10 Budget Friendly Date Ideas

Being on an economy drive doesn’t have to mean sacrificing quality time spent with the person that you love. There’s loads of things you can do to still have some fun together without breaking the bank that are either free, very inexpensive or can be done with things you already have at home. Keep reading to see a few of my ideas to get you thinking!

Go on a hike

Hiking doesn’t have to be an expensive, all day activity with lots of gear, travelling to a national park. Simply typing ‘hiking trails near me’ into google is likely to turn up lots of lesser-known local beauty spots you might enjoy exploring together.

Visit the ducks

If trekking through the wilderness is not your thing, why not check out your local parks? If you or your partner love wildlife, there’s lots of fun to be had feeding the ducks! You can pick up a huge bag of birdseed from B&M or Poundland for very little money (and probably get a few trips out of it).

Picnic at the park

If you don’t have a duck pond nearby then you can always bring a feast for yourselves! Packing up your favourite food and drinks to enjoy in a sunny green space can be a lovely way to spend time together and get out of the house.

Have a movie night at home

All of the best bits about going to the cinema can be recreated at home - and you can pause the movie to get more snacks! With a little effort and even less money, you can learn to make your own popcorn, hog dogs, nachos or any of your other favourites for a fraction of the cost. As for the film, Amazon Prime Video has a 30 day free trial and I’m sure there are many other sites with similar offers. Even if you do choose to pay for the subscription, it’s still going to be a lot less than cinema tickets.

If you happen to own a DVD player, charity shops are a great place to find movies for really cheap. My partner and I have had many laughs finding the weirdest films we can find - they weren’t blockbusters but they were definitely memorable!

Have a crafternoon

This is a great option if there's an upcoming holiday! For Christmas time you could have an afternoon of cutting up paper snowflakes to go in the window, or for valentine's day you could learn to fold origami paper hearts and make some cute bunting together.

You never need to have an excuse to spend the afternoon crafting though! You can pick up beginner kits from Hobbycraft for all kinds of crafts for as little as £3 (and that's not even a sale price). They have everything you need to make sun-catchers, trinket dishes, friendship bracelets and more.

Bake together

Do you know your partner’s favourite type of cookie? Why not spend the morning baking each other’s favourite treats? You could even have a little decorating competition to make it into a more of a game. The best part about this idea is you get to enjoy your desserts for the rest of the week (or just the afternoon if you have a sweet tooth like mine!)

Go window shopping

You don’t always have to spend money to enjoy fashion, so if that’s something either of you have a passion for then why not spend a day out window shopping? You could pick a store, set a theme and pick out a few outfits for each other to try. Have fun with it and don’t forget to take pictures! If your partner did a really good job with their styling, you can always bookmark the items for later & shop the sales when it fits into your budget.

Have an at-home spa day

You can pick up own-brand face masks at Boots and Superdrug for £1 and under. Pair that with a good head massage and some homemade baked goods from earlier and that’s my ideal night in for two! Simply sit back and enjoy some chill music together or maybe try some couples journaling prompts & have some conversation.

Have a romantic dinner at home

There’s so much fun to be had cooking together at home. You could take it in turns to be head chef and sous chef, or you could split the courses between you. If you really enjoy cooking for your partner, you could even make it a weeknight surprise to level up the meal into something a little more special.

Learn a new skill together

Nothing brings people together like a shared experience! This could be anything from learning to play an instrument or sing, to learning to do a handstand or even salsa dancing. YouTube is an amazing and endless resource for new skills to try together, but if you live near a library it would be worth seeing what they have on offer too.

As well as books, my local library offers loads of free events from creative writing workshops to talks about local history and everything in between!

Key Points

So those are just a few ideas for how to keep dating on a budget. My overall advice would be to think about what you and your partner enjoy doing, then think of ways to try and cut back the costs while still making it enjoyable!

If you try any of these ideas, or have any new ones of your own, I’d love to hear about it over on instagram @prepandpages