We all look for ways to spend time with our significant other, but many times don?t have lots of extra cash for this. So here are 25 fun date ideas ? some take some extra planning, while others can be on the spur of the moment.
- Color Easter eggs (even if it is not Easter season). Draw pictures on them with wax crayons, then color them. Have an egg hunt or give them out on the corner to egg-deprived kids.
- Learn a dance together from the Internet. There are many free dance steps you can learn together ? rumba, cha-cha, waltz, swing, etc. Search for the ?How to? and learn it together. Then go dancing in the park at the free concerts, or make your own music.
- Go fishing. This will require existing fishing equipment or some recreation offices at the local university have some cheap rental prices. Gather some worms, find a fishing hole and test your luck.
- Bake cookies and give them to a single parent family. You can call ahead and find out what the family likes or bring a board game to play with the family.
- Come as you are breakfast. 3 AM is a good time to do this. Either fix the breakfast at your home or find an inexpensive breakfast restaurant. Keep it under $10!
- Have a squirt gun fight. You can set up forts, have team competitions (like steal the flag) or just get wet!
- Go ice blocking (or sledding) with cool drinks (or hot chocolate) after. Ice blocking is done on a grassy slope. Purchase a couple large blocks of ice at the store ($2-$3). Place a towel on top of the ice block and slide down the hill. Careful, they can get going pretty fast!
- Breakfast in the mountains, at a campground or in the backyard over a fire.
- Read to kids or entertain kids at the hospital. Call ahead and make sure you coordinate with the staff, but they are always looking for volunteers to share time with the kids.
- Check out old movies from the library (Doris Day is always fun!). Fix a treat for the era, like rice pudding or bread pudding.
- Make and fly a kite. You can find instructions on the internet. You?ll need a windy day, some old newspapers, to long dowels or sticks, some tape, glue and string. Decorate the kite anyway you would like.
- Have tournament! Pool, ping pong, air hockey, croquet, etc. Set up brackets like the NCAA or make it double elimination (you have to create a loser?s bracket). Have prizes or buy old trophies from the thrift store and put new titles on them.
- Make a silent movie. Include the background music, the slides that state the words spoken, and even the costumes if you can find some old clothes.
- Window shop on a millionaire?s budget! We all look for bargains ? this is looking for the worst deals. You can set a budget, like $10,000, and see who can get the worst deals. Then eat out on the dollar menu of a local restaurant.
- Find a glass elevator and ride to the top. Usually a hotel or sometimes a high rise office building will have an elevator you can ride to the top. Or go see the view from the top floor a tall building. Many will have observation decks.
- Visit the local high school for a softball, soccer, lacrosse or baseball game. Start the wave, bask in the sun, talk to the parents of the players, take some popcorn (take a bunch of popcorn and share it ? you will be popular). You can also do this for a recreation league game. The admission is free. The amount of fun you have is based upon how much noise you make.
- Have a ?Draw Something? competition. This is a free app for iphones/androids. Download the app and have a competition between couples or just play for points against your date.
- Learn to shoot. Either a BB gun, pistol, bow and arrow, etc. You may need to go to a shooting range. Many times you can go to a weapons store and test some of their weapons. Or find your little brother?s BB gun and shoot at a hand made target.
- Go tubing down the river. You can get old inter-tubes from many tire stores. Fill it up and float down the local river. Do a little homework and find where you tube safely on the river. Where to get in, get out and how to arrange the parking and pick up.
- Visit a local haunted house, old fort, historical place. Make up a story about the old inhabitants and how they now haunt the place.
- Wash the car(s). You could wash each other?s car or work together to completely detail one of them. Sounds like work, but can be fun and sometimes wet!
- Rent a canoe and take a romantic voyage on the pond or lake. Many universities have places to rent such equipment and usually for an expensive price – $5 for a canoe, $1 for each paddle, etc.
- Throw a waffle party. Make waffles and have everyone bring their favorite topping. Get creative and have them bring certain colors ? red toppings, green toppings, brown toppings, etc.
- Go on a picture scavenger hunt. Make a list of various things throughout the city. Give each couple an ordered list to take a picture of the place. To make it harder, you can give them close up pictures of what they are supposed to find, which makes it hard to figure it out. Then give them various hints they can open to help determine what the object is. Teams are deducted points for all the hints they open.
- Candle light dinners in unusual places (make sure you have permission for some of these). I have heard of dinners on top of water towers, in old barns, on the steps of the capital, middle of the mall, in a row boat, on the subway, on the football field, in a church parking lot, at home base (you scored!), center court, tennis courts, playgrounds, in large fountains, near or in a waterfall, in a cave, etc, etc. Share your experiences where you have had an unusual dinner date.
