24 Budget-Friendly Date Ideas for 2024!
The holiday is over…, and I lamented that time flew by so quickly. And yet, this past holiday my family and I spent more with our friends as a whole as we visits various friends in two different cities out of state. In spite of our busy family life, scheduling regular date nights with my spouse has been an important part of my marriage. Though not perfect like other couples who have a date night every week, we try to schedule a date night (or a date day/ date morning) consistently whenever possible. A date night/ morning or afternoon is a pre-planned time where you and your spouse temporarily leave your work and family life and spend a set amount of time focusing on each other… either talking and listening to each other, or doing things or having fun together. According to Drs. John and Julie Gottman, a world renown team of studying couples and working with couples, setting aside a special time just to focus on you and your partner helps couples to reconnect and make your relationship special. As Dr. John Gottman explains in his book, “Eight Dates: Essential Conversations for a Lifetime of Love“, having dates with your spouse helps “to fall back in love and remind yourselves that there is more to your relationship than sharing a home or parenting children. You remind yourselves that you’re first and foremost friends and lovers” (page 22).
Over the years of working with couples in my practice, the top two barriers that keep most couples from scheduling a date with their spouse are money and logistics. Is the recent inflation has taken a bit out of your budget for a date with your spouse? As In this article, I’d like to share some of the budget-friendly date ideas that are practical and doable. Over the years my spouse and I have tried several budget-friendly date ideas and I thought that it would be fun to add a few more to make a full list of “24 date ideas for 2024”!
24 Budget-Friendly Date Ideas
Visit a town or a city in your state to explore
Visit a public garden or an arboretum
Explore a new nature trail and go for hike
Visit a local animal farm
Browse a bookstore and talk to your spouse the book(s)/ magazine(s) that interests you.
Go on a picnic in a park
Geocaching. https://www.geocaching.com/sites/education/en/
Free museum night
Go out for breakfast
Go out for dessert
Visit a farmer’s market
Go canoeing or Kayaking
Explore a new coffee shop
Find a pond or a lake to feed ducks
Visit an exhibition/ a trade show/ local show. For example, Northwest Flower and Garden show
Find a bike route that you and your partner like and go for a bike ride
Book a tennis (or a badminton) court to play sports together
Find a new recipe that you both want to try by making a new dish together
Take a pottery class as a date night
Get a fire pit in the backyard and roast some marshmallows!
Take a scenic drive
Try the Gottman Card deck app and see how many correct answers you get about your spouse (and vice versa)
If you have a gym membership, head to the gym to take a group fitness class together or just workout together
Look through the old pictures to remind you of some good old times together
Do a collage to create your vision board and share with each other your vision for the future '
Create a bucket list for the dreams that you want to fulfill in the next 10 years and share with your spouse
Date nights should be sacred times to honor your relationship. PLAN AHEAD! Schedule them in your calendars for as much time as possible. Even if it’s just for an hour, you show your partner that he/she matters to you!
Resources:
Date Night Ideas in Seattle: https://www.classpop.com/magazine/date-ideas-in-Seattle
To learn more about practical budgeting tips, I highly recommend Dave Ramsey’s How to Create a Budget.
Dave Ramsey: https://www.ramseysolutions.com/
More date ideas from The Gottman Institute: https://www.gottman.com/blog/25-dates-you-can-try-at-home/