I tried my best to personalize the date ideas to make them specifically appeal to Leslie and Ross, but I did my best to share a handful of the date ideas I had for them that I hope will appeal to most of you below. I then filled in the blanks with a few more ideas that popped into my head based on past inexpensive dates Ryan and I have enjoyed together.
Happy dating!
- With a $15 – $20 budget, split up for two hours and pick up fun little things you think the other person would love, like their favorite cupcake from a local cupcake shop, a new pair of boxers, etc. Exchange the goodie bags at the end of two hours!
- Look for new hiking trails close to where you live. Swing by a local sub shop and pick up sandwiches to bring with you to enjoy halfway through your hike.
- On a Saturday morning, sleep in before heading out to a local coffee shop to order hot coffee or tea and start the day off slow together. Take time to hang out for an hour and catch up!
- Visit local food trucks together and have fun ordering a bunch of small dishes and trying new local food.
- While one of you looks for a new dinner recipe, have the other person look for a new dessert recipe. Go to the grocery store to buy the ingredients you need and spend time preparing your dishes in the kitchen together.
- Have an “ice cream for dinner” night! Either buy your favorite kind of ice cream at the grocery store (plus tons of toppings!) or visit a local hot spot.
- Spend a day at the pool together. Bring plenty of sunscreen, water and your favorite magazines.
- Have a “game night” at home with just the two of you. Great games for two people include Scrabble, mancala and tons of card games!
- Enjoy a heavy hors d’oeuvre night outside. Crack open a bottle of wine and enjoy it with your favorite cheese, crackers, olives and more.
- Go to a local restaurant known for their good food and low prices. Order for each other!
- See if your local Whole Foods or specialty food store offers free cooking classes and sign up to take one together.
- Drive to your local RedBox and pick out a movie to watch at home together. Choose one of these creative popcorn recipes to make and enjoy while you watch!
Question of the Morning
- What is your idea of a perfect date?
I love dates that include some kind of an activity! I absolutely love going out to dinner and all that jazz, but my favorite dates with Ryan are dates that have us out and about, exploring a new area or trying a new activity.
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We love to play tennis! Awesome date because it’s free. We also like going to the farmer’s market and buying stuff for breakfast that day, and dinner that night!
Those are both great ideas! I’m always looking for some free or cheap dates!
I love the food truck and “ice cream for dinner” ideas. Clearly, I like food! 😉
Those are definitely some cute ideas!!!
I love comedy shows. They always crack me up and you leave feeling rejuvenated and in a great mood. Then go off to dinner and cap off the night with some great food and some great conversation!
I love all your ideas! dating as a college student can be hard- the $$$ just isn’t there! so me and the boy are always looking for cheap ideas!
One of our favorites is to go to Whole Foods and pick some cheeses from the ‘bit basket’- its the small pieces left over from cutting cheese. it’s a fun way to try lots because you can get 3-4 cheese at only $3-4 a piece! Add some salad from the food bar, some fresh bread, and you have a delicious dinner you can eat there or even take for a picnic!
Cute ideas! We do the appetizer and wine nights a lot. It’s fun to just nosh on a bunch of stuff and enjoy some wine.
I love these!! Christian and I are young and broke so cheap dates are perfect for us!
Love the date ideas! I’ve done a couple of them, like getting some subs to take on a long hike, but love the idea of splitting a meal into two! I love watching my man cook ;). Thanks, Julie!
Love those date ideas! Especially the Saturday morning coffee one 🙂 my favorite date with my guy is going out and doing something fun and competitive together! either at the shooting range (I’m terrible at it), the batting cages, or going to shoot hoops. they might not be glamourous but they are fun!
Those are all such cute ideas! I love the idea of picking stuff out for each other with a budget or cooking new things together. Sometimes we like to walk to the farmers market (which is a mile from my house on sundays) and get a nice coffee or tea there and walk around for a bit.
I love those date ideas! My favorite date is when we can indulge in a really good dinner out, complete with wine and dessert. If we’re being budget-conscious I love going to the beach for a few hours and stopping by a frozen yogurt shop after.
I just made a date jar for my husband and me. We’re always asking each other, “What do you want to do tonight?” I put about 20 free or cheap date ideas in there, and when we’re bored, we can pick one out and then after we’ve done it, we drop it into the “done” jar. Since I put all of the date ideas in there, I told my husband he could write a few of his own ideas down and add them! I’m curious to see his ideas……
Can you please post all your meals from one day? Like a healthy intake sort of post
Thank you so much for sharing!!!! 🙂
These are awesome ideas! I’m definitely going to have to keep these handy.
These are great ideas! Sometimes I forget that a great date doesn’t have to be expensive or extravagant. Also, sometimes me and my husband get in the rut that “there is not much to do in this town.” You sometimes just have to be open and creative. Thank you for the list!
My favorite date is something called First Fridays. Every first Friday of the month local art galleries, boutiques, and coffee shops will highlight a local artist. They always have little snacks, wine, and desserts. It’s fun to go shop to shop and see the art and have a cheap dinner.
Those ideas are great, I may just copy the jar idea. My boyfriend and I are so indecisive, we always have too many ideas and never just pick one!
My perfect date is a slow night at a winery or a fall morning at a coffee shop.
We love to do anything active – tennis, go carting, mini golf, tubing at the river etc. I feel like having fun together helps our relationship so much and we’re free of at-home distractions like the phone or TV. These are AWEOSME ideas!
These are such fun ideas! We also love browsing in stores together just for fun–Ikea & Ross are fun places to do that!
I think it’s fab to go on hikes or picnics too 🙂
Something active…and out doors followed by something yummy to eat..I actually prefer cooking with a date, it’s more of a bonding experience 🙂
I like hiking together- getting away from everything and everyone. But travelling anyplace or doing anything new together is fun, and creates lasting memories better than the old dinner and a movie.
Those are all such cute date night ideas! I’m totally stealing that first one where you each go off and buy the other person something (or multiple things!) for 20 bucks or under, and then exchange them later. So precious
You’re like me — almost all date ideas involve food! 😉
SO fun!! I am definitey going to steal this idea for my boyfriend, if it’s okay 🙂
Absolutely adorable and brilliant ideas! I will definitely keep these in mind when friends/family get engaged!
And that breakfast looks like goat cheese heaven–YUM.
Goat cheese is good on everything but I don’t know why I never thought of on eggs before! I’ll have to try that!
My favorite dates are when my boyfriend and I go grocery shopping together and then make a meal at home. It’s so fun cooking something new together. And it’s even better when it turns out to be a new favorite recipe!
Along with that I was going to add every time I go grocery shopping I try to pick out a fruit or vegetable or something that I’ve never tried before and I’ve always wanted to and then incorporating that into a recipe you find I have done it with boyfriends in the past if we were on the same page food wise the weather it turns out or not it was always adventurous and if nothing else a good laugh and memory
Great ideas! It’s always good to hear date ideas from other people. I feel like we sometimes get stuck in a rut, doing the same things over and over. Your eggs DO sound scrumptious! I’ve been loving bell peppers lately.
Great list!
Hiking is definitely a fun one. My bf and I absolutely love walking through trials and just spending that quiet time together – plus the view is always awesome.
We love going to places, like the museum or art gallery, that offer discounted prices (e.g., student pricing).
Even cooking together is such a nice moment to spend with each other. I mean, who does love food?
Susan Loves…
great ideas especially when I’m trying to save for a wedding!