Frugal Date Ideas

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Frugal Date Ideas For Artists

* Attend your local art school’s year-end show for a peek into the minds of up-and-coming artisans.
* Contact your local chamber of commerce for a walking tour map of your community, highlighting areas like the local museums or architectural highlights.
* Volunteer yourselves as models for a hairdressing school.
* Take in amateur night at the coffeehouse, bar or comedy club. You could also get up on stage yourself and belt out a tune, tell a joke or read romantic poetry you’ve written about your date.

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Frugal Date Ideas For Family-Focused Folks

* Host a home-cooked meal for your entire family, lovingly prepared by you and your date.
* Challenge other family members to a game of backyard badminton, charades or another team event, pitting you and your date against other teams of two.
* Suggest a double date with both sets of parents, so that everyone can get to know each other before the relationship gets serious.

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Frugal Date Ideas For Home Bodies

* Pull out some bug spray and a cozy blanket and curl up together in your backyard or a local park for some star-watching.
* Have a movie night with your date, challenging each other to bring a flick within the allotted theme of the night – such as worst movie of all time or the best classic you’ve never heard of. You could even go so far as to make a weekend out of it and create your own personal Oscars screening or private themed film festival.
* Raid the dollar store for poker game items you don’t already have. Use peanuts or some other inexpensive markers and let the games begin.

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Frugal Date Ideas For Kids at Heart

* Find a swing set, playground or water park and spend the day there together.
* Farmers markets and street fairs usually cost nothing and you’ll enjoy some time together learning more about your community’s offerings.
* Visit the zoo together.
* Challenge each other to a contest. Anything works, and the sillier the better! Try sand castle building, hop scotch, name that tune, marbles, or kite flying.

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Frugal Date Ideas For Romantics

* Make a special dinner for your sweetie, complete with sexy music and candles.
* Learn how to do a strip-tease and perform it for your partner.
* Pack a picnic and take your date for a bike ride to a secluded location for a special, inexpensive getaway.
* Spend a day together at the beach. You can snorkel and explore sea life, collect sea shells and driftwood, go for a swim, or have a rock skipping contest.

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Frugal Date Ideas For Sports or Activity Lovers

* Learn a new sport or activity together, such as ultimate Frisbee or mountaineering. Alternatively, take a peek to see if there are any singles-oriented sport leagues in your area and sign up for something together.
* Invite some friends over for a big game or pay-per-view event and make a day of it, complete with munchies and prizes for the most supportive at-home fans.
* Go for a hike together.
* In the wintertime, ask the neighborhood kids where they go tobogganing, and head out together for a day on the “slopes”.

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Frugal Date Ideas For Thrill Seekers

* Read through the Guinness Book of World Records together, and find something the two of you could potentially achieve as a couple.
* Go for a drive together where you only stop or turn when you encounter a pre-determined area or event, such as a garage sale sign or a street that starts with the letter M.

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Frugal Date Ideas For Those Who Thirst for Knowledge

* Attend a poetry or book reading together. Most of these events are free, and you’ll learn something new to discuss over coffee later.
* Sign up to volunteer together for a cause that you are both passionate about or a festival that otherwise would be too expensive to attend.
* Take a tour of a local brew pub or winery, which typically are free or very heavily discounted.

From Bonny Albo,
Your Guide to Dating.