A Year of {Cheap, Fun, Simple} Date Nights

But first, a small announcement. I've decided I want to spend more time on the arts side of my creative pursuits, so I'll need to spend less time on my crafting and blogging. I LOVE painting (watercolors in particular) but it's really sad how few paintings I've done since graduating. It's so sad, I won't even tell you how many. Okay, I will--one. That's really sad.  (It was this painting, by the way.)


I also love my blog, though, so I will keep posting. And I don't think it's possible for me to stop crafting. So you'll still see me, just less often. I'm thinking once a week, probably on Wednesdays, though this week's post is (obviously) today, because I've been saving this project for Valentine's Day!


So without further ado:

A Year of Date Nights

It can be hard to come up with something fun to do each week! Mr. MadeIt and I were falling back on the same couple of activities, but we used to do all kinds of things--we just had to remember what. So I made a list. I wanted to have a different activity for every week of the year, so I also checked out other people's suggestions (links at the bottom of this post), and I had it--a whole year's worth of Date Nights. I printed the date ideas onto index cards and we were set.

{Disclaimer: These dates are intended to be done with a spouse, i.e. they are not all appropriate for unmarried people. So don't be shocked when you see Strip Poker.}

At Home

It is expensive to hire a babysitter every week!  Here are lots of ideas for fun date nights you can have without any hired help.

1--Dinner in the backyard, or on the porch

2--Watch a movie

3--Redbox + popcorn

4--Order pizza

5--Theme Night:  Dress, eat dinner, and watch a movie with the same theme (Ex:  Western--cowboy/girl outfits, BBQ, John Wayne movie)

6--Indoor picnic

7--Special dessert

8--Get all dressed up, but stay home

9--Very exclusive dance

10--Grand Night at the {Your Name} Theater--don't forget the formal invitation and fancy clothes!

11--Sexy clothes (pick another card for the activity)

12--Read a book (We like to read together and always have some book we're in the middle of.)

13--Candlelit dinner

14--Make a CD of playlist for the night's background music

15--Splurge on yummy treats

16--Back rubs

17--Share your favorite dating memories

18--Candles everywhere!

19--Exercise together

20--Try a new recipe

21--Go to bed early ;)

22--Play the Wii together (or whatever gaming system you have)

23--Watch a sports movie and eat stadium food (nachos, hotdogs...)

24--Hawaii vacation--tropical drinks, swimming suits, and kiddie pool

25--Breakfast for dinner

26--Board games

27--Card games

28--Super ice cream treats

29--Make s'mores/dinner outside

30--Grand Change Escapade--Gather up all your loose change and try to spend as much of it as you can without going over.

31--Indoor camping

32--Bubble bath for two

33--Make some silly craft together

34--Finger-painting

35--Work on a project together

36--Play 20 Questions--Write down twenty getting-to-know-you questions you never thought to ask before

37--Find a "how to" video at the library and learn a new skill  (I'm hoping we find one about dancing!)

38--Teach each other a new skill  (I want Mr. MadeIt to teach me how to play guitar.)

39--Get a movie from the library
40--Make Bucket Lists
41--Strip-poker, etc (any card game works)

Free and Cheap Going Out
Sometimes, you've just got to get out of the house.  But going out can be inexpensive, too!

42--Take dinner to the park (Love this one.)
43--Take pictures
44--Go on a walk
45--Go mall-walking/window shopping (Great for cold/wet/unpleasant days)
46--Go play at the playground
47--Go bowling
47--Go to an art show, museum community play...
49--Go hiking
50--Stargazing
51--Night swimming (if you have a local pool that's open at night)
52--Mini-Golf

Special Occasions
We're all for the $10 and under dates, but sometimes you just want to do something special.

53--Go to a nice restaurant
54--Outdoor camping, or any other overnight date
(Yeah, that's all I've got.  Free-and-cheap really is the way we roll around here.)

For the Holidays
I don't imagine this needs any explanation.  :)

55--Birthdays--Birthday boy/girl gets to choose everything!
56--Christmas--Make Christmas cookies
57--Christmas--Make Christmas tree ornaments
58--Valentine's Day--Make an all-red dinner
59--Valentine's Day--Make Valentine's cards for each other.  (The cheesier, the better!)
60--Halloween--Make your costumes

I'd love to hear your suggestions for date nights!  Please share!

Ideas from:
Things we've done before
Friends and family

http://www.themomcrowd.com/30-ideas-for-a-date-night-at-home

http://www.marieclaire.com/sex-love/relationship-issues/cheap-date-ideas

http://www.niftydateideas.com/