly? ;)
6) Baseball - Going out for a night of baseball can be inexpensive. Some areas have local teams. You can usually get seats for less than $10.
7) Discount theater - If you’re lucky, your area has a theater for movies that have been out a little longer. Sometimes you can get tickets for $2-3. I like going to these because it’s less crowded and going to see a movie as soon as it’s released isn’t a big deal to me.
8) School musicals - You can find some pretty good talent at school musicals for little cost.
9) Free attractions - Pretty much every area has free attractions. It could be a festival in the square, free museum day, a local farm. The internet is great for finding free entertainment. Google your city and free attractions. If you still can’t find anything, then give your chamber of commerce a call.
10) Stay at home - Put the kids to bed and make the effort to have a special night together. Sit on the patio and drink coffee, have dinner on a blanket in the backyard, watch the stars, eat cake, or watch a dvd. Get creative. ;)
I know you have some ideas for inexpensive dates. Please share them with us.
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POSTED IN: Top 10 lists, entertainment, frugal friday, marriage, money saving idea
12 opinions for Top 10 Thrifty Date Outings
Eric Poulin
Jun 27, 2008 at 2:30 am
Here’s some ideas I blogged about a while ago:
http://calendarbudget.com/wordpress/reducing-your-entertainment-expenses/
DramaMama
Jun 27, 2008 at 7:11 am
The arcade! We even did a multi-family outing and I don’t think we spent more than $10. The kids just ran around poking at the flashing buttons and dancing to the noise, while us adults played 2 player games or nok-hockey. I even tried a skateboarding one! I posted a little about it on my blog back in mid March, so check it out if you want. But I do love your ideas - we’ve done a bunch of them already!
Eliza
Jun 27, 2008 at 8:31 am
You forgot my favorite one….a picnic. It seems that no one does this anymore but this is something we do fairly often. Not out here yet as it is always raining, but we’d like to do it at least once this summer.
Karen
Jun 27, 2008 at 10:22 am
DramaMama: My kids are a bit young for the arcade. I guess if they were older, that one would work well. Right now, when we take them to Chuck E. Cheese, we still have to walk around with them. Each of us takes a kid to help. lol
Eliza: That is a good one. I guess I didn’t think of that one because that’s not something my husband would find enjoyable. He likes to splurge when the kids aren’t around. We usually try nicer restaurants when we go on dates. Unfortunately, we don’t go on dates very often, so it’s not costly for us. Sometimes we’re lucky and find a coupon or we use a gift certificate from Restaurant.com.
Chrissy
Jun 27, 2008 at 5:26 pm
I really like these ideas. My favorite is the blanket and dinner outside at home.
lindsey
Jun 28, 2008 at 12:33 am
About the picnic and having dinner at a nice restaurant…why not have them both? Most restaurants will do take out.
My husband and I had a picnic under the stars with food from our favorite restaurant. It was very, very romantic and quieter than a regular restaurant.
Definitely one of my favorite restaurants.
e-zmovers
Jun 28, 2008 at 1:05 am
I would add camping out :)
Karen
Jun 28, 2008 at 1:10 am
e-zmovers: No thanks! I’m an indoors kind of gal. :)
DramaMama
Jun 28, 2008 at 7:56 am
I meant for the adults! All of our kids are 3 and under so we didn’t let them play any games. They still liked dancing around in the black lights =) The arcade for us is in a family oriented hotel/indoor waterpark so we didn’t have to contend w/any ‘gaming’ obsessed teenagers or anything. In case you can’t tell, we had a lot of fun and really recommend it. Give it a try and let me know what you think!
cheapo
Jun 28, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Just stay at home and have sex, it’s cheap, and saves time, the environment, and just gets to the point of the date
Karen
Jun 28, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Cheapo: lol. My husband would like that one. I guess we’d have to send the kids out to a sitters though or wait until after they went to bed. And so long as you don’t reproduce, I suppose it doesn’t contribute to the environment.
10 Tips For A Cheap Date | micklanders
Jun 30, 2008 at 10:31 am
[…] They include bowling, going for a coffee and parks. Check out the full list here. […]
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