Article 3 In a Series of Articles on How To Go On A Cheap Date

Enjoy the Great Outdoors

There are so many free and low cost activities available when you want to enjoy the great outdoors.  Couple any of the following activities with a picnic lunch, and you’ve got a date that can last from 4 to 10 hours.

For instance, take a Frisbee to the park.    Toss it around before breaking out the picnic lunch.  Then, after you’ve eaten, spend some more time with the plastic disc.

Touch football is a contact sport.  Gotta love that on a date!  Or, play some one on one basketball.  If that’s too much exercise, opt for p.i.g. instead.

Bike riding is a popular date idea.  You can ride to a beautiful destination such as a waterfall and have lunch there.  Then ride home.  A variation on this theme is to rent a bicycle built for two (tandem bike) for the date.

Rollerblading on the boardwalk can be lots of fun if you have any balance at all.  You can either go hand in hand or race each other to a destination.

Ice Skating can be fun in the great outdoors during the winter season and can even be enjoyed in the summer if you have an indoor arena.  Again, people who have done this before tend to have a better time on a first date!

Take to the water.  Going fishing or boating can provide a relaxing way to get to know someone while offering something to do with one’s hands. 

In the summer, grab some inner tubes and float down a river.

Fill up some water balloons and have a messy fight (gals, wear a white t-shirt for added impact!)  In the winter, a snow ball fight serves the same purpose.  And, wintertime also brings on the possibility of building the biggest, best snowman in the neighborhood.

In many personal ads, people say they want to find someone to take “midnight strolls on the beach” with.  But how many people actually do this?  Surprise your date with an evening trip to the nearest body of water for a romantic walk.

Take a Class

If you really want to spend some time with a person, consider signing up for a class together.  A class can consist of a one afternoon demonstration on how to make sushi to a year long language course at the university.

Perhaps one of the most romantic date classes is dance lessons.  When you learn to dance, you have years of great dates ahead of you.  You can choose whatever kind of dancing is interesting to the two of you, but ballroom, tango, and salsa dancing are definitely the kinds of classes where “it takes two.”

How To Go On A Cheap Date

You may be interested in cooking classes.  Generally cooking classes are one to four sessions in length, so you will not be committing to a long period of time.  Also, there are a variety of kinds of cooking classes from helping you develop basic cooking skills to advanced sessions on specific kinds of cooking.  Some classes are taught by professional cooks in their kitchens.  Others are sponsored by restaurants or gourmet supermarkets.  There are also cooking classes at junior colleges and community centers.

Community colleges have semester and half semester long classes on a whole variety of liberal arts subjects that don’t cost much money.  In California, for instance, a 45 hour literature course costs less than $100 plus text books.  You can take classes in comparative religion, creative writing, psychology, or any other subject that sparks your interest.  Maybe the most romantic class you can take is a romance language.  Wouldn’t you like to be able to say “I love you” in Italian?

University extension centers have non-credit courses as well.  Some of these mirror the content of a normal university course without the homework.  Others are related to helping you develop professional skills.  But some, are just for fun.  For instance the University of California at Berkeley has an extension series in wine appreciation.  And, Harvard’s extension program offers classes in Folklore and Mythology, Hindi, and Film.

Your Park and Recreation or Community Center probably also offers a range of classes you can take for fun.  The Austin, TX Parks and Rec department offers month long classes (once a week) in subjects as varied as sculpture, photography, and short film.

If you are thinking about getting married, a personal finance class could help you bridge the ways you think about money and help you build a more secure future.

One kind of class that could pay dividends is a couple’s massage class.  This is one class where you won’t mind doing your “homework.”

When you learn together, you grow together as a couple.  Signing up for classes together provides a series of inexpensive and enriching dates. Next article on How To Go On A Cheap Date will be tomorrow.

Article 2 In a Series of Articles on How To Go On A Cheap Date

Festivals, Fairs, and Farmer’s Markets

Your area probably has major festivals several times a year.  For instance, you may have a film festival featuring classic movies or movies from a specific culture or country. 

Harvest festivals in the United States tend to center around a certain crop important to the area.  For instance, in Indio, CA there is a National Date festival every February.  In Michigan, a Cherry Festival is held in July. 

There are also festivals which center around a certain culture.  Chinese New Years celebrations take place in a large number of cities in late January or early February.  Communities with large Jewish, Greek, or Mexican immigrant populations may also feature celebrations around important dates.  While these events draw largely from the stated community, all are welcome and visitors are encouraged to come.  These events are either free or charge a small fee.  You will also be able to pick up some cheap ethnic food at these festivals.

Then there are specialty festivals and gatherings.  For instance there are several Renaissance Faires held across the country.  Fantasy and science fiction fans get together frequently for events as well.  If your date is interested in any of these genres, you can make a splash by taking them to these cheap date venues.

Fairs are also great date ideas.  These are largely held in the summer or on holidays such as Memorial Day or Labor Day.  There is usually a low admission charge that gets you into the event and most of the shows.  Separate fees are charged for rides and for headline events.  You can often find discounts or packages through local sponsors such as grocery stores.

But you don’t have to wait for the annual fair or festival to enjoy the camaraderie of outdoor entertainment.  Many communities put on significant farmer’s markets each week.  In addition to produce and craft sales, the larger farmer’s markets feature weekly entertainment.  Admission to the market is free.  You can often pick up dinner on the cheap from street venders as well.

How To Go On A Cheap Date

Volunteer

When you volunteer, you not only get a free date, you give something back to the community.  If you and your significant other share a passion for some cause, your relationship will become closeras a result of working together toward a common cause.

If your significant other is already involved in a volunteering activity, try joining them.  Otherwise, sit down and come up with a list of things you both care about. 

For instance, if you are an animal lover, go to the local shelter and play with the cats and dogs.  These animals do not get enough attention and the shelter needs all of the help it can get.  Spending a couple of hours with animals that have been mistreated can be a lot of fun, and it does a world of good for these lonely cats and dogs.

But volunteering doesn’t have to happen on an institutional scale either.  If you and your significant other know someone who has broken a leg or otherwise become immobile, volunteer to walk their dog once a day for the duration.  This becomes time you can spend together and you are doing a friend a good turn.

Similarly, you can do yard work for an elderly neighbor when the seasons require it.  In the fall, mandatory leaf raking can be too physically demanding for an older person and if they are on a fixed budget, it may be to expensive for them to hire someone to do it.  But, if you and your s.o. pitch in, you can have a ball doing this together.

If you enjoy children, make a “play date” so that a young couple or single mom can have a night out.  You and your s.o. can play monopoly, watch cartoons, and wrestle with their kids.  It will give you and your date a chance to see how the other interacts with children, a vital piece of information if you would like to have a family together someday.

My final volunteer date is to have a political experience.  Political rallies have all of the pomp of a concert.  In fact, at rallies for more high profile races, there are often rock stars present.  Liberal candidates tend to have a higher “big name” draw.  Obama’s campaign was able to feature Jennifer Hudson, wil.i.am, Sheryl Crow, and Bruce Springsteen to various events.  Lee Greenwood is a standard headliner at big Republican events.

Article 3 will continue in this series of articles on Cheap Dates, tomorrow. Here is more on the subject: Make up instead of Break up with the magic second chance letter.

Article 1 In a Series of Articles on How To Go On A Cheap Date

So, times are tough.  You owe more on your home than it is worth.  Your stocks took a dive.  You’re even worried that your job might not be around next month.  How can you get into a romantic mood with all of these worries?

Fortunately, great dates don’t have to cost a lot of money.  In fact, you may be able to impress your date more with your ingenuity than you would with cold hard cash.  Often, the things that cost the least can end up being the most fun.

So, it is in that vein that I present to you 20 Great Cheap Dates.

How To Go On A Cheap Date

Get Some Culture

There are any number of cultural events going on in your town.  While box seats at the orchestra may set you back a couple hundred dollars, many cultural activities are cheap.  Some are even free.

For instance, while museum admission generally costs $5 to $25 per person, many institutions have gone to having one evening a month that is free.  Often, on these free evenings, there are additional curators, interpretive advisors, or exhibits on display for the extra people who come.  Go to www.MuseumStuff.com to find a museum near you.

Communities also sponsor free concerts from time to time.  Concerts in the park are a favorite summertime activity.  These events feature all kinds of music including classical, jazz, ethnic, and modern fare. 

Live theater can often be found for not much more than a movie ticket.  In addition to community theater groups, check college and even high school offerings. 

Art schools have an annual exhibition for their graduating students each spring.  These provide a cheap date where you can see cutting edge artistic works and support local artists.

Colleges and universities also provide cheap entertainment in the form of free lectures and readings.  Some of the top minds in the world come to college campuses to share their experiences and thoughts with the community.  For instance, Iraqi journalist and NPR contributor Haidar Hazma is currently touring college campus.  Ms. Hazma covered the trial and execution of Saddam Hussein.  Loyd Auerbach, the director of the Office of Paranormal Investigations is currently on the circuit with a presentation called “True Tales of Ghosts and Hauntings.”

Authors also do readings on campus.  Sometimes popular authors are invited as part of the regular lecture series.  Other times, the school brings in specific authors that students in a given class are reading to enhance the curriculum.  There is often a public reading of the work in addition to an address to the class.

When you choose a low cost culturally-related date, you will not only save money, you will show your date your sophisticated side.

Article 2 in this series of Articles on How To Go On A Cheap Date will continue tomorrow.