Suggestions for a cheap/cost free date?

[Specsy]

So, on the 25th of November, it will be 3 years that my boyfriend and I have been dating. We are both incredibly short on money (actually I literally have no money to spend right now and he has VERY little).

Regardless of it we still want to do something special for our anniversary. For our first anniversary, we went horse riding and had a picnic at a monument. For our 2nd anniversary we did the romantic dinner thing at a fancy restaurant.

We are thinking of going to a museum (yeah we are total geeks) but I think going to a museum is something we could do on any other day. We wanted to go hiking but the place closest to us both is IMPOSSIBLE to get permission to hike. I have asked a million people and all of them have no idea who I can contact to hike at that spot and I have looked for offices/reception there but I don't think there is a reception on site but the entire area is fenced off. There is another nice hiking spot but petrol prices have just gone up and neither of us can really afford to go that far.

We can go to a park and have a picnic, but we have done that before and I want to do something different. So far, every year HE organised what to do for our anniversaries, but this year he is writing exams right up until the day of our anniversary and he is unable to plan things so he asked me to do it.

PLEASE help me with ideas.

Also I would love to get him a gift. For the duration of our relationship I have given him a grand total of TWO gifts. One for our first Christmas and one for his birthday the year before last year. I am TERRIBLE with gifts, and he literally has just about everything he would ever need and anything he does need is way too expensive (like in over $200 expensive). Sometimes I wish I was a guy because giving a teddy bear to a girl is appropriate and not very costly. We always hand make each other cards for all occasions. Both of us do not believe in buying cards as they are too impersonal so I will be making him a card anyway. The first gift I got him was his favourite cologne and a funny t-shirt for Christmas, and the 2nd gift I got him was a pen engraved with his name and mine, as his was just about to start exams at the time and it was appropriate.


So if anyone can give gift suggestions that would be great too.

 

[Jules]

Could you do something nice at your or his place? Cook a nice meal... And/Or decorate a room like an old movie theater and you could watch old bw movies.

As far as gifts.... Is there anything special that connects the both of you in some way? A special place you met, or something you did that has a meaning to you?

 

[Skivvies]

I agree that cooking a nice meal is a good idea. Cooking together can be really fun!

As far as gifts go, you could make something...like bake him some cookies or make him a mix CD of songs that remind you of him.

 

[~Tucker&Me~]

One thing I did with my boyfriend which was fun was I made a scavenger hunt. I surprised him with it and he had to follow the clues (all were within about a 10 minutes walking distance or 5 minute bus ride), which were all hidden in places that had a special meaning. The clues themselves were 2 short paragraphs - the first explaining why this spot was special and the second describing another special spot he had to find. The whole thing took maybe an hour and a half, but it was a really nice walk down memory lane and afterwards you could make dinner for him!

 

[Fran101]

-Indoor camping is always fun. You set up a "fort" (or tent if you have one). Complete with marshmallows and fun smores or ice cream sundaes!

- Get two nerf guns. Prepare your home for battle.

- ^ same as above. but with water balloons.

- "Ever played strip *insert basically any board game here*?" ...

 

[Skivvies]

Oh also, one of the most fun inexpensive dates I've ever been on was when we made t-shirts together. We bought cheap t-shirts to print on from Target and t-shirt transfer paper from Staples (total cost was less than $20 for 2 people). Then we designed shirts in Photoshop (if you don't have it, you can use a free program like Gimp, or download the trial from Adobe's website), printed our designs, and ironed them on. We had a great time.

If the t-shirt thing isn't for you or you aren't experienced with Photoshop, you could do another craft together.

 

[*blackrose]

-Indoor camping is always fun. You set up a "fort" (or tent if you have one). Complete with marshmallows and fun smores or ice cream sundaes!

- Get two nerf guns. Prepare your home for battle.

- ^ same as above. but with water balloons.

- "Ever played strip *insert basically any board game here*?" ...

OMG, that nerf gun idea. :rofl1: If my boyfriend had a bigger place I would so be doing that. As it is, two rooms and a little island wall isn't quite enough space to have a war.

 

[CaliTerp07]

I love cooking romantic dinners together. For the past few valentines days, I haven't felt like dealing with crowds and costs, so we've done candles and wine and tablecloths at home. It's been really sweet.

As for gifts, you're really the best person to know what to give, because you're the one who hears what he says on a daily basis. One year I replaced DH's horribly falling apart sandals ($10). Another year I bought him tickets to his favorite band when they came to town. Anything with his favorite sports team on it is a hit (hoodies, signs, drinking glasses, etc). I usually go to TJ Maxx or Ross or that sort of store and browse until I find something that screams "ZACH" to me for his stocking or little trinkets.

 

[milos_mommy]

Congrats on your anniversary.

Cheap/free dates we've done:

Picnic on the beach/at the lighthouse
Hiking/picnic at local parks/nature preserves
Movies at home (we don't do this often, if you do it might not be as special)
cooking dinner together - you can find a "fancier" recipe with not-so-costly ingredients
Scrabble/other 2 player board games

Fran's ideas are great, especially setting up a fort or tent, or if you have white christmas lights you can string them up in the room (or backyard, if it's warm out).

S'mores is a good suggestion, but so is fondue. If you don't have a fondue maker or double boiler, you can fill a big pot with water and boil it and a smaller pot with the chocolate/cream/whatever and put that in the boiling water and stir as it melts.

You could also get a whole bag of tea lights pretty cheaply, for like $5 and set them up all around the room or backyard. A mix cd is always a sweet, low-cost gift, or a photo album or scrapbook of pictures of you together. Here it's not all that unusual for a girl to buy a guy a teddy bear or other stuffed animal or small token-like gift, but that may be a cultural thing.

Or if you want to be more flirtatious/playful and don't feel it's inappropriate, what about a book of "coupons", either for favors/future dates or for sexy things?

 

[Renee750il]

Picnic at night, with plenty of blankets to stargaze.

 

[Specsy]

Wow, thanks for the ideas. I think a combination of a lot of suggestions would make for a great date. I had not even thought of cooking together. He doesn't know how to cook so I think the best gift I could give him is teaching him a few basics. He is going to be home alone for 1 week in December (I am going away and so is his mother) so he will have to feed himself so I guess teaching him would be the best idea ever.

When him and I were still friends we went out for milkshakes and a movie on the 25th of November. When we got out the movie it was about 10pm and there was a HUGE Christmas tree set up outdoors at the shopping mall. We walked past it, and as we did, he stopped me, and right there under the Christmas tree, asked me if I would be his girlfriend. That's a really special place for us, but the mall has since decided to start putting up the tree much later, so the tree has not been up on the 25th of November since that year. The next best thing is a small mountain that we drive up to every so often and watch the clouds and talk about sweet nothings.

So far the day is as so, thanks to some of your suggestions. He is free from 1pm.

So at 1pm we catch a train ride together and walk up the mountain we usually drive to... I'll carry a picnic basket and we can have a picnic there. Then take a bus and go to the museum.

Then over to our neighbours place (I have keys to their place and they are not going to be there) for water gun war and swimming pool fun. It is VERY hot so it would be some silly fun.

After that, we wash up start dinner

Then after dinner we have deserts outside and do some star gazing...

 

[milos_mommy]

It sounds perfect, I'm sure it will be a lovely memory for both of you