Dating may be an arduous task, but it doesn’t necessarily have to cost you an arm and a leg! There are millions of cheap date ideas that are both romantic and cost effective!
Surely, you’re bound to love one of them!
Take it from me, I am no love expert. I do not currently (nor will I ever, probably) claim to be such. These are simply ideas I have tried, loved and now I’m sharing with you!
27. Test drive an expensive car
OK, I’ve got to admit, this is probably the coolest thing that you and your significant other can do!
Quite a few car dealerships offer a free test drive for the day, of their latest car or model. Most of the time, these are free!
Assuming that you both like cars (or just want to try out a brand new sports car because you can!) you can take the car out for a spin! Plus, you can have it on your drive for a few hours until you need to return it!
However, remember you don’t need to buy the car at the end!
26. Bookstore
Assuming that you and your significant other are book lovers, or are looking to find the best personal finance books to do extra research, this could be one of the best cheap date ideas here!
What’s more romantic than going into a store, browsing through hundreds of spines of hundreds of books just to find one, whilst also being told to be quieter!
(Or perhaps the latter is just my local bookstore!)
25. Karaoke Night!
OK, so my friend (from my article on how much I should spend on dating? fame) and I decided to do this a few weeks ago!
We decided to take our wife/girlfriends out to a local bar that is famous in the local area for being an amazing karaoke bar.
So, we decided to go there. It was one of the cheapest date nights I’ve had in a long time and nothing brings to together like a little embarrassment!
24. Bowling
It’s cheap, and an amazing time- especially if you’re really competitive!
In my local area, bowling is stupidly cheap, but to add an extra incentive to go bowling, many of the bowling alleys offer a discount if you go either before or after peak time.
This means that if your local bowling alleys offer this, you could make an already cheap date idea, even cheaper!
23. Get technical
Perhaps bowling, going to a bookshop or going to a karaoke doesn’t interest you. Perhaps you and your other half are more “hands on”.
If so, why not get technical and build something together, even if it’s completely useless in the long run!
Buy some wood or some scrap metal and just get to work! Who knows, you may even invent something revolutionary!
22. Work out together
Not only is it a cheap date idea, but also great for your health too!
For me, this is one of the things my wife and I love to do! I know I need to exercise more, and my wife has always loved being active anyway!
You don’t even have to go to the gym either! You could just set up some exercises in your house and back yard and then you’ll be set! Truly, there’s nothing more romantic than having fun burning that belly fat!
21. Make a time capsule
Have you ever dreamed of burying some photos and other bits from your life today, that you can dig up in ten years’ time?
If possible, you and your significant other could do just that! Well… at least start to make that possible I suppose.
Sit down together and place all of your photos and such in the time capsule and get a shovel! Time will do the rest!
Check out this video for more help!
20. Spend the whole night talking
Innuendos aside, if your work schedule allows for it, why not spend the whole evening, going into the night and early morning talking to one another.
Not only is the a cheap date idea (as it literally only requires you to talk to one another), but it also allows you to bond even more!
Finally, you can get time to finally talk about why you love each other, trivial things, and, if you really want to why not talk about the things that annoy you about one another!
19. Design your dream house together
Imagine what you’d do with an unlimited amount of money. Chances are, you’d probably want to get out of your nice house/apartment and buy something more upscale.
Home by Me allows you to design your own dream home, for free!
You get to design almost ever aspect of it, from the floor plan to the wall colors to the decorations inside!
18. Be teens again
You’ve probably seen those movies from the 80’s. The movies where you see the main characters go into (and play) arcades. Many of these arcades still exist, you just need to know where to look!
If you can find one of these, it can be a great, cheap date idea as your significant other is bound to enjoy pretending as though they’re ten again! Even if it is only for a few hours!
17. Go “view hunting”
This is probably one of the best cheap date ideas for those who live in the city (although, I’m sure certain parts of the countryside offer the same, if not better views!)
Go around the local area and try to find the best view! If you can, try to make it a competition between the two of you, but don’t split up.
(Eg. walk on the street and one of you says “let’s go over there!” and then you take he photo to compare later on!)
16. Find a local lake or river
Grab an actual map, or load up Google maps, and try to find a local lake (preferably) or a local river.
Drive there with some rented canoes (make sure that the local authority or owner is happy with you doing so before hand) and get canoeing!
There’s nothing better than sitting in the middle of a body of water, talking and having some fun!
15. Fruit picking
If you live near an orchard or something similar, perhaps try some fruit picking (assuming that the owner allows you to do so!)
Normally, those ones open to the public allow you to pick the fruit yourself and then take ito to a counter for it to be weighed and sold to you.
Assuming you can find somewhere, it is one of the best cheap date ideas for anyone to try!
14. Netflix and Chill
Netflix and Chill is the pinnacle of cheap date ideas. Whilst it’s probably not great for a first, second or even third date, when things start to get serious, a night of Netflix and Chill is certainly on the table.
All you’ve got to do is find a TV show or film on Netflix that you’re both going to enjoy, rather than a film one of you is going to enjoy and the other completely hate!
13. Potluck
Potluck is quite a unique cheap date idea. You could get your friends, or your colleagues to come round for a mega date night, with board games, quizzes, drinking and food!
Essentially, everyone brings some home cooked food and it is all shared out among the entire group during the meal!
12. Pub quizzes
What amazing knowledge do you have stored in your head? What amazing knowledge does your other half have that you don’t know about? The only way to find out is through a good old-fashioned pub quiz!
Most local pubs still offer pub quizzes where you can get into teams and answer general knowledge questions on literally everything!
This is probably one of the best cheap date ideas, as not only is it only a few dollars to enter, but also has a chance of a prize at the end (if you win, of course!)
11. Play board games
You are probably familiar with the classical family board game. So why not channel that into a cheap date?
All you’ll need is some snacks, drinks, perhaps some Netflix in the background and the board game itself. It isn’t exactly going to break the bank!
10. Visit a museum or gallery
Chances are, even if you didn’t know it, there are at least a few museums and galleries in your local area. Some of these will undoubtedly cost you, however some may be free entry.
So why not go and visit one of these free museums or galleries with your date! Not only is it a cheap date idea, but it could also lead to you finding out more about one another!
Perhaps, you will find that you both appreciate the same type of art, or perhaps you didn’t even know you liked art until the date!
9. Go planespotting
You don’t necessarily have to be an “Av Geek” to like planespotting. In fact, it could prove to be one of the best cheap date ideas you’ve ever had!
Chances are, that you live near either a military or commercial airport, so why not make use of that?!
Why not go on a Wednesday or Thursday and just watch the various aircraft take off and land?! It’s free, and there’s usually a designated planespotters area near mot airports to help you too!
8. Talk about your plans for the future
When things are getting serious, why not start talking about the future? Perhaps you are thinking of making a budget, or investing, or even starting a family.
See if you can get on the same page. After all, there are some big questions that will need to be answered.
It is actually a pretty cool cheap date idea. You can sit at home or in a cheap restaurant and talk business (both figurative and literally!)
7. Camp at home (in the back yard)
Have you ever wanted to go camping, but never had a good place to do so? Well, why not your own back yard?
It literally is the best of both worlds! Not only is it literally free (by far the cheapest date idea!) but it is also in the comfort of your own home too!
If anything goes wrong, you can always migrate from your campsite to your house! Plus, there’s nothing better than sitting with an open fire roasting smores!
6. Get the scrapbook out
If you’ve been together a while, you probably have an old scrapbook or album that you’ve had for years, and is just sat collecting dust somewhere. So why not use it?!
Grab a glass of wine and the scrapbook, and sit and reminisce about old times. Perhaps it’s your honeymoon, perhaps it’s your wedding, perhaps it’s the birth of your kids!
Whatever it is, you can spend a nigh doing that for little to nothing! Now that is certainly a cheap date idea if there ever was one!
5. Go for a drive
Going for a hike is often said to be a good cheap date idea, but for many people hiking is either not an option or something they’re unwilling to do. So why not modernize it a little?
So why not go for a drive?
It’s a cheap date idea certainly- all you need is a car, some country roads and you’re set!
So why not go for a drive?!
4. Funny photoshoot
This is something my wife and I love to do!
Whenever we are trying to come up with cheap date ideas, we always stop on this one!
Essentially, you and your other half take photographs of each other and yourself together, and this can be done literally anywhere! In the house, in the car, in public, anywhere!
3. Cheap weekend away
I have to admit, this is certainly one of the more expensive cheap date ideas on this list! However, If you can get it right, you will have a great time, for little to nothing in real terms!
Whilst it is one of the best cheap date ideas on this list, if executed poorly, can cause a large financial headache for you!
Try to fly with low cost airlines and try to stick with small hotels with a few stars and some good reviews, and you’re generally ok!
2. Play pool
If you don’t know how to play pool, now is probably the time to start learning!
Because pool is one of the best cheap date ideas ever! Most pubs and bars tend to have a pool table, which means that you and your other half could play against one another, for little to no money!
However, make sure that the bar/pub that you choose to go to actually has a pool table rather than simply purchasing drinks and then trying to find it!
1. Cooking competition
You don’t need to be the next Gordon Ramsay in order to do this. You simply need to know how to cook a basic dish.
Essentially, here, you and your other half go to the store and get all the ingredients necessary to bake a certain dish you both love.
Then, you go to the kitchen and cook that dish. Then, you eat that dish. Who’s ever tastes better is clearly the winner! And you don’t need to stop there either! You can do this over an over again!
Which of these amazingly cheap date ideas will you try next? Tell me in the comments!
