Like me and my Husband Im poor. So here are some things you can do.
CHEAP DATE IDEAS
Visit a Museum
For high culture at low-costs, head to your local museum of art or history. Be sure to check online for coupons or discounts (may offer discounts on their websites). You may want to call ahead as some mueseums offer 'free' days or additional discounts (i.e. students, seniors, etc).
Coffee and Dessert
Skip the expensive dinner out and instead head to your favortie restaurant for dessert and coffee. Depending on the restaurant, you can expect to spend between $5-$15 per person for dessert and coffee. Up the romance factor while saving even more by sharing a dessert.
Poetry Readings
Call your local bookstores for upcoming events, such as poetry readings or lectures. Poetry readings, in particular, are surprisingly romantic. Enjoy a cup of coffee together along with words of romance and inspiration.
Local Theater
While Broadway and touring shows can cost anywhere from $50-$100 (or in some cases even more!) per ticket, it may seem out of reach. If you have a local community theater, check out the performance dates as tickets are usually less than $20. If you have a nearby college or high school, check our their drama schedules as well. It may not be broadway, but it's sure to be entertaining!
Ice Cream Social
Taking your date to the local ice cream parlor is surprisingly romantic -- and cheap! Up the romance by sharing a malt (two straws!) or split a banana split!
Local Festivals
Check out your local papers' events section. You'll find everything from mustic festivals to food festivals to flower and garden festivals. Spend an afternoon of fun together without spending much money. The majority of these festivals feature free entertainment, including live music, fun activities, cheap food, and lots of booth browsing.
Volunteer Together
Spend quality timne together giving back to your community. Volunteer at a seniors home, your local soup kitchen, or some other local charity.
Window Shopping
Head to an upscale mall, flea market, antique store, or any other place you normally wouldn't shop and spend the afternoon browsing the wares together.
Garage Sale Hopping
Get up early on Saturday morning, grab the classifieds and some coffee, and spend the morning garage sale hopping. You'll have fun browsing through the tables. Remember, one man's junk is another man's treasure. Plan to each make a purchase for the other (set a price limit, such as $5 or less) and then surprise each other at the end.
Outdoor Games
Spend the afternoon at a local park playing frisbee together or flying a kite. Both are inexpensive to purchase and can provide hours o fun!
Picnic for Two
The classic picnic is big on romance and very easy on the wallet. Pack a blanket and a lunch: sandwiches, fruits, and drinks (maybe a bottle of wine?). Head to your local park or take a drive and stop at any scenic overlook.
Home-cooked Meal
Plan a home-cooked meal for your date, complete with candles and romance. Try making their favorite meal or check out our suggestions for romantic recipes for two.
Movie Night at Home
Pick up a couple movie's at your local video store and plan a romantic movie night at home. Pop some popcorn, cuddle up under a blanket, and settle in for a night of fun together. Check our ultimate list of romantic movies for ideas!
Star-gazing Love
Settle in for a night under the stars. Bring out a sleeping bag or other blanket and a bottle of wine and spend the evening hours gazing at the stars and enjoying one another's company. Pick up a star and constellation guide at your local bookstore and try to identify them together in the night sky.
Board Games
Have fun and challenge your brains with an old-fashioned game of scrabble, chess, checkers, or monopoly. Check your local thrift store for a variety of other board games. If you're without any board games, get a deck of cards and challenge each other to a game of Rummy or Hearts.
Mini Golf
For fun and excitement without spending big bucks, head out for a rousing round of mini-golf. With one-round tickets averaging less than $10 around the country, you'll have a fun date that's easy on the wallet. Have a mini-competition with the winer picking the prize!
Hiking
It's completely free, great exercise, and incredibly romantic with beautiful scenery. Our favorites are any trails that lead to majestic waterfalls. Check out trails.com for beautiful hiking trails near you.
Biking
Head out on the trails for an afternoon of biking together. Bring along a picnic lunch for a mid-day break. For something different, rent a bicycle built for two and ride around the city together.
Beach Bums
Spend the afternoon lounging in the sand, taking walks along the water, and frolicking in the tides. If you don't live near the shore, head to a lake, a river, or even your local pool.
Historic Sites
Many historic sites are either free to the public or offer discounted admission (just look online or call ahead). Spend the afternoon enriching your brain and your relationship!
Cheap Movies
Skip the expensive theater and instead look up the showings at your local dollar theater. You'll save a bundle while still 'going out'.
Go for a walk
Walking is both free and romantic. A brisk walk is good for the heart and soul. Breathe in the fresh air and enjoy mother nature hand-in-hand.
Go for a bike ride, either in your community or take a trail ride with mountain bikes. Take water and snacks, and take time to rest and talk. Enjoy the journey, rather than focusing on a destination.
Make a couple of pans of brownies. Then drive to various friends' houses and deliver a small plate of brownies to each friend and visit for a while. When it becomes too late to be visiting people, go home and finish off the brownies.
Baby-sit for a young couple so they can have a night out alone. Prepare a few games to play with the kids.
Go to the park and feed the birds. Take a bag of bread. Share childhood memories.
On a sunny Saturday morning, travel around the countryside and photograph special sites and serene scenery.
Go to a free concert in mall, school, church, or civic center. Check your local paper's entertainment section.
Go for a walk together either in a crowded city or alone in the country.
Go to a local animal shelter and play with the animals. Maybe you'll find a new friend together!
Find a muddy area, dress in your grubbies and have a mud fight. For groups, take along a rope for a tug-of-war. You might bring towels or sheets to put on the car seats for the ride back home.
Locate a large piece of cardboard. This can be found at a nearby furniture or appliance store. Curve the end up like a toboggan. Find a sloping hill of dry grass and slide down. Wear older clothes (grass stains can ruin nice clothes).
Want to perform a unique deed for someone? Go to a self-serve gas station and do all the work for the surprised customers. Make sure to get permission from the gas station attendant first.
Attend church functions together. Dances, discussion groups, and church meetings really help couples grow closer to each other.
Ask for help with your homework, delivering a note worded in the vocabulary unique to that subject (it might make sense to make sure he/she knows the subject).
Attend a concert in a smaller, more intimate setting. You can watch a show by a performer who has been around for a long time. They have staying power primarily because they are entertaining.
Buy two cheap canvases and paint with toll paints or do finger painting and design a picture for one another. Choose something that describes yourself or something you appreciate about each other.
Build a fire, snuggle up, and read a good book or perhaps romantic poetry together. Make up some hot chocolate or spiced cider to enhance the evening.
Take a picnic lunch and go to a lake to feed the ducks.
After an amazing steak dinner, complimented by a beverage of your choice, head for a private hot tub. Set out candles and soft music for the perfect touch.
Plan a weekend trip somewhere close, even if it's only an hour or two away. Call ahead to the hotel and have your dinner waiting in the room, along with flowers and dessert.
Select a dinner from the cookbook you have never tried. Shop for the ingredients and prepare dinner together. To add ambience, choose a type of cuisine and add decorations or dress to enhance the atmosphere.
Send flowers. Try adding a note or a poem. For greater impact, find a way to secretly add flowers to the vase every day, and include a secret note each time.
Deliver a valentines gift to your friend's house, then take your valentine to another couple's house for dessert (make arrangements beforehand).
Take your partner out for a day at the spa. Give each other his and her robes. Treat each other to couples massages. Also make sure you don't forget to make a visit to the steam room and the jacuzzi.
Make a recording of all the loves songs you both like and play it while relaxing in front of a glowing fire (or while driving in the countryside).
Take your honey on a carriage ride around town. If it's cold, bring a blanket and some hot chocolate. Bring a camera and ask your driver to take a picture.
Rent a boat or borrow one from a friend and cruise the lake or ocean and then have a candle light dinner.
Have a backwards dinner (start with dessert, then a main course, then salad, then soup, and finish with an appetizer).
Collect old magazines and cut out pictures that bring back memories of times you've shared together. Compile them in a scrapbook, and nurture the desire to spend time developing future memories.
Create a trail of candy from her door step, to her car, and have balloons tied to her car door handle, and antennae. Also tie balloons up in random places that she'll see on her way to work.
First plan a scavenger hunt. Write clues on note cards telling him/her where to go. Place the clues in the places around the community. Have a friend or relative give him/her the first clue. The final clue leads your date to a restaurant (be waiting at the table with flowers).
If the weather is unpleasant, set up a picnic in the living room. Plan an elegant meal, complete with good plates, fine linens, silverware, and a nice blanket. Add candles and music to enhance the mood. Don't be afraid to try a new recipe.
Finger paint portraits of each other or find a picture to copy. Wear grubby clothes or provide a smock to protect your clothes. After you clean up, feed each other fresh fruit. Even better, some chocolate covered strawberries.
Organize a candlelight breakfast. Either buy the ingredients of your partner's favorite breakfast or order take out from a local restaurant.
Blindfold your date from the very beginning. Put her in the car and when you get to the restaurant, help her sit down. Have a nice romantic candlelight dinner waiting for her along with some roses with personal note.
Prepare three envelopes (each with a different date). Your date first chooses one of the three envelopes. She can opt to accept that date, or trade it in for one of the remaining two envelopes, which could be more or less desirable. Be prepared to go out immediately.
Enjoy a nice romantic comedy alone. Remember the strawberries and cream.
Go dancing down by the riverfront, lake, or ocean with a small radio and dance until the sun goes down.
Stay home and cook your favorite meal together for a quiet dinner at home.
Pack a picnic dinner and head out of the city at dinner time (away from the bright lights). Spend time looking at the stars and talking about dreams.
Go to your local Party Store and rent a helium tank good for around 75 balloons. Buy at least 8 dozen balloons. Go home and blow them up in the bedroom. Don’t forget to leave at least 2-3 dozen (without helium) for the floor and bed. Set up some candles and fresh flowers for the room. Then get your favorite board game and set it up on the bed. And cut up some fresh fruit to snack on.
