Sometimes life gets crazy and date night becomes less of a priority and more trouble than it seems worth. Funds may be low, or time may be the issue! Either way I have some inexpensive ideas for a date that can be quick and memorable, or last all day!
Take a camera out and head to a nice park and walk around and take pictures of the things you see in your adventure. If you happen to see someone on your travels, stop and ask them if they would mind taking a picture or two of you and your significant other. ***digital works best but if you don't have one, get one of those one time use ones, you can pick them up at the dollar store usually*** If you're looking to extend your date, pack a nice picnic lunch or dinner and eat in the park. (this can be especially romantic in the winter, just bring extra blankets and snuggle up with a thermos of hot chocolate. If the park you go to allows it, have a nice little fire to warm yourselves by)
Find a nice outdoor lake or recreation park and bring your swim suits (weather permitting) and a lunch and just relax at the beach. If you happen to have winter where you are (we have it here for what seems like half the year) bring a pair of ice skates. What's more romantic than taking the one you love out ice skating? This can be especially romantic if they don't know how to skate. Just take it slowly and hold their hand (or if they are extremely uncomfortable, skate backwards in front of them holding both hands and cheering them on! Make sure you gaze into their eyes and let them know that it's all about them... that they have your undivided attention. That will mean more than any other part of the date, you can bet on that!)
If it's summer, rent a canoe and go out on a lake where it's just the two of you and you can relax and just enjoy one anothers company. This may sound expensive, but most places a canoe rental is about $20 for an hour or two. Even better yet, if you know someone with a canoe, ask to borrow it for a few hours. Again, if you're looking to extend the date, the middle of a nice, calm, serene lake can be a perfect place for a little surprise lunch.
If your significant other likes to go fishing, why not go with them? No one says you actually have to fish in order to be there, but if you've never tried it, why not? Perhaps you could spend a lovely Saturday afternoon out by the river fishing and talking. There's not much more to do than to talk to one another while you're waiting on a nibble! A fishing license may be a bit expensive to begin with (around $40 a person) but it lasts all year long. Even through the winter. So if you enjoy it enough, why not go out ice fishing with them (if your area is cold enough that you can do so) it's a pretty neat thing to watch the fish (you can do this if you are in a hut, which I highly recommend. It keeps the cold wind off of you, and traps your body heat in the hut. Huts, however, are expensive. You would want to either make sure that you thoroughly enjoy ice fishing before you spring for a hut, and even then, I suggest trying to find one on kijiji or through another source. Or, if you're really creative, you can make one. Ideally, borrow one the first few times you go out, to make sure that you like them) Also, make sure to check local fishing regulations to make sure that fishing is "open" where you want to go!
Pack up the tent (or buy a used one, you can find them quite cheap second hand) and head out camping! It doesn't have to be far that you go, and there ARE places that have completely FREE camping. If you don't need power, you can find lake sites that are around $10 a night if you look around and don't go on "peak" dates (ie. Canada Day, May Long Weekend... if you're in Canada. If you're not, avoid major local holidays) Camping can be a fun way to spend the weekend, especially if you are an outdoors type of person!
Plan a surprise dinner for your significant other. If your significant other works during the day, plan and prepare a nice dinner for them. Candle lit dinners with nice soft music in the background are WONDERFUL surprises. If you have children, ask a friend or family member to watch them for a few hours so that you can plan and prepare a nice romantic meal, and have a few hours of ALONE time with your significant other. If your significant other does not work, ask them if they'd like to go shopping or out with the guys for a few hours so that you can do the planning and prep work for the meal. Ideally you could get them to take your children with them, if you have children.
Find a "cheap theatre" in your area. Almost all areas have at least one. Some towns do drive in movies every month, which generally costs about $5 for a car. If you want to go super cheap, take another couple with you, split the cost, that's $2.50 a couple. Pretty cheap! Plus you can bring your own snacks and drinks, so the cost is cut down even more so. If you're going the traditional theatre route, bring an over sized purse and bring your snacks and drinks in it! I don't know of ANY theatre that checks bags. You can usually do a date night for around $10 doing it that way!
Rent a movie (or go to the store and buy an old one... a lot of stores have discount bins for older movies, selling them for between $2.50 and $5 for a DVD) then go to the store and buy either pop or champagne, get some snacks (or if you would normally go for dinner and a movie, get something for dinner too) then head home and start your date. This whole date night (depending on if you get pop or champagne... and how expensive the champagne is should you go that route) should only cost you around $20.
Start up a games night with friends. While this may not be a typical "date night" it certainly should get you out of the house and have some fun with your significant other. If you get a few couples involved, you can rotate houses so that you only have to host once a month, or twice a month maximum. That way you cut down on snack expenses, drink expenses, and game expenses. If you don't have friends who like to do games nights, place an ad on a free ad site, such as kijiji, and say that you're looking to form a couples games night. You'll likely be flooded with replies. This also works out extremely well if one or more of the couples have older children. You can have one of the older children responsible for "babysitting" in another room, or upstairs or downstairs, provide the kids with juice/pop and snacks, and movies or games, and typically this childcare is the least expensive, or free. If each set of parents kicked in a couple of dollars, the older child would have the peace of mind knowing that help was only a room away, plus make a few dollars for doing what they would have been doing anyways... watching tv or playing games.
Try out a new activity. They say that nothing is a better relationship booster than a cooking class. Why not sign up for a cooking class offered locally (generally the colleges or schools offer them. However if you live in a more rural area, or a small town, you may have to do a bit more work to find one. I've found in the past that if you approach Town Hall with a question as to if they offer a class or not, they often have the right places to go to find one. If not, I've found it works out favorably a lot of the time if you ask how you would go about getting one to your area. Typically what will happen is they will find out if the interest is there from others, and if it is, they will often times bring in someone to teach the classes.)
Try your hand at an activity you normally would NOT do. For example, if your significant other loves to play poker, host a poker night at your house. If your significant other likes yoga, ask them to teach you some of the easier poses. Perhaps your significant other loves to bake. Ask them to show you how to bake their favorite thing. The point here is doing something TOGETHER. Who knows? Maybe you'll love it. Then again, maybe you'll hate it... but no matter what, you'll have done it together, and I'm confident that you'll enjoy the time you spend together.
The important point here is that you and your significant other are spending time together. I know a couple who would have 10 minute dates every single morning. No matter what was going on around them, they tuned it out and for those 10 minutes their attention was only on one another. That worked for them. I also know a couple who spends an hour a day (or at bare minimum, every other day) talking to one another. For that hour, kids are a taboo subject. Whatever you do, try to make the time just about one another. There is all day every other day to talk about finances, kids, work, life, stress... whatever... but this time should be special and should be free of any of those topics. You should focus on ENJOYING one another.
I hope you have a great date, and if you have any other date ideas, toss them my way. We're always looking for inexpensive, fun dates!
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