While having fun as a family is always (okay, usually!) a blast, spending one-on-one time with your spouse is absolutely essential to your health as a couple. After all, you can’t go from spending every waking minute together when you are dating to barely spending any time together once you are married and expect to still keep your marriage exciting after all these years. No matter how fun and wonderful your kids are, you still need some time to yourselves to connect.
If you aren’t having regular date nights with your spouse, what is stopping you? Lack of time? I know it’s difficult to find time for romance when your children are little. Lack of funds? If it’s a lack of funds (Hey, kids are expensive-I get it!), why not try one of these 25 fun and frugal date night ideas?
*Related: Time for a Much-Needed Date Night? Do These 6 Things.
*This post contains affiliate links. Please see my full disclosure statement for details.
1. Go on a Picnic
Enjoy a peaceful meal without the “eat your food,” “noodles don’t go in ears” and “just three more bites.” Talk or enjoy the silence–it’s up to you!
2. Go Bowling
Show off your skills or hold contests to see who can do the silliest moves and still score the points.
3. Go Out for Ice Cream
Dairy Queen sends out monthly buy one get one coupons when you sign up for their mailing list.
4. Play Tennis
If you have your own rackets, tennis is free and fun. If not, you can find them on Craigslist for cheap.
5. Go to a Dollar Movie
If you have a dollar movie theater in your area, grab a flick and snacks for two for less five bucks.
6. Go on a Bike Ride
Explore the trails around your city, get some exercise and reconnect as a couple all at the same time!
7. Attend a Community Concert
Many cities have free summer concerts in the park. These laid-back events are the perfect place to snuggle on a blanket and listen to some great music.
8. Go Ice Skating
If you don’t mind the cold, the ice rink is the perfect place to hold hands and quietly glide in circles.
9. Visit a Museum
Call your local museum and ask if they have any discount days. Then, spend an afternoon holding hands and walking through the museum, exploring.
10. Have a Water Gun Fight
Unleash your inner child with a classic water gun fight. All of the laughing and playing will bring you closer together.
11. Attend a Church Event
Whether you attend a night that is specifically for couples or another event, church events are generally reasonably priced and a whole lot of fun.
12. Play Pool
Pool may not seem very romantic, but it’s pretty relaxing and a lot of fun.
13. Go Fishing
Speaking of relaxing–what’s more relaxing than spending an afternoon out on a boat? He can touch the worms, you can get a sun tan–it’s a win-win!
14. Stargaze
There is just something so romantic about looking up at the stars. Snuggle up under a blanket, pick out any constellations you can find, and have deep conversations about everything and nothing.
15. Visit the Animal Shelter
Playing with kitties and puppies will bring the warm fuzzies out in anyone.
16. Watch an Elementary School Performance
If your kids are in school, go see their shows. Otherwise, schools usually advertise their shows on their signs or online. They are usually free, and the kids are seriously cute.
17. Sing Karaoke
Nothing will bring you closer together than singing a goofy duet together on stage.
18. Go Sledding
Race down the hills, or share a sled and ride together!
19. Walmart $5 Challenge
Ready to put your creativity to the test? Each of you take $5 to Walmart and buy each other the best gift you can. You’ll have a blast seeing what the other comes up with and why.
20. Go to the Playground
Who says playgrounds are just for kids? Unleash your inner child and have a ball on the slides and swings.
21. Go Geocaching
Geocaching is like a grown-up scavenger hunt that uses GPS. Find all the details at Geocaching.com.
22. Visit the Fair
From the Ferris wheel to the fair foods to the petting farm, you are sure to have a great time.
23. Host a Game Night
Make it a couples’ night by inviting your other married friends over for a game night after the kidlets have gone to bed.
24. Arrange a Scavenger Hunt
This idea takes some time, but the results are worth it. Make it as complicated or as simple as you’d like.
25. Volunteer in Your Community
Why not have fun and give back to your community at the same time? Volunteering will draw you together in ways you don’t even know.
If you really can’t get away from home, don’t worry. That doesn’t mean you can’t have a date with your husband. Date nights don’t always have to take place outside of the home! Check out this list of at-home date night ideas!
Date nights don’t have to be expensive to be fun. What frugal date night ideas do you love?
These are great ideas!
My favorites that I haven’t tried are:
Doing crazy bowling moves to still score points
The $5 Walmart challenge
Creating a scavenger hunt (this one takes prior planning but would be a fun way to surprise my hubby)
I haven’t tried any of those three either, but don’t they sound like fun?
There are some fun new ideas here! I like the Walmart $5 challenge … we could do that just about anywhere!
Thanks, Jayleen! And yes, that one is very adaptable! Any store, any price… you could even choose a theme!
Love these! I’m always looking for new date night ideas. We do the game nights with other couples frequently and love them!
That sounds like a lot of fun! Do you have a standing date night with a particular couple, or do you just have game nights occasionally with whoever?
My husband and I love going to a book store and perusing the Humor section. We laugh our heads off for 30 minutes and definitely get closer!
That sounds so fun! Do you get to go very often?
Your ice-cream date suggestion reminded me of a sweet memory.
A few years back, when we were first letting our kids stay home alone, we would tell them we were going to the store. Then we would drive about half a mile to the gas station at the end of the road, buy ice cream drumsticks, and sit in the car and talk for about 20 minutes. Then we would toss the evidence and go home. They thought they were ‘big’ because we left them home, we let them test their responsibility safely, and we had ice-cream and a mini-date to boot.
Thanks. And now we need to do ice cream dates just because we want to. 🙂
That is awesome. lol. Were they always good while you were gone?
My husband suggested ice skating for his birthday. We both don’t know how to but it will be fun, right? Yikes!
I think that sounds like lots of fun! I don’t know how to ice skate either, my husband does, and we still had a lot of fun when we went! Just go slow and hold hands 🙂
When our children were in there teens we would drop them off at their youth group meetings and take advantage of the time to spend it alone with each other. The place/ activity would vary, a park, a walk, getting coffee, ice cream, anything anywhere together. (No answering cell phones etc allowed). It was only an hour or so each week, but was much needed and priceless time together.
Another fun and fairly inexpensive activity is river tubing. Depending on the river this can be a very relaxing time together. You can strap your tubes together so you don’t get separated.
Great ideas! I bet my husband would love to go tubing someday.
Though I am not married but my boyfriend and I are on strict budgets. So we come up with sketching each other, making a bucket list for us to do as a couple, midnight picnics under the stars ( lots of mozzie repellent needed).
Fun! And yes to the mosquito repellent!