Spending time with your special someone doesn’t have to break the bank. We gathered up a whopping 100 cheap date ideas to help keep the romance alive without busting your budget!
Free & Inexpensive Date Ideas
If you’ve been around here a while you know that I’m all about saving money and living debt-free. When we were working to get out of debt we had to get creative with our date night ideas. We learned that with a little creativity you can have a blast without spending a fortune (or spending anything at all in many cases!)
I’ve compiled a great list of 100, yes 100, fun and cheap dates night ideas, (and some are totally free date ideas!) most should be under $20 (depending on where you live.) So no excuses this weekend-go out with your honey and have some fun!!
Outdoor Dates
- Hiking-Find your nearest state or county park and spend some time outdoors together. Hiking is the perfect activity to be active and still be able to have great conversations!
- Pick seasonal fruit or berries-Summer is perfect for picking blueberries or strawberries, while fall offers pumpkin patches and apple picking!
- Rock Climbing-Get adventurous and find a local rock climbing area or indoor climbing facility. You’ll challenge yourselves and make great memories in the process.
- Fly Kites-Flying kites is cheap and surprisingly fun, you’ll feel like kids again! It makes for guaranteed laughter, I promise!
- Camping-Pack your tent and find the nearest local campground. Make s’mores around the campfire and sleep under the starts for a date night to remember.
- Visit a Farmer’s Market
- Go Stargazing does it get more romantic?
- Watch the Sunset together grab a blanket, pack some wine and cheese and choose a great spot to watch the colors of the sunset
- Have a picnic pack your favorite foods and pick a picturesque spot
- Have a bonfire and make S’mores
- Rent a tandem bike and go for a ride
- Go Canoeing or Kayaking rentals are very affordable
- Play Frisbee
- Take a day trip to a lake, beach, state park, or mountains enjoy the beauty of nature near where you live
- Go sledding
- Go fishing
- Try geocaching
- Build a snowman
- Take a slow walk around your neighborhood holding hands just enjoy each other’s conversation and maybe take a walk down memory lane
- Visit a local park or playground and play like you’re 8 again!
- Go snorkeling if you are near a beach or lake
- Have a water gunfight
- Feed ducks at a lake
- Take a run together
At Home
- Board Game Night-Gather up your games and make a night of it, better yet make it a double date and invite friends to join in.
- Exercise together
- Have a Netflix TV Series Marathon
- Poker Night
- Cook a new, exotic recipe together
- Work on a Puzzle together
- DIY Fondue at home
- Have a Shrimp Boil
- Have a Redbox movie marathon
- Bake cookies together
- Have a candlelit dinner at home
- Write a Bucket List together dream up adventures you’d like to share
- Have a themed cuisine night at home-Italian, Mexican, etc
- Have an at-home romantic spa night-bubble bath, lotions, you get the picture!
Under $20
- Rollerskating – indoors or out!
- Bowling – look for discount nights!
- Minor League Baseball– less expensive than the major leagues but still so much fun!
- Paint your own pottery
- Attend a Wine Tasting (or have one with friends-everyone bring one bottle to share!)
- Happy Hour move date night earlier and get a discount on your cocktails!
- Go out for Ice Cream
- Attend a showing at a Dollar Theater check your theater for discounted showings
- Go to the Arcade and play video games there’s nothing like some old school pac-man!
- Play miniature golf Putt-putt or mini golf is fun and inexpensive
- Ride Go-Karts
- Play at the Batting Cages
- Play Laser Tag we did this recently and I had side stitches from laughing so hard, it was a blast!
- Go to a Fair
- Attend a Matinee Movie another case of how moving the time of your date can help you save cash!
- Visit a Winery take a tour and try the wine flights after, they are usually quite affordable and a great way to taste test the wine
- Play pool (billiards)
- Take a Ballroom Dance Class, many studios offer your first class free
- Attend a High School Football game cheer for your local team!
- Go to the circus
- Play tennis you can often find very inexpensive rackets on Craigslist or Facebook marketplace if you don’t already have them
- Go horseback riding
- Play bingo at a Bingo Hall
- Attend a show at a comedy club earlier shows are often less expensive than late night shows
- Go to a drive-in movie
- Visit an aquarium
- Take a class at a community center and learn a new skill
- Go to the Zoo
- Tour a brewery. Like the wineries, they often have inexpensive flights to taste their different brews
- Go to a carnival
- Take a cooking class together
- Go out for breakfast at a local diner breakfast is less expensive than a dinner date most of the time!
- Enjoy a cup of coffee at a coffeehouse and people watch
- Have your palms read
- Go to a driving range
Around Town
- Volunteer together
- Tour Open Houses in your area – for the House Hunters lovers!
- Browse Art Galleries
- Attend a local Community Concert
- Go Thrift Store Shopping spend some time finding treasures together! Flea markets are another fun place to explore.
- Find a local Historic Tour
- Attend a Community Theater Performance
- Swim at a community pool
- Attend a “Free Day” at a museum most museums have monthly or quarterly discounted or free admission days, take advantage!
- Take a walking tour of a nearby town or city
- Sing Karaoke fun and free!
- Visit a local farm or petting zoo
- Visit a Botanical Gardens
- Visit the library and browse books/read together
- Take a Scenic Drive together make sure you stop to explore anything interesting you come across!
- Go garage sale hopping
- Test Drive your Dream Car
- Tour a local factory
- Attend a local festival check your newspaper for things happening in your area
- Attend a poetry reading
- Look at travel books at the bookstore and plan a dream vacation
- Attend an Open Mike night at a local coffeehouse or bar
- Help out at a local animal shelter together
- Go window shopping at stores you can’t afford
- Attend a lecture at a local university or college
- See a local band play you might just find the next big stars!
- Walk around town taking silly tourist-y pictures
I hope you found some inspiration in this list of free and cheap date ideas…did I miss any fun dating ideas? Leave them in the comments! You can also look at my money-saving DIY Gift ideas as well!
Nice! Thank you for the good write up. Thanks for the post. Keep it up!
gods green crack
Decarboxylation Weed
I found this blog it’s very interesting and nice creative.
yocan magneto coils
Such an excellent post. Thank you for sharing. Looking forward for your next post. Keep going!
Thanks so much for the blog post.Thanks Again. Much obliged.
moon rocks
marijuana
It’s an interesting post to read. Such an informative article. Thanks for sharing.
That’s an interesting point of view, impressive!
No matter where you live, there’s usually a good, free summer concert going on. Plan a date around it, and soak in both the music and the summer rays.
These all sound really fun! I haven’t flown a kite in years so I’d love to do that with my hubby this spring.
https://missmillmag.com/relationships/8-cheap-date-ideas-your-boo-will-love/
What a great list! The hubs and I try and do date day or date night at least once a month and this list makes me realize how inexpensive really fun dates can be! Love it!
We try to go out a few times a month if not weekly but paying for childcare for three kids gets expensive so I try to think up inexpensive dates!!
Definitely bookmarking this and sending it to the Boyfriend Unit!
These are awesome!! I’m glad to find a list of so many–there is got to be at least a few things he’ll want to do with me on here!! Thank you so much!!
Did I see “Exercise” on the list? I do like walking or running with J but not for date night! 🙂 He would think garage sale hopping is his own version of hell, but on the other hand, I could take him to a HS football game and he would be in heaven! haha.
your blog is getting famous! i just nominated you for the liebster award on my blog 🙂
Aw, thanks so much Jennifer!!
great list… this is very pin-able 🙂
Thanks Jamie!!
Great ideas!
I LOVE this!! With baby on the way we need to make time for date nights!!
Thanks Laura Beth!! See you in a few days!!
What a great list! Now we have no excuse!
Can some jelly!! Hehehe. That’s what we did last night, although I had to yell at him to come in from the living room and help me. It was still fun! My favorite things: Go to Home Depot and plan your next project or paint a room together! I’m so predictable… This was fun list though! Thanks for the inspiration!