51 Cheap Dates For Married Couples

Perk up your date night and re-connect. Here are some spontaneous ideas for couples on a budget.

Grab your camera, go to town, act like tourists and get as many people as you can to take your picture kissing.
Make a collage of the kisses on the next date.
Borrow or buy a cheap kiddie pool, fill it with bubble bath, light candles, put on some romantic music and have a spa night in the backyard.
Stroll down memory lane. Talk about the moment you knew, silly date bloopers, the best date, look at old pictures and get the butterflies.
Make up your bedroom to look like a hotel. Put mints on pillows and stack fresh fluffy towels. Get some dollar stationary and a pen and write each other love notes. Get an ice bucket with sparkling cider and hang a "do not disturb" sign on the door.
Make hot chocolate, snuggle up and read to each other.
Go to Walmart and fill your cart with something beginning with every letter of the alphabet. Then put it all away.
Bake and decorate a cake together. Make it Seuss-ish.
Have a 15-minute phone date from separate locations to build the anticipation of seeing one another.
Pack up your finest tableware and go on a picnic.
Sit in the park, airport, bench in the mall or some other public place and make up stories about the people coming and going. Think ... James Bond.
Spend the week writing down nice things you do for one another and then read them out loud over a quiet dinner.
Find a list of dream homes for sale and attend open houses for them.
Go to a museum (many have one free night a week) and find your favorite piece and tell why it moves you.
Volunteer together at a soup kitchen or shelter.
Window shop to furnish your dream home.
Swap hobbies. One date do something she loves doing.
Next date do something he loves doing.
Play a board game in bed.
Write a song together.
Go to a playground and swing.
Gather things from childhood (bubbles, hula-hoops, Frisbees, Nerf guns, water pistols, etc.) and go to the park.
Make a fancy dinner and sit on the floor and feed each other with your hands.
Find a free outdoor concert or play.
Set up a tent in the backyard and camp out.
Get dressed up and dance to your favorite music in the bedroom.
Go to a flea market and choose the most meaningful, but least expensive gift you can find for each other.
Go sledding.
Play "Chopped" in the kitchen. Give each other 30 minutes and four strange ingredients and make dinner for each other.
Go to the local library, sit in some plush chairs and read a children's book to each other.
Can't afford a night at the theater? See if your local one offers tickets for dress rehearsal. They are a fraction of the cost.
Audit a class together.
Test drive a dream car.
Dress up as a gypsy and read his fortune, telling him in great detail what the rest of his night will be like.
Lie on a blanket and watch a meteor shower.
Paint each other's portraits. Again, think Seuss-ish if you lack talent.
Go to a high school football game.
Take a hike.
Check out a cheap romance novel from the library and read it, substituting your own names for the couples'.
Rent a tandem bike and go for a ride.
Visit a farmer's market.
Make a time capsule and bury it in the backyard.
Play Frisbee golf.
Tie-dye matching T-shirts.
Do a service project for an elderly neighbor.
Go to a dollar store and buy the most meaningful and romantic gift you can find for each other.
Write uplifting words on sticky notes and go to a mall and put them in random places. Then watch as people find and read them.
Ride a city bus for the entire route, talking about the things you see.
Go on a penny walk. Each time you come to a corner, flip a penny to see which way you go.
Take a roll of quarters and go use them on things that use quarters like a jukebox, car vacuum, gumball machine, claw stuffed animal machine or fortune scale.
Popcorn and a scary movie.

For the more spontaneous and adventurous, or even if you're not, put these ideas into a drawstring bag and pull one out on date night, vowing to stick to whatever it is you draw.