With great weather and a desire to be adventurous, there’s no excuse for you and your spouse to not go on a date. You don’t have enough money you say? Well here’s 20 date ideas for under $20.
1. Find the best happy hour in town: Look through your local newspaper or search online for websites that list happy hour prices for local restaurants and bars. Most places offer food and drink specials at half the normal price, allowing you to get two drinks and share an appetizer for less than $20.
2. Go to a museum: Most museums are free or offer free entry on certain days of the month.
3. Visit your local zoo: Most zoos offer adult tickets for less than $10. Pack your own snacks and bottled water and have a mini picnic by your favorite exhibit.
4. Go on a romantic hike: Bring a backpack and surprise your partner with your favorite bottle of cheap champagne, strawberries and plastic champagne flutes.
5. Go swimming at your local pool, lake or the beach: Bring some water toys and have more fun than the kids.
6. Beat the heat with an ice cream date: Take two scoops to the park or take a walk downtown and go people watching.
7. Hit the dollar movie theater: Lots of cities have discount movie theaters that show movies that recently left the normal theatres. Pick a rainy day and have a movie marathon.
8. Take a downtown walking tour of your town or nearest city: You’ll have fun discovering things and places you never knew existed. You can also pick up a free visitors guide for ideas.
9. Throw a cheap picnic: Go on a picnic at the beach, mountains or in your own back yard. Grab a blanket, pack a deli sandwich and a bottle of $5 wine.
10. Take a blanket to the beach: Split your budget between a bottle of wine and cheese then enjoy the sunset while you snuggle on the blanket.
11. Take a stroll through the botanical gardens: Spend the day walking through rose gardens and tropical rain forests hand in hand for less than $10 a ticket.
12. Be a kid again: Go bowling, play miniature golf, ride go-carts or play laser tag.
13. Build a bonfire: All you need is some firewood, snacks and a drink of your choice. This is also a great opportunity for ‘smores.
14. Rent something: Go roller- or ice-skating, or rent a two-seater bike and ride through the park.
15. Paint pottery together: Lots of studios let you get creative for around $6 an hour.
16. Pitch a tent: Park fees are usually less than $10, which leaves money for food and wood. Go camping and roast hot dogs as you gaze at the stars.
17. Go wine tasting: Most wineries charge around $5 for a tasting of five different wines—plus, you’ll get to keep the glass as a souvenir of your date.
18. Take a scenic drive: Pull over to have coffee and dessert at a nice café.
19. Spend the night walking through the shops and enjoying the local artists: Lots of cities have art walks one night a month during the summer. Most galleries even offer a free glass of wine to art-walk goers in order to attract them.
20. Rack ’em up at you local pool joint: With pool games costing less than $2, you might even have money left over to share a pitcher of beer.
Steve Cooper is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Hitched. You can follow him on Twitter at @hitchedmedia.
