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Keeping the magic of your relationship alive and well shouldn’t cost you a fortune. There are plenty of low-cost date ideas for couples that let you enjoy quality time with your partner while still creating special moments. It’s the thought and intention behind planning a memorable date night that really counts.
Don’t let money troubles take away from the care and affection you have to share with your significant other. Here are 18 ideas to help inspire your date night plans.
1. Thrift Shopping
Dollar stores and thrift stores abound. Dollar Tree, one of the most famous American dollar stores, has locations in all the lower 48 US states and the District of Columbia. Regardless of state or area, they have a glut of items under $5, with most priced at $1.25.
Taking a budget of $10-15 each to the dollar store or a thrift store allows you both to find a wealth of fun, cheap items to splurge on. This gives you the rush of shopping without breaking the budget.
2. Stargazing
Looking up at the stars is a time-honored human tradition and a great date activity. For the serious stargazer, getting away from light pollution, finding a clear area, and being aware of the weather are top tips.
If you’re stargazing in the city, you’ll want to watch the pollution levels and the weather since both can obscure the sky. You can research the best dates for stargazing online and add them to your calendar. A date to look forward to!
3. Picnic
A picnic needs food, company, and a place to be. A blanket is traditional, as is a sunny day and a park. But if the weather is bad or a park is unavailable, don’t be afraid to lay out a blanket in your living room and play some nature sounds.
4. Coffee or Tea Blind Taste Test
You can plan a tasting date if you have a taste for the finer nonalcoholic beverages. The coffee aisle at most grocery stores features dozens of variations, both preground and in bean form. In the same aisle, you can find a variety of teas, including black, green, herbal, and more.
Pick a few you’d like to try, brew them up, and then have a blind tasting!
5. Free Pass Events From Libraries
Finding the most extensive library system near you can offer many perks, but one that’s not well-known is that you can sometimes check out passes for local zoos, museums, theater venues, and more. Bigger library systems may also offer free or low-cost events, including plays and concerts.
6. Museum Crawl at Home
Everyone dreams of visiting far-off places, and many of us hope to visit museums when we get there. The Louvre in Paris, the British Museum in London, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, and more call to art lovers.
But you can still visit if you’re homebound and low on cash. Many museums, including world-class ones like those mentioned above, allow free digital browsing of their collections. Grab a cheap bottle of wine, make some snacks, and go to the museum from the comfort of your couch.
7. Karaoke
There’s nothing quite so liberating and bonding as badly belting out tunes in a bar surrounded by strangers doing the same. Karaoke events are often free to enter, though you need to pay for drinks and food.
But if you can find a night with low-cost beer deals and eat beforehand, you can spend as little as you choose.
8. Mini-Golf
With nearly all courses located outdoors and prices averaging seven dollars per player nationwide, mini-golf is a unique and fun way to spend a couple of hours. Experienced players can get competitive, or you can play for fun without bothering to track strokes.
9. Bowling or Bocce
Ten-pin bowling, the kind most Americans are familiar with, dates back to the 1800s and can be anything from a simple game to a precision sport. It’s also one of the more expensive ‘cheap’ dates, averaging $46 an hour or $12 per game per person. However, you can watch for specials, sale dates, and other cost-cutting tricks.
If you want the bowling experience without the cost, you can also try a target bowling game, like bocce. A bocce set can be as cheap as $15 and be played on any relatively flat grassy surface.
10. Window Shop
When you have no money but want the thrill of consumerism, dress up fancy and hit a store or mall. From department stores to antique shops to art galleries, it can be fun to go places and dream about or simply admire the things on sale.
You can price things you want to buy, or if you’re crafty, get ideas for your next home decoration project.
11. Fun Game Night
Humans have been playing games as a social activity for thousands of years. The oldest known game is the Royal Game of Ur, originating 4,600 years ago in Mesopotamia.
A dollar store sells packs of cards, dice, or dominos for as little as two dollars. These provide hundreds or even thousands of games for two people, and many more board, party, and parlor games are freely available online.
12. Dance
Dance lessons might be expensive, with an average of $50-85 per lesson for adults, but plenty of online courses and videos will teach you basic dances for free. Clear some space, pick a style, and learn to dance with your partner.
13. Read a Book Together
Everyone is used to sharing shows, videos online, movies, and music with their partners. But if you both enjoy reading or want to expand your horizons, why not form a book club of two?
Again, the local library is your friend here. Many states offer the option to apply for an online card, which gives you access to a vast digital collection of books. If you want something easier, you can try online resources like Project Gutenberg for public domain classics.
14. Scavenger Hunt
While it may seem like an activity for school kids, a scavenger hunt can make for a great date; a simple internet search turns up premade hunts and templates for making your own. If you want to be competitive, consider adding prizes for finding especially hard-to-find items, finding everything, or finding the most items.
Or hunt together, using the hunt as a sort of “eye spy” game on a hike, at a local store, or exploring your apartment.
15. Puzzles
Puzzles are available at virtually every major store and online, and they are a classic way to spend time together. While doing a jigsaw together is traditional, for perfectionists, you can get two of the same cheap puzzles and work in tandem.
Other options are crosswords, word searches, sudoku, and many more. Books of those types of puzzles are also available everywhere, and you can print many more for free.
Doing them digitally is possible but at your own risk. It’s tempting for whoever’s holding the phone to just take off and start solving.
16. Disc Golf
A modern invention, disc golf, started in the 1960s. The sport involves throwing flying discs (the best-known brand is Frisbee) along preplanned routes toward special goals. While skill is involved, simply throwing the discs and laughing as you walk around the course can be a wonderful time.
The United States has just over 10,000 disc golf courses. Discs come in an array of types, sizes, and purposes, but a basic disc runs as low as $5. If you want to pick the best one, a little research goes a long way.
17. Create Art
Creating art together can be a potent bonding activity and a fun time to boot. From something as simple as coloring with crayons to buying quality acrylic painting supplies and following a Bob Ross tutorial, there are endless accessible ways to create art together.
For a cheap, easy entry, try getting paint-by-numbers kits. You can find custom ones that allow you to paint your own photos for as low as $20 online.
18. Hiking
If you and your partner enjoy the outdoors more actively, go on a hike together. Local parks have hiking trails, and driving to a more natural setting is usually not far. Try an urban hike if you can’t get out of the city or to a local park. Walk through the city as though you are going on an adventure.
So Many Ideas, so Little Time
Dating is often thought of as something single people do until they get together, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. While dates in an established relationship may seem like a time sink, research shows they are important to the health of an ongoing relationship.
Carving out time for a date with your partner shows them you prioritize them, keeps love fresh, and builds intimacy.
At the end of the day, anything you both enjoy can be a date. The main components of a good date are quality time spent together, learning about each other, spontaneity, and connecting with your partner.
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