23 fun date ideas for your frugal sweet heart

I used to love going to a particular restaurant because it was set on top of a vista overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It came with a big price tag, $100 for an evening, but it was special right? Until we accidentally had a picnic in a state park near by. It had exactly the same scenic view with natural background music – bird chirping, squirrels and sound of the ocean waves. The only thing missing to make it the most romantic place ever was a fire. We satisfied that desire by camping in a national park with a similar setting last summer. Which brings me to my first favorite cheap dating  idea…

1. National Parks: Our national parks have everything to become the perfect romantic retreat. Stunning vistas, beautiful waterfalls, amazing sunsets… you can fall in love with one another and the nature around you. It could be an entire weekend with camping and star gazing or a quick day hike and picnic. Nature is the most romantic setting ever.
   

   View from our campground

2. Go down memory lane: This needs some preparation. You can create a scrap book or a collage with all the things you and your significant other have done together. Starting from your first date (if you don’t have a photo, try to get a photo of that place or of something that reminds both of you of that place) to your marriage, vacations, first child… you get the idea. Give him/her this gift and take time going down your memory lane.
3. Wine Tasting : Go on a wine tasting tour and pretend that you can taste the hint of asparagus in your glass of Pinot noir . The vineyards can be a romantic place for a cheese and snack picnic too. Wine tasting tours are cheap and you can usually find free wine tasting coupons online. Even if you don’t have plenty of wineries near by check out if you city has something like this – WTFLA (Wine Tasting for Los Angeles). They offer free wine tasting and cheap classes too. If wine is not your thing, try chocolate tasting, yum!! Yes, there are free chocolate tasting events!
4. Learn a skill a together : If you are like me and wonder how anyone can taste asparagus in a glass of wine, may be you can explore it together. Learn about wines, pairing and explore your senses! Or you can do something simple like learn to dance. It could be a whole lot of fun to step on each other’s toes Community colleges are the best place to learn a new skill or develop a new hobby.
5. Free concerts : When thinking about concerts a lot of people think about big, expensive concerts. Here are some frugal places to look-
   1. Many colleges and universities have free (or very cheap) concerts.
   2. Around Los Angeles, most of the malls have weekend concerts in summer.
   3. During holidays, Valentines day or Christmas, many cities (esp. libraries) sponsor special concerts. Example : Concert on Valentines day in downtown Oklahoma.
   4. Even our Farmer’s Market had a free concert yesterday, for Valentine’s Day.

   Just Google “free concerts” + your city to get some ideas.

6. Be a tourist in your home town : I live in a tourist town but I have not seen a lot of places that people who visited here have. I think we take our home town (and near by cities) for granted. Check out your city and neighboring cities from a tourist’s point of view. Grab a walking map or pick up a visitors guide (you can get this for free from your city/state chamber of commerce). If you want to really play it up, you could spend some money and book a hotel to play the tourist part very well.
7. Museum tours : If you are of different ancestry you can try to learn each others culture by visiting a museum or visit a museums that caters to your common interests. These visits can be very cheap or free (sign up for their mailing list to get notified of the free museum days). A lot of museums have pretty grounds too, you can plan a picnic and have a really nice and flirty intellectual conversation to round up your day. Tip: If you have a Bank of America card, you can use that to get free admission in museums around the country.
8. Botanical Gardens : This can be a very pleasant stroll. Look up your nearest Japanese or Chinese garden or any garden that you like and sign up for their mailing list. Most of these places have free admission days – at least once in spring and summer. Example : Portland’s Japanese Garden Spring day is coming up next week.
9. Theme movie night : Pick up some theme – Italian, Mexican, Harry Potter or whatever interests you and make a night out of it. For example, if your theme is Harry potter, you can rent the movies and make some recipes that are related to the book – pumpkin juice or Mrs. Weasley’s rock cakes.
10. Local lectures : This might be a boring option for most people but if you have common interests like learning about stars or something like that, you can check if your local colleges have any lectures. We recently attended astronomy lectures, where we star gazed inside a planetarium, learned about various constellations and also used the university telescope to look at them. It was a very nice evening and I learned a thing or two.
11. Apple/strawberry/pumpkin picking : It will be strawberry picking season here soon. A sunny day picking beautiful juicy fruits and having a picnic in the grounds with the aroma of the crisp air and delicious fruits wafting through the air … a wonderful way to spend a weekend day. Check here to find a pick your own farm near your place.
12. Bar Happy hours : This is not free, but can be cheap. During happy hours, the food will be very cheap, esp. finger foods. Make use of it and have a very early dinner. Friday nights, many bars have live music to make it even more special.
13. Row boating together : Spend a lazy afternoon on a boat in an idyllic river, may be take some delicious hot chocolate or a cup of tea. Float along the river among the ducks, under the trees… I am thinking about “The notebook” scene here, if you want to make sure it is that romantic may be you could bring your own swans But even without swans, row boating is very romantic.
14. Walk in the park : If you have any stale bread, take that and go for a walk in the park. Feed the ducks and have a relaxed conversation. Combine it with a picnic and idea #13 – row boating, to make an entire day out of it.
15. Ethnic festivals : Attend a Chinese New Year parade or St. Patrick’s day celebration. There will be plenty of delicious ethnic foods, shows, arts & crafts booths, great music… and best of all it is free.

Here are some other true and tried ideas. I am not going to elaborate as they are mentioned in a lot of places.

1. Cook together or surprise your loved one by cooking a special meal for them
2. Take a bath together
3. Couples massage
4. Go for a walk around the neighborhood
5. Get take out, pick up a bottle of wine and have a candle light dinner at home. If you have a fireplace, dinner by a roaring fire is very romantic!
6. Board games
7. Ice skating
8. Picnic on the beach/sunset

We don’t need to spend a lot of money to have a great time. I used to think romance is in the flowers and chocolates, but no. It is in the thoughts, it is in the care we show each other. You can spend a lot of money and make it special or you can put a lot of thought into something and make it special. What are your favorite (family friendly) romantic ideas?

Tagged as: cheap date ideas, cheap romantic ideas, dating ideas, national parks, personal life, romantic ideas, valentine's day, wine tasting