69 Financially Conscious (Okay, Cheap) Date Night Ideas

Taking your significant other out on a date is a fundamental part of getting to know one another. You’re testing the waters, and you want to see if they’re into the same things you are. People significantly change when thrown into social situations.

Take me, for example, I avoid them at all costs, and I have to pump myself up to do anything where there are loads of people. I remind myself that I’m the NPC in these other people’s lives, as they are in mine. What they do doesn’t affect me.

My boyfriend and I have our ups and downs like anybody else in the world. But one thing that we don’t lack is wanting to be with each other. I genuinely enjoy his presence. Even at my most introverted, his is the face that will make me smile and get me out of my head.

We’re both trying to dig our way out of the financial holes we got into before meeting each other. He likes to bust my chops, asking where I was ten years ago. Down the street, apparently.

Here are some ideas if you’re in a financial rut like we are and don’t have a lot of spare cash to splurge, but you need some fresh air and want to change things up a bit.

It’s the little things in life that we forget mean just as much as a $1000 dinner, some expensive new gadget, or an overseas trip.

Find joy in those little things with your lover.

1. Biking
2. Boardgame night (you could even make this a group event where everyone brings a game)
3. Dollar pizza, Big Gulp spiked with rum
4. Dollar store date: $5 to find something interesting for the other person to use, wear, play with, and then see what you can do with them
5. Geocaching
6. Glow in the dark golfing or bowling
7. Hammock snuggling
8. Hookah lounge
9. A movie that neither of you has seen and a homemade dinner
10. Take in a local museum that you haven’t visited before
11. Check out a planetarium
12. Rearrange a room
13. Splat painting like in The Princess Diaries, where they have balloons of paint hanging on the wall above a canvas and they take turns throwing darts to burst the paint
14. Stargazing and booze
15. Subs, hike, and picnic
16. Thrift shop plates, baseball bats in the desert (exactly how it sounds, but clean up after yourselves!)
17. Walkthrough the park
18. Watch planes take off at the airport
19. Window shopping at the mall
20. Wine, pumpkin carving, and a movie
21. Make a pillow fort and eat homemade s’mores
22. Bake your favorite dessert together (and then eat it afterward, of course!)
23. Go to your local shelter and ask to play with the animals. Donate money, treats, or pet supplies.
24. Build a sexy scavenger hunt for the other person to solve, for slow-motion foreplay.
25. Put together a classic movie marathon featuring specific actors or specific director; I recommend Keanu Reeves
26. Indoor rock climbing
27. Go to a farmer’s market
28. Make something creative together, like a poem or a song.
29. Go to a book store and buy each other a new book that you think your partner might enjoy
30. Day hiking: somewhere local or take a drive somewhere.
31. Kayaking or canoeing.
32. Beach Day: pack a lunch, drinks in a cooler, and post up at the beach to soak up the sun
33. Plan and cook a fancy meal together.
34. Buy a game like croquet or badminton, or borrow one from someone, and set it up at the local park.
35. Groupon Night: go Dutch on a Groupon activity
36. Easter egg hunt
37. Natural hot springs trip with champagne and a sunset
38. Crafting
39. If you live near old towns, consider visiting old churches nearby
40. Take a class together: CPR training, pottery, salsa dancing
41. Volunteer
42. Netflix Roulette: one person closes their eyes and directs where the other person clicks on the Netflix menu (“up” “down” “right” “left”) until the other says “stop!” Commit to watching 15 minutes of the show/movie. If you don’t like it, start all over again!
43. Local cultural festival
44. Hot yoga
45. Visit elderly family members who don’t deserve to be lonely
46. Reverse dinner: start with dessert, have your main course, and then a salad or an appetizer
47. Giant slip and slide in your backyard or local park
48. Wine/beer/spirit tasting or tour
49. Live music/performance
50. Taco crawl: go to an arbitrarily chosen amount of Mexican restaurants and eat one taco and possibly a beer at each place
51. Participate in a 5K for charity
52. Batting Cages
53. Tennis
54. You pick one fun spot in your town that you’ve never checked out (tourist attractions, nature area, etc) and your partner picks one, and you spend the day or evening checking them out together.
55. Shooting or archery range
56. Learn a new language
57. Sign up to be extras in a movie
58. Guided meditation, you could use YouTube or an app
59. Progressive Dinner: start with drinks at a lounge, an appetizer at a restaurant, dinner at another restaurant, and then dessert at home or grab a cheap ice cream cone at McDonald’s.
60. Day road trip
61. Sing karaoke
62. Go to an arcade and see who can get the highest score
63. Go-Karts
64. Have a picnic at night in a place that you’ve don’t normally go to, like your backyard or close to the beach in the summer
65. Roller skating or skateboarding
66. Go to Build-a-Bear and build a themed bear for each other
67. Make your own photoshoot
68. Find a cheap piece of furniture on Craigslist and spend an afternoon fixing it up together. Keep it or donate it.
69. Have afternoon tea

What looks good to you? Try one, try two, try them all. I’m sure something would be suitable for you.