How do you have date nights when it seems that everything blows your budget to shreds?
We talk a lot about making time together a priority, but often the typical dinner-and-a-movie date night just isn’t budget-friendly. That’s why I’m so happy to have Kristi on the blog today talking about 10 date night ideas for couples on a budget. These are some great ideas, and if you’ve been looking for something new and fun to try, she’s got you covered!
Here’s Kristi:
All the experts say you should date your spouse. Sounds easy enough, right?
Wrong!
I know that four kids later, there sometimes just isn’t room in the budget for fancy date nights. Sometimes, there isn’t even room in the budget for a cheap date night. So what are you supposed to do?
Well I can tell you what not to do: do not stop dating your spouse! Instead, let’s get creative and think outside of the box. I’m going to share some of my favorite date ideas that are very affordable–some are even free!–that can help you and hubby connect without hurting the budget.
1. Have a Campout
This is hands-down one of my favorite affordable date night ideas. After the kids go to bed, head out to the backyard with your spouse. Enjoy a night under the stars chatting about your day, enjoying your favorite beverage and spending some time reconnecting with each other. My husband and I always leave our phones inside to ensure we don’t get distracted.
2. Lunchtime Dates
Hiring a babysitter isn’t always a budget-friendly option, so lately we’ve been opting for lunchtime dates. If you have school-aged children, this is a great option to avoid paying the high price tag of a babysitter. Plus, as a bonus, lunch is usually a lot cheaper than dinner! Visit one of your favorite restaurants and grab a few appetizers to share, it’s more than enough to keep you full till dinner.
3. Cook Together
Cooking is such a great activity for couples. Cooking with someone else requires communication and teamwork. Make sure to plan this date a few days in advance to ensure you have all the ingredients that you’ll need. My husband and I will usually browse Pinterest a few days in advance and pick out a dinner and dessert that we want to make together. It’s always a fun activity and a great way to get some bonding time in with your spouse!
If you are looking for ways to recharge your marriage, make sure to sign up for my free 7-day email course!
4. Create An At Home Spa
I don’t know about you but I love going to the spa. However, my bank account isn’t too fond of spa visits. Sad, I know.
Thankfully, with a little creativity, you can create your own spa right in your own bathroom. Light a few candles, run a hot bubble bath and spend the evening relaxing with your husband. You can even end the evening by giving each other a nice relaxing massage!
5. Host a Games Night
Games nights are always a lot of fun. We will typically host a game night once every month or so. We invite over some of our closest friends, everyone brings a board game and an appetizer. The night is filled with good food, good company and a ton of laughter. My husband and I always have a great time!
6. Enjoy Local Activities
If you have even a small budget for a date night, check out local activities. Simply Googling “events in my area” can supply you with a pretty good list! I have found that a lot of festivals are free or extremely cheap. You can also try searching Groupon for activities in your area. Once my husband and I were able to visit Escape Room in our area for $20 total!
7. Get a Gym Membership
Okay, before you totally call me crazy, hear me out.
A lot of gyms have amazing deals on memberships AND include childcare! My husband and I used to take full advantage of the childcare all why getting in a good workout. I know it’s not your average date idea but it can be so fun! We were able to play tennis together, swim laps or hit the treadmill all while getting healthy and bonding together over an activity.
8. Stargazing
Anytime there is a meteor shower or some other spectacular astronomy event, my husband and I make it a point to find a great location and take full advantage of the show in the sky. Not only is it super romantic, but it’s very affordable (usually free)!
9. Go Out for Dessert
Isn’t it crazy how expensive going out for dinner is? The last year, we have opted for dinner at home and then going out for dessert. There is an awesome old-fashioned ice cream parlor in town that makes for a great date night location. Instead of spending $60 or more dollars on dinner, we eat at home and then spend $5 to $10 on ice cream. We always take our time to eat our dessert and make sure to get in come great conversation while doing it.
10. Recreate Your First Date
Recreating your first date might make you think outside of the box a little but it’s totally possible to do.
My husband and I had our first date at an outdoor concert venue, eight hours away from where we live. However, we get creative and do our best to recreate that magical night. We go out in the backyard, turn on the artist that was playing that night and dance the night away.
If your first date was a 5-star restaurant where you both got dressed up, recreate it at home. Cook up a nice steak dinner and put on your fanciest outfit. Recreating your first date is an awesome way to remember why you fell in love with your spouse to begin with.
For more date night ideas, make sure to visit my post on steamy date night ideas for married couples!
What are some of your favorite cheap date ideas? Let’s talk about it in the comments below!
Kristi Corrigan is the blogger behind The Classy Chapter. Her objective is to help women build the lives they’ve always wanted by providing fun and easy recipes, marriage tips to keep the spark alive and parenting tips for the stressed out mom!
Sheila Wray Gregoire has been married for 25 years and happily married for 20! She loves traveling around North America with her hubby in their RV, giving her signature "Girl Talk" about sex and marriage. And she's written 8 books. About sex and marriage. See a theme here? Plus she knits. Even in line at the grocery store.
I love these ideas!! Groupon dates are the best! My husband and I have actually had competitions to see who could plan the cheapest legitimate date night (he won with thrift store Lego building).
As a comment for #6: Check out Eventbrite! You can search by date, cost, type, and even whether they are family-friendly or not. We find free events on there all the time! Just last week, there was an event for volunteering at a gospel concert where you got free tickets to the second half!
There are some really good ideas here, and I shall keep in mind some of the ones I hadn’t thought of before. But how can I get my husband interested in doing dates? For our last wedding anniversary, I gave him a box with twelve envelopes, one to open every month with a date idea I thought we’d both enjoy (stargazing, fruit picking, bowling, film night, games night …). He seemed to like the general idea, but he doesn’t seem willing to take the time to actually do the activities. I don’t want to be a nagging wife but I do feel rather hurt that he doesn’t seem to want to spend the time with me. There are always good reasons (mainly work) so I don’t really know what to try next.
Hi Rosie!!
I did that exact idea for my husband a few years ago, and we had a similar experience. Every month, we’d open the envelopes and he would be excited and very interested in the activity, but we only did 6 of the 24 dates (we had an at-home and out date for every month). The biggest thing with us was scheduling. He would honestly forget, and life is busy. My feelings were hurt, so when I asked him why we weren’t doing the dates, he said because they weren’t scheduled. So we went back and found a few of the dates to actually do, and at the beginning of the month, we scheduled them (i.e. we’re going to go bowling on the 24th). Maybe checking with him at the beginning of the month and have him identify which days he will set aside would help.
Thanks Michelle, that’s a really good idea!
I love those quality time dates. It doesn’t have to be hours. Even if it’s just minutes or so as long as it’s quality time, those are the best ones.
My husband and I almost always do some sort of inexpensive date night! Here are a few ideas based on what we enjoy doing:
– If we are going out, we will generally use a gift card for dinner and enjoy a trip to Goodwill or another thrift store together.
– We do a weekly movie (or Netflix show) night in. We send our kids to bed a little early and instruct them not to come out of their rooms. (They are now 12 and 14 and are terrified of the idea of potentially finding us in a state of undress that we threatened. They can stay up later, but they stay in their rooms.) We then have the house to ourselves and enjoy our movie night with homemade snacks.
– In the summer, we love to have a fire outside. We will sit by the fire and chat.
– We live on a few acres and will head out for a walk in the woods together. Any time alone together can be turned into a mini-date!
These are some great ideas! My husband and I love lunch dates. We often have breakfast dates too after our girls are off to school on the school bus.
LOL–THIS is why there has to be a list of lots of ideas, because some will work for some people, others for others. If WE were to try number 3, I think the only possible outcomes would be either divorce or murder. I cannot STAND to be in the kitchen when my husband is cooking, because he’s so inefficient and we should have died from food poisoning from his unhygienic practices. That he does virtually all of the cooking and we’ve never gotten sick is neither here nor there–I really can’t bear to watch him in the kitchen. LOL On the extremely rare occasion that I’m cooking and he’s home (that’s happened, like, maybe twice in 23 years??), he’s driven me crazy, by suggesting things or getting in my way or asking what I forgot. We spend a LOT of time together. But we do not cook together. And we do not have breakfast together, although whoever makes the coffee does take a cup of it to the other one. (That’s about half-half.) (We do usually have 14 meals a week together, so I don’t think not having breakfast together is a terrible thing.)
Our current favorite “date night” is going for walks. It started when our youngest (of six children) was a newborn, and nothing, but nothing, would get the two-year-old to sleep except a walk. My husband had actually been taking her out for walks almost every night from when she was about six months old, but when she was nearly two, the 17-year-old daughter of a friend came to stay for us for six months. So most evenings, once the other children were in bed, my husband and the two youngest and I went out for a walk. After the 17-year-old left, we were at first sad that we wouldn’t be able to have our walks, but then we said, “Hey, wait a minute! Oldest is 13, and the 11yo, 8yo, and 5yo all go to bed at 8:00! Why can’t we keep doing this??” So we kept up the walks. The youngest is now nearly 8, so our “dates” have been just the two of us for some time now. We go two or three times a week, often stopping for coffee or ice cream (depending on the season), walking for about five miles altogether. It’s awesome.
We’ve only got one, but I hear you on the walks! Since the time he was three (?) months, only walking (usually plus singing) would get him to sleep. We often have midnight walks! Depending on what time of the month, sometimes a couple a night!
Oh, that’s really rough! 🙁 But walking is great with your hubby.