16 free or frugal date night ideas
/I have three kids now. So it's safe to say I won't be dressing up and leaving my house anytime soon and even if I do I still have to keep things on a budget. However, I do believe it's important to continue to spend quality time with my husband.
I asked you guys over on Instagram for some frugal or free date night ideas, and this is what you came up with. I love it!
1. Eat around the world
"Send the kids to grandma's house, go back home and peacefully cook a nice dinner together. Make it something you've never tried! Then find a questionnaire for married couples online and ask questions while you eat. I like the idea of doing this monthly and picking a new country every month and make their native foods."
"We make sushi at home. It's something that we really enjoy as a couple and instead of going to a sushi restaurant we make them together!! Investing in the right supplies was practically no money and the ingredient costs are quite low compared to what we would pay if we went to a sit down restaurant."
2. Ocean view on a budget
"Going to the beach is free! Turn on the car radio and stare at the ocean if it's too cold to get out. We also used to hang out at the fishing pier and fish a little bit which is cheap if you already have a fishing pole."
"Go to the beach! Even 40 pounds heavier than on my wedding day, my husband still loves seeing me in a swimsuit. 😍It's cliche but, a romantic walk on the beach!!!"
3. Get outside
"We go on a nice long walk with the dogs. In the summer we go floating down the river or float around on the lake with friends."
"We are fortunate to live by so many parks and trails so for our cheapest dates we pack a lunch and hike/walk."
4. Take out
"When our kids were little we would put them to bed early one night each week and then one of us would go get take out and we would eat by candlelight. We couldn't afford a babysitter so this was a perfect solution for us!"
5. Sunrise in style
"Now that our kids are older and we can leave them at home we have been picking a picnic breakfast and head to the park to watch the sunrise on the weekends!"
6. Dessert date
"A dessert date! Have dinner as a family, and then go out for a shnazzy dessert after the baby sitter comes over. Or go out for sno cones/shaved ice during the summer!"
7. Nostalgia and snacks
"Going to a gas station with only $10 buying snacks then Pulling out the old VCR & watching old movies! It was always me & my husbands favorite date nights. 😊"
8. S'more time for couples
"Grab a blanket or quilt, pack a picnic and a book or a board game if you like those, go out in the backyard under the stars. Play music, light candles, make up stories to tell each other, plan, wish, dream. If conditions and ordinances allow build a fire, grill over it, make s'mores."
9. Redbox is your friend
"Redbox movie codes that get them down to about .27 for the night and some homemade snacks (I'm a homebody😜)."
10. Day dating
"We do "date days" while the kids are at school so we save on expensive babysitting."
11. Library time
"Check out a movie from the library and pop some popcorn."
12. Happy hour
"A lot of restaurants here have happy hour. So we go to this place we like get a few $1.50 margaritas. Then to the dollar movies or go sit and watch the planes (we used to live near an airport) fun and cheap and kid free."
13. House hunters
"We go pretend house hunting. We drive through. Neighborhoods we can't afford and make up our life stories as we pick out which houses we would choose."
14. YouTube dates
"Honestly our date nights are usually taking the time to watch funny YouTube videos together in bed when all 3 kids are asleep."
15. Play the gift card game
"We decided to see how many gift cards we had with a smidgen of money left on them and then we had a date to use up those cards. We had barely enough for one coffee at Starbucks then off to target where we each got one new pair of underwear, staples we picked out new pens then Menards for a flower pot for me and cheap garden gloves for him. We were ecstatic to discover we had enough left over on an olive garden card to share a piece of black tie cake. All our date cost was $1 over at Target and the tip at olive garden. There is still one cent on the Menards card!"
16. Boardgames!
"We play board games. We buy them at Goodwill (all the games are $1.99) this way we can pick up a few at a time and try them out!"