I am no longer single but I dated my husband once and still enjoy going out for some quality time as a couple. An article coming up caught my eye as I was looking over the previews for next week's featured list.

My Story: Cheap Dates

Don't these sound fun? Have you ever gone on any of these kinds of dates? Have other frugal ideas?

We have a friend who is a musician in band. Our cheap date was to go see the band play at a bar (no cover charge) and to only drink non-alcoholic drinks. We probably only spent $10 the entire evening.

Jill

DH&I love to sneak out to the movies at the 2nd run theature 2 blocks from home $1.75 pp admission, we also raid bogof coupon books when we go out to eat. I think on an adverage date we end up spending about $7-$8.

Another of my favorite (not that I can get him to do this much) is to take a walk in a park and just talk about our dreams of the future, totally free.

Back when I was married I bought an Entertainment Book and a pair of Season Tickets to a local community theater. We'd go out to dinner before the play at a place in the EB. Then we'd go to the play.

The only out of pocket expense was gas for the car and our meal.

Believe it or not, my ex actually enjoyed those evenings.

If you belong to a local museum, it's fun to go to a new exhibit.

Going out to dinner using some sort of coupon is fun.

My ex was the Ultimate Cheapskate With No Tact & Imagination. He thought the free Pharmacy Association Dinners were a date. Granted the meals were quite nice, but I thought of those meetings as helping my ex getting educational updates for his job/profession as a Pharmacist.

I keep hoping that somewhere out there I'll meet a SO who will be fun to pal around with.

I have corrected the link for the article on cheap dates. It now is a link. My apologies to all readers.

DH takes the boys to his parents (free babysitting), we have a nice dinner at home (usually steak and some nice dessert) that we make together and then watch a movie we borrowed from DH brother who has a great video library (free movie). The in-laws give the boys a bath and we pick them up in their jammies and tuck them in bed. The grandparents get to have time with the boys and vice-versa.

The only money out is a little extra for a nice steak and maybe a bottle of wine and gas over to the in-laws (8 blocks away so very close).

We haven't done this in a long time--my youngest was still in his crib! We may have to try again.

We've also done the First Friday Art Walk (free gallery tours on the first Friday of the month, some places have wine and cheese) and we used to have a $2 movie theater. Our church had once a month parents' nite out and for a donation to the mission trip, we could take the boys over to church for evening activity and then go and do something ourselves. Once, we dropped of the boys and just came back home and made dinner and watched a movie at home!

For us, what makes a date night expensive is when we have to hire a babysitter, go out to eat and then have expenses for entertainment like a movie, concert or play. It's just too much for us so we try and cut out either the babysitting and/or eating out or find free entertainment to make the night cheaper.

nanagain2000:

Another of my favorite (not that I can get him to do this much) is to take a walk in a park and just talk about our dreams of the future, totally free.

We don't have a large park around us, but we do walk around the neighborhoods in our area discussing the future. No money out for us, either.

Jill

DH & I are going out Monday, I think.  Now that DD is in school we'll do some "dating" during the weekdays until I'm working again.  We'll have to stay close in case an emergency arises, but there's plenty to do in the town next to us (15 miles away), including a second run movie theatre.  I think it's about $2/person to get in.  Even with a drink and a popcorn we can keep the $ out to a minimum. 

Tuesday I'm dragging the whole family to the library to see local author Philip Gulley speak.  I'm SUPER excited about this!  I guess it's not really a date since DD is going, but it's a nice free/inexpensive night out doing something really fun.  The hardware store owner in town gave me a copy of the latest book as a "welcome to town" gift and I've fallen in love.  Again!  The library is very cozy and they are doing cookies, juice, and maybe ice cream.  We'll take a small donation in case they're collecting to help offset the costs of the food.  You can see his website here.

DH and I been married for 35+ years we usually go out to breakfast or grab snack we always make time for each other even if just a quick cup of tea out on deck .  I love being with him

Well, as sad as it sounds (and is), DH and I never did much formal "dating" (during the "courting" type phase of our relationship, it was mostly just hanging as friends by watching tv at his house, going fishing, etc. Started as friends for a while... I wouldn't "date" him at first b/c of the age difference). And now that we are married with kids, we don't do much now either. We do go eat out fairly often with the kids... but we RARELY do anything solo. So.....

But with my ex (dating all through high school and then the couple of years I was in college = 6yrs), we got very creative! We were poor students and practically attached at the hip. Our biggest thing was tent camping. I LOVE to camp (DH and i will start camping again when DS starts walking). But my ex and I went all the time. Camping gear - we got almost all of it for bdays and Christmas gifts (after only a year we had more equipment than we could fit in the car!). For a weekend away, we made it very affortable. When tight on cash, we stayed in state parks that were close by. State parks are cheap. We always cooked rather than eat out when we camped (breakfast on the Coleman and dinner over the fire). You can get cheap with camp food if you want/have to. Entertainment was in the park and included in the fee.

Ex and I also used to go to New Orleans for the day (we live close enough for a day trip). We were never drinkers or partiers (Bourbon wasn't interesting to us at all)... but we loved to walk around and look at the buildings, go to the river walk, go to the French Market, etc. We had our cheap parking lot that was only $5, add the gas for the trip (at the time wasn't too expensive) and a nice lunch at our favorite (yet cheap) little pizza place. All together it may have cost us $40 or less. For a FULL day of fun, lunch, etc. that wasn't bad.

Another thing Ex and I did was go to Barnes and Noble all the time. He loved magazines and rather than pay for a ton of subscriptions, he'd just grab a stack and I'd grab a book or two then we'd sit down in a comfy chair there and read. We didn't really drink coffee but there was a nice italian place next door. We'd spent $10 and get a meal to share. Made for a nice evening.

Now, with DH.. this might be TMI... but we like to relax in a nice bath together. Once the kids are asleep, we put a little spa bath thing we have in the tub and get the water as hot as we can stand it. We light some candles and every once in a while get a bottle of wine. It's nice to relax (DH does manual labor so comes home hurting a lot) and it's nice to be with each other.

I like the idea of couples walking together in the evenings. Lots of families (i.e. with younger kids riding the bikes) do this but I think it's a nice idea for couples too. Especially when you get older, the exercise is important and it's more "fun" doing it together. Plus, you can talk and reconnect while walking.

Ps.. about the having to get and pay for a babysitter... I hear ya! We are blessed to have lots of family and friends around who can watch our kids (for free) when we need or want. I'm very appreciative of that. We rarely take them up on that... but it's nice to konw that the offer is there. We barely get out alone as it is... if we had to pay for it, I doubt it'd ever happen!!! LOL. I encourage others... if you know a couple with small children and are able, offer to watch the kids every once in a while. Even if it's just for a couple of hours so that the couple can go eat... its such a blessing! We've watched other people's kids at times for that reason and were happy to do so because we KNOW what it means to others.... 

Have a blessed day,

Julie