These 20 fun cheap date night ideas will help you have a great time without ruining your budget! Each date costs $20 or less and many of the date ideas are even totally free. Yay!
For years, we struggled to have dates, especially once we had children. Between our busy schedules, tight budget and lack of babysitters, it was just incredibly hard to do with any sort of consistency.
Often it would go months between dates and we were doing well if we got 3 or 4 in each year. It was a big source of frustration for both of us!
When we moved a year ago, we finally decided to get serious about making date nights more of a regular thing! So we put our heads together and came up with a plan.
And I’m happy to say that for the last 9 months or so, we’ve been enjoying a date night at least once a month. It’s been SO good and so fun!
One thing that really helped us make it happen, was to swap babysitting with two other couples. Once a month, we babysit for the other couple and once a month they babysit for us.
This means that we don’t have to pay for sitters or go looking for someone reliable and trustworthy. And that alone has been huge in making consistent date nights a success!
Something that we were still struggling with though, was coming up with fun date ideas that didn’t cost a lot of money.
We’d get our date scheduled but then would often drop the ball on actually planning what we were going to do until the last minute. And then our minds would go blank and we’d struggle to think of anything to do other than go out to eat!
Well, I finally got smart! We had a date scheduled for this week and I decided to sit down and come up with a big list of low-cost date ideas that would be easy for us to do.
That way whenever we were planning a date, all we would need to do would be to look at our list and take our pick!
And then, of course, I just had to share them with you! Because I know that we aren’t alone in struggling to come up with fun cheap date ideas that don’t break that bank.
The great thing about these date night ideas is that they should all be able to be done for $20 or less…and many of them are totally free! And you can’t beat fun date nights for free, right?
At any rate, I hope that they help you enjoy some fun inexpensive cheap dates together too!
Fun Cheap Date Ideas
Things to Do Outdoors
1. Go on a Picnic
This is such a simple, but fun way to enjoy just hanging out together! Sometimes, to change things up we’ll grab a Domino’s pizza or some subs instead of packing all of our food.
Then I just need to throw together a salad or some fruits|veggies and we’ve got a quick, delicious meal! Since I mostly cook all of our meals from scratch, this is a real treat for us!
2. Go Hiking
Even if you’re like us, and aren’t super outdoorsy, hiking or walking trails can be a fun way to spend time together! Several of my best date memories actually involve times when we did this.
3. Explore your City | Go on a Walk
Take a stroll around your neighborhood. Head to a new area of your city and have fun exploring! The only rule, of course, is that you have to hold hands! 😉
Want to make it more interesting? Try doing an outdoor alphabet scavenger hunt while you’re at it.
4. Geocaching
Love treasure hunts? Geocaching together is the perfect thing! Don’t know what I’m talking about? Learn how geocaching works here.
5. Go for a bike ride
Grab your bikes and go for a ride!
Don’t own bikes? Lots of cities offer cheap and easy bike rentals anymore, making it a fun way to explore your city. And of course, you can always borrow from friends too!
Low Cost Date Ideas for Staying In (or at home)
6. Go Through Old Photos
Taking a walk down memory lane is always fun! Pull out old pictures from before you were together and share your stories with each other.
Or reminisce about your early years together as you look at photos capturing life then.
7. Put Together a Puzzle
Turn on your favorite music, grab a puzzle and see how fast you can work together to complete it! If you need some inexpensive puzzles, this cat one or this beach one looks fun to do!
8. Take an Online Quiz
Want a fun way to learn to know and understand each other better? Try doing an online quiz like The Love Language Quiz or the Enneagram Assessment.
9. Get in the Kitchen
Have fun making a favorite recipe, or peruse Pinterest together and choose a new one to try!
10. Game Night
Pull out some good old-fashioned games like Uno, Scrabble or Monopoly and play away! Just don’t let competitiveness get the best of you! If you’re like us, that might end up being a bit of a challenge! 🙂
11. Movie Night at Home
Want to keep things low-key? Go for the classic movie night at home date and make it special with a fun snack that you wouldn’t normally splurge on!
Want to take movie night up a notch? End it by giving each other massages! The techniques in Melt Couples Massage are amazing!
Other Inexpensive Date Night Ideas
12. Hang out at a Coffee Shop
Grab a coffee (or smoothie or chai!) and hang out talking with the one you love.
This is especially perfect for those dates when you feel like you have lots of catching up to do or have specific things that you want to discuss together!
13. Free Museum Night
Many museums and attractions have free days|nights when they allow anyone to visit for free. Check to see when the tourist spots in your area have their free days and go and enjoy some local culture!
14. Head to the Bookstore
Most Barnes and Noble stores have spots where you can sit and read and they typically also have a Starbucks inside too.
We love to browse for books, grab a dessert or drink to share and then sit and enjoy our books together. We’re both book lovers, so this is an easy-to-do favorite inexpensive date of ours.
15. Visit Open Houses
Google “open houses near me today” and then choose a few to go check out. It’s a great way to get ideas for your own home or even just to get a feel of what kinds of houses are in your area.
16. Go Out for Dessert
I love going out to eat, but it can get pricey so quickly! So sometimes, we’ll just go out for dessert instead.
It keeps things inexpensive but lets us still have the fun of eating out.
17. Take a Drive
Hop in the car and go explore somewhere new. Or just enjoy the scenery in a local rural area.
If you don’t feel like talking much, pop in your favorite CD or listen to an audiobook together.
Not sure where to find inexpensive audiobooks? I love Scribd! They offer access to thousands of audiobooks for just $8.99/mo. Sign up for Scribd here and get a free 30 day trial!
18. Let the Deals Rule
Watch for restaurant, event and activity deals on Groupon and plan your date around that!
I also recommend signing up for restaurant email lists|savings clubs and you’ll occasionally get good coupons like buy one, get one free offers as well.
And if it’s close to your birthday, a number of restaurants like Red Robin and Ruby Tuesday offer a free meal around your birthday, which is another inexpensive way to eat out and have a date.
19. Bowling | Mini Golf
It’s usually fairly easy to find bowling and mini golf for pretty cheap. Go play and see who has the most skills!
20. Read Together
Choose a book together, then snuggle up and take turns reading it out loud to each other.
For extra fun, make some Warm Vanilla Custard or a homemade caramel frappe or peppermint mocha frappuccino to sip on while you relax.
Looking for more date night ideas? Check out this list of 52 completely free date ideas!
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Charlie & Kristina Pollard
My wife and I decided to do something sporadic so we came across this game with Dice and deciding how many miles (one way) we wanted to travel, so we wrote 2-12 (because you never roll a 1 ) then beside the number 2 write down the furthest distance we decided on,then from there we just wrote random numbers for distance, after that we wrote a direction down for each number, So now we have our GAME BOARD !!!. Now decide how many time we roll the dice, and we decided on 3 rolls, so of course I let her roll first and she rolled a 6 , . 45 miles south we go, after that roll again, and so on,
We live in Arkansas and Ended up in Elizabethtown Kentucky!! We had an awesome weekend. !
ThriftyFrugalMom
I absolutely love this! What a fun way to just explore and enjoy the ride. Thanks for sharing!
Jay Jorgenson
I want to take my wife out on a date without spending much and making it special. I like how you mention going on a picnic is a cheap and fun way to hang out. Thank you for the advice. I’ll pack a few things to go out on our date night.
ThriftyFrugalMom
So glad it was helpful, Jay! And I hope the date night was a big success!
Christine
Local high school sporting events can be fun sometimes, as well as school concerts and plays. Our own kids are grown, but we still try to support the local students.
Depending on the season, picking fresh produce together, then preparing a dish from it, and or preserving it can be a fun way to spend time together.
Believe it or not, working on home improvement projects together has been great bonding time.
I also enjoy sitting with my husband in his hunting blind or tree stand, even if we are very quiet, just enjoying nature.
ThriftyFrugalMom
Great ideas, Christine! I especially love the local high school events. We used to do those years ago but kind of forgot about them more recently.