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Valentine's Day Date Ideas: 30 Ideas on a Budget
You don't have to celebrate Valentine’s Day with a dozen roses, expensive jewelry, dinner at the finest restaurant in town, a show/movie and a babysitter to make sweet memories. To help you create a memorable Valentine's Day, we offer the following top 30 romantic date and gift ideas for those on a shoestring budget, or who just want to try something a bit more original.
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Valentine’s Day Coupons - If you want to show her/him how much you care, go out and buy a cheap coupon book and write out some IOU's, redeemable anytime. "IOU one back rub", foot rub, massage, hair wash, a day at the spa/beauty salon, candle lit dinner (in or out), breakfast in bed. Or, offer to do one of your partners’ chores: take out the garbage, wash the dishes, do laundry, vacuum. You can spend a little or nothing at all on these "gifts" and they will be loved. Use your imagination and neither of you will be disappointed.
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“Our Relationship” - The Soundtrack - The invention of CD burners makes it cheap and easy to make a soundtrack of your relationship. Talk to your partner and name a bunch of songs that make you think of each other. Get a picture of the two of you and put it on the cover. Exchange CD’s during a romantic dinner at home and dance all night long to the story of your love!
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Pizza My Heart Date - This is one of the most romantic things you can do for the smallest price. Ask your significant other if he or she would like to join you at a local pizza place before or after a movie. Before the two of you have your meal, however, go to the restaurant personally, explain that you're coming in at a certain time for a pizza, and tell them you'd like them to make the pizza into the shape of a heart. I've tried this twice, and both times the cooks were more than happy to oblige for no extra cost (it makes their job more exciting). Give the waitress a little nod when you come in with your date, and she'll come over with your pizza. This is an especially good date to use on the ladies, and it scored big points both times.
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Sexy Scavenger Hunt - Leave a list of clues in the kitchen and when your paramour comes home from work, the scavenger hunt to find you begins. Hide little trinkets like heart shaped candies, heart covered boxer shorts, bags of red jelly beans, scented candles, photos of the two of you together, etc. around the house and let the clues lead your partner to the gifts and eventually you.
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At Home Aromatherapy - Turn you love nest into a spa! Create the mood by lighting candles, burning some incense and playing anything by India Arie or Norah Jones. Then give him/her a massage to remember with scented oils and creams. Don't forget to hit all the pressure points! For her, nothing says I love you better than giving your special hard-at-work woman a pedicure. Make sure you pick up a nice shade of red!
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Volunteer on Valentine’s Day - Volunteering your time for charity is a great way to show your love that you care about him/her and the world. You and your loved one could read to senior citizens at a nursing home, donate blood, volunteer at a homeless shelter or soup kitchen, visit sick children in the hospital or feed premature babies. Holding your significant other after holding a preemie will definitely be much more meaningful.
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Romantic Evening of Indoor Camping - The week before Valentine’s Day, purchase an at-home S'more’s kit complete with marshmallows, chocolate bars, graham crackers and a disposable grill. The night before Valentine’s Day, decorate the ceiling with glow in the dark stars. When your honey comes home, break out the sleeping bags, a bottle of wine and two flashlights. Shut off the lights and tell each other ghost stories while making S'more’s. Top off the night by gazing at the “stars” on your ceiling.
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Nostalgic Valentine’s Day - Let’s face it, we all wish we could be kids again. Life and love was certainly much simpler and the only thing you needed to worry about back then was how to get your GI Joe out of the tree or which patent leather shoes to wear to school. This year, go back to being a kid again on Valentine’s Day. Create cutout hearts from construction paper and stuff them in your sweetie’s lunch bag or briefcase. Spend the day at a petting zoo or a local park with a playground where you can ride the seesaw, go down the slide and swing on the swings. Who knows - this time when he tries to kiss you in the yard you just might let him!
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Pleasurable Pottery Painting - An evening of pottery making harkens back to the sensuous Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze scene in the 80’s cult classic movie Ghost. Yet, those classes could run anywhere from $30 - $50 per session! Painting pottery can be just as romantic. Many places even allow romance seekers to bring a bottle of wine.
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Winter Wonderland - Make your own winter festival. Take your sweetheart ice-skating at the town park, have a snowman building competition (and snowball fight), make snow angels, and sled race down the big toboggan hill! Afterwards warm up in front of your fireplace with some hot chocolate.
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Make it a Blockbuster Night - Who said pizza and a movie wasn’t romantic? Hit the romance aisle at your local movie store and stock up on some of your favorites such as High Fidelity, Love Story, Pearl Harbor and Pretty Woman. Snuggle on the couch and let Tinsel Town draw you and your partner into a cinematic fairy tale.
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Road Trip Date - My boyfriend and I went on a drive for hours, up and down the coast of California. Finally I spotted a secluded part on the beach and I asked him to go down there with me. We walked down the pier and he had roses and candles set up with a bottle of wine and chocolate dipped strawberries. Quite frankly, it was one of the best dates ever!
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Moonlight Skating Date - When I came home for Christmas, my friend and I decided to go to the skating rink for New Years Eve. I thought it was lame, because I wanted to go party. Then my friend introduced me to one of his female friends, and we really hit it off. It was really fun. We would skate around, sometimes holding hands, and sometimes just being silly. When we walked outside to leave, we saw a miracle. The ground was covered with snow. It was so romantic, we had our first kiss right there. I really look forward to seeing her again. I will be out of the Army in about a month.
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Seductive Date - Find as many candles as you can in your house. Set them all in one place, hidden in a room. Then find your best slow mix CD or two and keep it handy. Go out to dinner that night, somewhere nice and just be you. Afterward, take her back to your house, lead her to another room and tell her you will be back in 5 minutes. Clear all the furniture to the sides of the room and place the candles around the room. Then, light the candles, turn off the lights, and go back to her. When she asks what is going on, just say I have a little surprise for you. It will make her nervous. Then put your hand over her eyes or blind-fold her. Take her slowly, as not to bump into any walls to the room and have her open them. Play the CD, w/ remote in back pocket, and ask her to dance. Dance for a while and then play a few card games or something in the candlelight.
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Long Distance Date - This is a date idea I came up with for me and my girl. We couldn't be in the same city on our one month anniversary, so we arranged a time and called each other. We sat there in our separate rooms and ate the same meal and described to each other what it tasted like. (She likes pizza a lot, so we both had mushroom pizza, something of a treat for us.) It was actually really neat. We then had phone sex, which is worth doing, especially if you can't see the person you like for long periods at a time.
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Long Distance Gift Date - This is an idea I came up with and it was really fun to do. Take a favorite photo and have it made on a mouse pad, T-shirt or coffee mug. That way, she's sure to always be reminded of the two of you, in some special way. I did mine on the mouse pad since we were into e-mailing each other at the time and the relationship was long-distance.
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Crafty Date - I know it sounds corny for the guys, but its loads of fun. My boyfriend and I make candles together. We buy the wax and the holders and than add fruit and cool things to make them look nice. Then we watch them burn while we lie in bed.
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'Lady & the Tramp meet Survivor' Dinner Date - One of the funniest dates was a group date where everyone tied their wrists together and ate spaghetti. The table was boy-girl-boy-girl. You really have to work together to eat, but it's so fun.
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Dress-up Date - Going shopping at second hand clothing stores can be interesting ...There are several places in the downtown area where I live that sell second hand clothing that is in good shape. You can dress each other up in cute discounted designer clothes and then wear them on your next date (if you're as picky as I am about my clothes then the shopping experience will be a long enough date). And if it doesn't take a long time for you to shop then you can just sport your new duds at the local bowling alley or miniature golf course afterward.
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Bookstore Date - Go find a book store somewhere - try to find the book called "1001 ways to be romantic" or "1001 more ways to be romantic" (it was a 2 book series) - by Gregory Bodek. A lot of book stores have chairs you can relax in. Take turns with the book - call out random numbers - for example: I had the book and my husband would say "34" - so then I turn to idea number 34 and read it out loud. Then we have to vote whether we would "never do that", "maybe do that" or "absolutely do that". You can vary the voting choices obviously. If you actually want to buy the book - it's only $10 - then you can play the game in bed, or whenever. It's amazing what you'll learn about your partner. Also, it gives you GREAT romantic ideas that you or your partner may act out at some point. My husband put lots of these ideas to good use.
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Date in the graveyard - My most memorable date was when my date took me to the top of a hill and we sat and talked, while looking down over the city and the cemetery below. I love to walk through cemeteries. One near us had such fascinating facts that we later went back and cleaned all of the headstones, just to read the epitaphs. I have greater respect for loved ones who have been in love since we did this.
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Tacky Bowling Date - Here is a truly weird date idea, but it's fun and it works in the sense of getting past personal barriers and getting to know each other. My sister used to do this for some dates, and I stole the idea from her. She calls it "tacky bowling". The idea is simple: put on the tackiest clothes you have and go bowling. You could go tacky with other activities, but it works well for bowling because no matter how silly you might feel on your way to the bowling alley, when you compare your tackiness to the bowlers around, you realize that you're just an amateur. According to my sister, it was never difficult to convince guys that this was fun, but I found it to be something of a hard sell to ladies. The brave souls who tried it with me, though, had lots of laughs.
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Kidnapping Date - On one of my first dates, I kidnapped him and took him out to breakfast. Another one that we did was to have a water fight in the park. Make sure that there are plenty of water balloons, and that they are the bio-degradable kind.
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Environmental Date - There are tons of places where folks litter all the time, and you could help clean up the city while having time together. You can make up stories about who threw the litter ... you'll find odd stuff, yucky stuff, etc. Let your creativity run wild. You may even find something neat.
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Murder Mystery Date - Try a Murder Mystery dinner theatre. My boyfriend and I had a great time. In some places you can just walk in, but for the one we did, you make a reservation long in advance. Then you receive in the mail character descriptions of who you will be “portraying" that evening. It's great! It's like an interactive game of Clue. It sure puts a new creative spin on the old "Hey, let's go to dinner" date. It also makes for a good Halloween date, if you want to avoid trick-or-treaters and drunken party goers.
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Slave Labor Date - Go to a friend’s house and refuse to leave until they give you both a job to do. It's a slave labor date. We did this and ended up helping someone replace a microwave. Wow, who knew? Later they commented on how it helped them in a time of need, and we were just bored and needed something to do. I have several children and if I prepare carefully, I can have them run a restaurant, bus boys, waiter, cook and hostess included. My children think we are weird, but I can also see they like doing it. They are always willing to paint mustaches on each other and dress up for effect.
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Sweet Messages Date - This isn't really a date idea, more of a romantic tip. I'm not sure why, but one day at work I took home one of those receipt roles. For more than 6 months I would write something on it every now and then. A quote, how much I miss her, a poem, almost anything you can think of. Eventually I filled the entire roll. I brought her out for a walk in the woods we had a few snacks and a bottle of wine with us. In the middle of our date I pulled out the roll of words and gave it to her. We sat there together for hours. She was reading it as I was trying to remember why I wrote certain things she would ask about. It was really cool to see the look on her face whenever she read something she REALLY liked. She still has the roll of words, she's actually had it doweled at either end so it's kind of like a scroll now. Anyway, if you have the time, go for it. It's probably the best idea I've ever had.
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Star Gazing Date - I live out in the country, so this works well. My boyfriend parked his truck out in the middle of nowhere (in a field somewhere), threw a sleeping bag in the bed of the truck, and we just laid there for hours looking at the stars and talking. It was the best date ever!
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Relationship scavenger hunt - Relive old memories while making new ones by setting up a course with clues that relate to the intimate details of your relationship. For example, your first date, when/where you first kissed, your most romantic holiday together, etc. Answers to each clue lead you to places that hold significance for you both — where you first confessed your love to each other, where you got engaged and so on. You can end up where you had your first date, or where you met. It’s fun and also fairly inexpensive.
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Drive Me Crazy Date - One of my favorite dates is teaching my partner how to drive a car with a manual transmission. Find an empty parking lot; make sure you have some good tunes, and a full tank of gas. It may seem unromantic, but it's hilarious for the both of you to see the "student driver" sputter and stall the car. Also, if he/she is finally successful, he/she will always remember where he/she learned how to do it, and the patient one who taught him/her.
- by Brenda Ross
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