One of the most rewarding things you can do for your marriage is to have a consistent date night. Josh and I maintain a regular date night, however spending money on a babysitter and the date itself can get pretty expensive over time. That’s why we try to be as creative as possible!
If you need to stick to a monthly budget, check out these 10 fun, cheap date ideas for you and your spouse:
- Plan a Picnic.
Fill a basket or cooler with bread, goodies, cheese, fruit, drinks, etc. Grab a blanket and head to a park, lake, or hillside.
- Go to a coffee shop and take your own board games.
This is one of our favorites! Play checkers, cards, etc. while having your favorite coffee (or in my case, Frappuccino) together.
- Visit a zoo or museum.
This one can cost a few extra dollars, but depending on where you live, there are quite a few museums and zoos you can access for a reasonable price. There are even some museums that provide free nights.
- Choose a favorite activity from your junior or senior high days.
This is especially great for couples that didn’t know one another in high school. Go bowling, roller-skating, go-karting, or play miniature golf. Re-live some of your favorite childhood activities and memories together.
- Create a Playlist.
Remember the mix-tapes (or CDs) that got you through high school? For this date idea, you’ll create fun playlists from when you were dating! Take the playlists along for your date and bask in all those good nostalgic feels. Or if you can’t secure a babysitter, wait until the kids are down, set the ambience, and then turn your living room into a dance floor.
- Cook a multi-course meal.
Play with various recipes and serve one course at a time. A great way to have fun with this is to prepare a five-course meal together. Enjoy the longevity of it, making each course a memory. Make it formal, informal, or even goofy. If you want to add ambience, play some songs from your playlist.
- Go fishing on the weekend.
This is a great date whether you catch fish or not.
- Sing karaoke.
To add some random fun to your evening, find a place with karaoke and sing your favorite songs as loud as you can with people you’ve never met before.
- Go antiquing.
Hunt for treasure at your local antique store or flea market. To make things interesting, buy the most meaningful but least expensive gift you can find for each other.
- Decide on a new hobby or activity together and begin practicing.
Want to run a 5k or a marathon? Start training! Do you have a list of projects for your home? Tackle them together. Josh and I just went on a date night to Lowe’s to purchase the boards for our bookshelves.
What other fun, cheap date ideas can you add? Let us know in the comments!
Want more ideas? Sign up here to receive hundreds of fun icebreaker questions for your dates and FREE access to a date night video workshop with Dr. Josh Straub.
Christi Straub, M.A., M.B.A. is a native Canadian, wife to an American, and momma to two feisty preschoolers. She and her husband Josh lead Famous at Home, an organization where she and Josh together coach other families with a desire to lead well. Christi is a Fellow of the Townsend Institute for Leadership and Counseling. Christi writes and speaks on helping moms discover their identity and have marriages they’d wish on their children. Her honesty, wittiness and transparency are contagious. She is co-host of the In This Together podcast and a Facebook Live broadcast with Josh that reaches thousands of families. She is also the producer and co-author of The Screen-Balanced Family.
When she and Josh aren’t working together, they spend time on the lake, play trains, and have tea parties. (And try really hard to put the phones away).
