20 Cheap, Fun, and Creative Date Night Ideas | Molly’s Money
As we have been preparing for baby (and because we are savvy spenders and big savers anyway), John and I have loved coming up with creative ideas for DATE NIGHT. I thought I’d share some with y’all! Now, these are date night ideas that you can use if you are dating, engaged, OR married!
We have not, personally, done all of these, but they’re ones we’ve thought of or brainstormed and can’t wait to try out!
1. Play Netflix / Hulu plus / DVD / TV roulette: Take the remote, open your favorite tv-watching service together, and flip through till you land on something totally random that you can watch together! You might discover a new show or movie!
2. “Build” your dream house together: John and I play this one all the time. Each of you take turns “building” a feature. Start from the outside and work your way in. How many acres of land? What does your yard look like? Landscaping? Porch? House features? Go big or go home!
3. Recreate the meal from your first date / wedding night / other important occasion: Head to the grocery store and get all the accoutrements for making a memorable meal!
4. Drive around looking to get lost: Get in the car, start driving, and just go!
5. Look on Trulia.com and find the most expensive houses for sale in your area and go look at them: Pretty self-explanatory!
6. Recreate your first date: Everything from what you wore, to what you ate, to what you did – recreate it as closely as possible. And awkward (and super romantic) first kisses at the end of the night are a must!
7. Pull out old photo albums and share stories: I love reminiscing and telling John stories from my childhood or from growing up and I LOVE seeing pictures of him as a kid!
8. Learn to play a card game: We LOVE games – go buy a pack of cards from the store and look up a card game you don’t know how to play and learn it
9. Rearrange or do something to redecorate a room: This one is a favorite of my project-loving husband.
10. Go to a coffee shop, restaurant, or park and people watch: Pick a busy place… people watching can be so fun!
11. Go to a coffee shop, restaurant, or park and “write a story” for two people you see: Pick a random pairing of people. Give them names, jobs, backgrounds, “write” a story around these strangers you know nothing about.
12. Star gaze: We love driving John’s pickup truck to a field, parking it, laying in the back truck bed and looking at the stars. Get the Star Walk app on your phone for even MORE fun!
13. Midnight picnic: Pack a midnight picnic and head somewhere!
14. Make cookies (or buy cookies / donuts / a delicious treat) and go downtown and hand them out to strangers: This is all about putting a smile on stranger’s faces… and yours!
15. Organize a progressive dinner with friends or neighbors: My dad has done these a bunch where he lives and he and Bonnie LOVE them!
16. Set a budget, go to a Thrift Store, and buy an outfit to dress the other person up in: Yeah, crazy clothes encourages!
17. Make ice cream sundaes: I’m talking go to the grocery store and get THE WORKS!
18. Build a fort! I’m talking old-school, kid-like fort in your living room!
19. Go test drive a car: Head to a dealership and test drive a new car!
20. Come up with a love “bucket list”: Come up with a list of 10, 20, 100 things you both want to do before you die! Bonus if the item is something you can do together!
What other date night ideas do YOU love? Which one of these are you going to try out with your significant other?
Hey There Still Being Molly,
Thanks for the info, I’ve only been seeing this guy for a few weeks, so I feel like it’s too early to just be hanging out at one of our homes. I’d rather be out somewhere, but we don’t have much money. It’s winter, and in the midwest, so it’s pretty cold. We’ve already gone to the movies, to dinner, bowling… I don’t want to keep doing the same things over and over. Does anyone have any cheap, creative ideas?
All the Best
Find a karaoke bar in your area. Karaoke has become pretty popular lately so maybe you can find a local bar that has a Karaoke Night. It’s totally fun & VERY entertaining.! You two will have a blast, even if you’re not on stage. But I strongly encourage getting on stage, whether you’re any good vocally or not, it’s all about having fun!
LOVE that idea!!!! such a fun idea.
Love these ideas! I am always looking for fun date ideas with my husband and finding some that don’t cost a ton is an added bonus!
Cuddle on a cool night under the stars and look back to the first time you met or when you first felt the sparks fly. I’m sure you’d both be so lost in no time at all and go through it all night long. It’s pretty romantic if you’re both strongly in love still, but otherwise…
Loving all of these! Great list!
Shia
Great ideas!! To keep your marriage healthy…you have to take time to go on dates with each other.
I love these ideas. Actually there are a few in there that I didn’t think of. Thanks for sharing. I am so writing these down for reference.-
We love going to get frozen yogurt and sitting at the park in the evenings! So relaxing and inexpensive. Best of all, its us time where we get to sit in silence if we want.
Molly! I love this post! It’s so creative and I’m totally keeping it. One of my favorite date nights my hubs and I had was before we were married. But we met after midnight on a night that was going to have meteor showers and watched it together. It was awesome! I’ll never forget it. Hope you’re feelin’ well girl!
xo Lulu
simplylulustyle.com
Love these ideas. The hard part for us is finding a sitter so we can get out.
Agi:)
vodkainfusedlemonade.com
We have a dollar theater nearby which makes for cheap date nights. We don’t even keep up with what movies are playing in the “real” theater so we are not tempted to over-pay for movie tickets. Our theater shows films as soon as movies come out of DVD (or before?). We get the full, fun movie experience for only $3.00. Sometimes we splurge for the popcorn! 😉
Also, during the summer some of our local parks show free flicks in the park on Friday nights = even cheaper date night!
Ice cream sundaes? That sounds like my perfect date!
Carly
http://www.lipglossandcrayons.com
The idea to recreate your first date is such a cute one! My favorite cheap dates in the summer are going out for ice cream and playing mini golf. 🙂
-Sharon
The Tiny Heart
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We love driving around together, not necessarily to get lost, but we like to get ideas on what to do with our garden, haha. That and looking for yard sales! We love a good yard sale and sometimes we find some awesome things! 🙂
xo, Yi-chia
Always Maylee
So many cute ideas! I must admit, I’m an avid fort fan.