8 Cheap Date Ideas

Date night is one of my favorite nights! We don't have a specific night of the week right now that is protected each week for a date, but I wish we did. Lately it's been every night watching LOST! But we've been brainstorming about what we would like our future dates to look like.

8 cheap date ideas

  1. Rent a Redbox movie ($1.06) and snack on microwaved popcorn or ice cream. Though it's a bit more expensive, we recommend Orville Redenbacher's Pour Over Movie Theater Butter. It is date night, after all. And for ice cream, we splurge on Ben & Jerry's. I get Half Baked and Eric loves Phish Food.
  2. Write each other a letter and then read it aloud. We did this once and it was so awesome to hear Eric express his love for me in a different way than usual. (He cried.) Plus, now I have something for my keepsake box.
  3. Give back massages. We like to set a timer for six minutes and pamper the other one. Any longer than six minutes and our hands get too tired, though!
  4. Go hiking at a state park or walk around a nearby lake or garden. Walk around and play catch with a football or a frisbee. You can also rent a paddle boat or pack a picnic lunch. Sometimes it's just nice to get outside and do something without spending money.
  5. Play a board game. Scrabble, anyone? I win every time. Eric always beats me at Yahtzee, though.
  6. Mini-golfing. We have mini-golfed together since we first started dating. It is something we both really enjoy. We have even saved most of the scorecards. (I usually win.)
  7. Go for a bike ride. My favorite is riding to Dairy Queen (1.5 miles away from our house) for lunch or an ice cream treat (or both). We are still thinking about getting new bikes, but will probably wait until we sell our house.
  8. Hit up a local sporting event. I love going to watch the Des Moines Menace (men's soccer team) play, and Eric likes to watch the Barnstormers (arena football). We both enjoy watching the Iowa Cubs baseball team, too. Maybe next we'll try basketball, ice hockey or roller derby. The tickets are fairly inexpensive so you just have to resist the urge to buy popcorn, nachos and Dippin' Dots (guilty!) to keep it a cheap date night.

cheap date

photo by CJ Eldredge

Most of our date nights are Redbox nights, so we really want to spice it up and branch out. Although it's not easy, intentional dating is something we strive to keep the flame of love going strong.

How about you? Any ideas to add to our list?