These 20 cheap date night ideas will help you have loads of fun without blowing your budget! They’re all $20 or less and many of the date ideas are totally free. Yay!
For years, we struggle 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. And 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 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 cheap 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 of course, I had to share them with you! Because I know that we aren’t alone in struggling to come up with fun 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 quality date nights together too!
Cheap Date Night Ideas
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. 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!
4. 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!
5. Go Through Old Photos
Taking a walk down memory lane is always fun! Pull out old pictures from before you were together and share their stories with each other.
Or reminisce of your early years together as you look at photos capturing life then.
6. 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 a favorite, easy-to-do date of ours.
7. Put Together a Puzzle
Turn on your favorite music, grab a puzzle and see how fast you can work together to complete your it! If you need some inexpensive puzzles, this cat one or this beach one look fun to do!
8. Take an Online Quiz
A fun way to learn to know and understand each other better is through online quizzes like The Love Language Quiz and the Enneagram Assessment.
9. 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.
More Cheap Date Ideas
10. 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 thing inexpensive but lets us still have the fun of eating out.
11. 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 alphabet nature scavenger hunt while you’re at it.
12. Get in the Kitchen
Have fun making a favorite recipe, or peruse Pinterest together and choose a new one to try!
13. 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!
More Inexpensive Date Ideas
14. 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! 🙂
15. 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!
16. Geocaching
Love treasure hunts? Geocaching together is the perfect thing! Don’t know what I’m talking about? Learn how geocaching works here.
17. 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.
18. 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!
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!
What are your favorite cheap date ideas? I’d love if you’d share them in the comments!
LOOKING FOR AN EASY WAY TO SAVE?
Get $10 when you sign up for a Rakuten account (formerly Ebates) and then use Rakuten to earn cashback on your online purchases!
Once you have a Rakuten account, be sure to enter the giveaway below for a $250 Visa Gift Card! It’s super easy to enter!
Thrifty Frugal Mom’s $250 Giveaway
Alli says
I love finding posts like these. We are always looking for creative things we can do with one another.
ThriftyFrugalMom says
Glad it could help, Alli!
kallee says
We look forward to date night every Friday. now that our kids our older it is much easier. It is difficult coming up with something to do all the time. This is a great list!
ThriftyFrugalMom says
A date once a week? That sounds amazing and I think it’s so great that you do that! I’d love to hear some of your favorite date ideas too, if you get a chance. With all that experience, I’m sure you have some good ones that I didn’t think of! 🙂
Melanie says
We have issues finding babysitters, too. I may have to look into babysitting swapping.
ThriftyFrugalMom says
I hope you can find some other families to swap babysitting with Melanie! It’s been so key in helping us be able to have dates regularly.
Emily says
These are all great and simple ideas! My husband and I love going for a walk, hike or a drive. We always seem to be able to have great conversations during that quiet time. Thanks for all of these ideas!
ThriftyFrugalMom says
Yes, quiet times together can be so good, especially when you are in the stage that we are in with little children and get very little quiet time together that is actually conducive to talking! 🙂
Kim says
These are such great, fun ideas! I especially love the idea of getting in the kitchen together to create a yummy dinner!
ThriftyFrugalMom says
And I’m sure you’d come up with something amazing and tasty too! 😉
Toni says
These are all great ideas! We are a military family so my husband is sometimes away for weeks at a time. When he returns home, date nights are a must at least once a week even if we just sit on the couch and catch up on our shows. I agree date nights dont have to be costly and you’ve definitely highlighted some amazing alternatives for us to try out:) Thank you!
ThriftyFrugalMom says
Glad it was helpful, Toni!
Christine says
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 says
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.
Jay Jorgenson says
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 says
So glad it was helpful, Jay! And I hope the date night was a big success!
Charlie & Kristina Pollard says
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 says
I absolutely love this! What a fun way to just explore and enjoy the ride. Thanks for sharing!