99 Affordable Date Ideas

Advertiser Disclosure ▾

This page contains affiliate links from which we receive a compensation. Like many publications Wise Bread is supported by affiliate commission from partner companies whose products appear on our site. This may influence which products we write about and the location and order in which products appear. We aren't able to cover every product in the marketplace.

Wise Bread Picks

• Travel Rewards Credit Cards
• Cash Back Credit Cards
• 0% Balance Transfer Credit Cards

Going on dates doesn't always have to mean draining your wallet at fancy restaurants. There are plenty of affordable and entertaining dates you can go on with your beloved. After all, it's really the time you spend with your sweetheart that matters and not how much you're spending on the dates. Here are 99 frugal dates for you to try.

RELATED: How to Gauge Money Habits on the First Date

1. Cook each other's family recipes for each other.
2. Nostalgia movie night. Watch your favorite movies from during your school years.
3. Watch a free improv show.
4. Go for a hike in a beautiful park.
5. Picnic outdoors and prep delicious foods to feed each other with.
6. Explore the farmers market together, and share some juicy fruits or tasty snacks to munch on.
7. Take a tour around a museum the both of you haven't been to (preferable on free museum day!).
8. Go to open mic night and sing your heart out.
9. Visit a board game cafe and play games to your heart's content.
10. Pal up with your partner for trivia nights in neighborhood bars.
11. Create your own city tour, and visit historic landmarks.
12. Pick a documentary, and discuss it after watching.
13. Have a book club date night. Choose a book to read together, and hold an intimate book club meeting for two when you're both done with it.
14. Volunteer together at the pound, homeless shelter, or your favorite nonprofit.
15. Go swimming together.
16. Stargaze and try to name the constellations you're staring at with the help of an app or book.
17. Watch birds and wildlife, and try to identify them with a book or app.
18. Pick fruit from a farm, and find recipes to cook the fruit with.
19. Plan a trip together, and share pretty pictures and hot-spot descriptions with each other.
20. Buy a travel book of your dream travel destination, and read it together.
21. Visit the library, and read books together.
22. Take a free meditation class together.
23. Bike around the city.
24. Bring $5 to the mall and see who ends up with the best buy.
25. Rollerblade together or go to a roller skating rink.
26. Try ice skating.
27. Go on a free factory tour.
28. Go bowling.
29. Play a sport together.
30. Make desserts for each other.
31. Become a kid again, and play games at the arcade.
32. Throw a fondue night, and experiment with unique ingredients.
33. Go fishing.
34. Watch a movie in a drive-in theater, and make a sundae or a root beer float to consume at home before going.
35. Visit the zoo.
36. Go to a jazz bar.
37. Build a jigsaw puzzle together.
38. Go to a local festival.
39. Visit a flea market or thrift store, and try to find things you can restore together.
40. Walk around Ikea, and get a meal there after exploring.
41. Miniature golf.
42. Attend a tasting of your favorite liquor.
43. Check out an art exhibit.
44. Paint together.
45. Try to fold challenging origami pieces.
46. Design mugs for each other.
47. Go to a playground, and exchange childhood memories.
48. Visit a dog park with your dog.
49. Attend a pet show or meetup in your area.
50. Make a scrapbook of your best memories together.
51. Practice photo shoots if one of you is into photography.
52. Attend free lectures.
53. Go to a book signing.
54. Doing crossword puzzles together.
55. Take a dance class.
56. Go to '80s or '90s night at a club or bar in your city, and dress up in clothes from that era.
57. Paint ceramics together.
58. Take a scenic road trip.
59. Play video games from your childhood.
60. Go to an airport, and watch planes take off together.
61. Make and experiment with cocktails. Come up with your own names for the concoctions.
62. Take a ferry ride.
63. Camp in your room, and make blanket forts. Make s'mores with your microwave. Tell ghost stories.
64. Fly a kite together. Perhaps even make the kite together before flying it.
65. Play truth or dare with each other.
66. Go on a coffee date.
67. Visit movie locations in your city, and watch the movies after your tour.
68. Go to the beach, and enjoy activities like building sandcastles and skipping rocks.
69. Do a spa night at home, and give each other massages.
70. Learn a new skill together from YouTube tutorials.
71. Start watching a TV series together.
72. Start a blog together.
73. Go to the rooftop of a very high building and enjoy the view. Bring some sparklers to play with.
74. Tackle an upcycling project. See this list of 111 suggestions.
75. Write out your bucket list with each other.
76. Admire the architecture in your city.
77. Watch a play together. There are plenty of affordable plays hosted by colleges and local community groups.
78. Pet-sit together.
79. Go to a dive bar, and challenge each other to a game of pool, darts, or shuffleboard.
80. Go open-house-hopping together.
81. Check out an indoor rock climbing gym.
82. Play in the snow. Make snow angels and snowmen. Start a snowball fight, and slide down a hill on a sled.
83. Check out a local band.
84. Redeem a daily deal together.
85. Visit a candy store or ice cream parlor, and spend time talking and enjoying sweets.
86. Watch a sports game together.
87. Attend a poetry reading.
88. Participate in a Nerf war.
89. Attend free mixers in your city.
90. Explore a haunted house.
91. Go on a bus or train and get off at a random destination; then spend time exploring that neighborhood.
92. Make a pizza together with all your favorite toppings. Get creative, and attempt to make a dessert pizza.
93. Watch a high school or college sport together.
94. Go to a foreign film night. They usually host one at a school or the library.
95. Volunteer at an archeological dig.
96. Attend a Home Depot workshop.
97. Learn a language together.
98. Go geochaching together.