Romance On A Budget
Cheap dates that keep love alive.
Get More Bang for your Buck. Pulling off romance on a budget is just like living daily life on a budget: it's all about value. Which just means thinking a little outside the box. So do some research and find the places where you'll feel like you're splurging (but know you're not paying for it).
For example, some Chinese restaurants serve wine gratis with dinner, which makes your date feel lavish, at no extra cost. Other eateries have two-for-one drink specials until a certain hour, or are known to offer heaping portions meant to be shared.
Want to give your date front-row tickets to a baseball game? Try the minor league equivalent of your local team: in New York, for less than half the price of mediocre Mets tickets, you can sit up front at a Coney Island Cyclones game, watching rising stars slam home runs and sipping beers that won't cost you an arm and a leg.
Likewise, up-and-coming opera companies can give fabulous performances of famous works for a tenth of what New York's Met would charge you—check the local paper to see what fringe players are wowing critics.
Take a Staycation. Even if you've lived there your whole life, your town or city probably still has a lot to offer. Exploring new frontiers with someone fosters a sense of excitement and togetherness, and can make your date feel like a vacation (minus that pesky plane ticket). Ride the bus to an outlying neighborhood you've never visited, and have lunch in a cute restaurant. When was the last time you visited the local zoo? Have you ever actually gone up to the top of the Empire State building? Venture out to that old-fashioned pizzeria in the countryside that everyone swears has the best pies this side of Rome.
Just Be Together. Your house is the most exclusive club/restaurant/museum in town—so stay in and enjoy its fashionable quietude. Stock up on fresh ingredients at the farmer's market and cook dinner together. Stay in on Saturday night and play board games over a bottle of red wine. Snuggle up and read aloud to each other. Put on your favorite record and ask your date to dance…in the living room. Keeping your festivities at home is novel, intimate, and, just coincidentally, way more affordable than taking them on the town.
Discussion
I agree with the others- I am tired of all of these "on a budget" articles. How about just featuring really cool, amazing things that people can do- regardless of budget. When times are tough- we want to hear about AMAZING things, not taking your date to a Chinese restaurant so that you can get free cheap wine. How depressing!
Date nights are important. But you can keep it simple. Why not just go out for dessert and coffee? The important thing is that you are together. If you are with someone who needs to be pampered and go out on expensive dates and that irks you, then you are with the wrong person.
