Date Night On a Budget

Luke and I have been traveling SO much this year and I just got back from a trip this past weekend. We are planning on staying home for the majority of the rest of the year and cracking the whip on bills and debt which means we’ll be on a budget! It is exciting to think about, but I was also worried that Luke and I wouldn’t be able to have fun together. That is definitely false! We rarely carve out time to just get out and do an activity together. Luke would rather stay home and watch a movie or something. Luke recently got me a picnic basket and I’ve wanted to go on a picnic for years (lol) and we finally did it. It was nice to enjoy some delicious treats and people watch in the park. I highly recommend it! This pre-fall weather is perfect, too. Our little date got me thinking about other free possibilities for dates that are still fun and so today I’m sharing them with you!

Go to a farmer’s market. We have one right across the street from us every Saturday and we’ve only been once! Try all of the free samples and spend a few bucks to buy local. You can create a fresh meal that’s definitely cheaper than eating out.
Have a Chopped challenge. This is one of my favorite shows and we’ve always said we want to do this. Basically, you each get a few random ingredients out of your refrigerator or pantry and see who can create the best dish!
Go for a bike ride or a walk
Head to a local museum with free entry and browse around
Play Snapchat scavenger hunt or hide & seek. Get creative with snapchat by snapping photos you took while hiding a prize either outside or inside and have them use the clues to find it
Read a book together. Hopefully this doesn’t sound lame because it’s not! Find a book you are both interested in and take turns reading a page out loud. We did this with the Bible earlier this year and it made it more enjoyable.
Take your laptop outside and do an outdoor movie.
Have a movie night indoors, but make it special by making homemade popcorn or drinks. We did this a few nights ago. I made smoothies and it did make it feel more special!
Test drive your dream car. We had to get a new car a couple weeks ago and we test drove a car that we knew was out of our price range. It was fun to drive something that was not really practical for us right now and dream about the possibilities of the future 😉

Let me know what you think about these and if you have any other date night ideas!