Cheer on the hometown heroes for a fun and cheap date – via Shutterstock
Cheap Valentine’s Day date ideas, you say? Yes friends, Hallmark’s favorite holiday is just around the corner. If you find yourself with a date but not a lot of dough, we have come up with some creative dates that will leave your heart and your wallet big.
Five cheap date ideas for Valentine’s Day
Visit the glory days: Look up your local high school varsity schedule, dress in team colors and cheer on the hometown team like your kid is the star point guard. Admission is usually no more than $5 and nothing beats a concession stand hot dog.
Go treasure hunting: Ever heard of geocaching? Geocaching is a free, real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices (like your iPhone). People all over the world are hiding treasures for others to find! So grab your date and navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates in your town using a geocaching app. Then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.
Give unto others: Volunteer to make dinner for families at your local Ronald McDonald House, play games with residents at an assisted living facility or walk dogs at a local shelter. Putting others first is a cheap and fulfilling way to spend time with someone you care about.
Swap stories: If you live in a city with a train station, mall or airport, head on over with two notebooks, pens and a thermos of adult hot chocolate. Find a cozy spot and pick a interesting looking person or couple to be your “characters”. For the next 15 minutes, each of you will write their “story” Don’t worry if you aren’t JD Salinger – just scribble whatever comes to mind. After the 15 minutes is up, exchange notebooks and read the tales aloud. It’s great insight to your date’s humor, creativity and perceptions. Maybe it’s the writer in me, but this one is my favorite!
Feed your souls: Most local yoga studios or Lululemon clothing stores hold “community classes” on the weekends. These classes usually teach the basics and are either free or have a “donate what you can” request. Starting or ending a romantic encounter with a centering flow will strengthen your minds, bodies and souls – while sporting sweatpants. What other kind of date offers that?
Now that you’ve got the date planned, you’re going to need Valentine’s Day gift ideas to cut costs. Enjoy!
Welcome to Bargain Babe! I’m Mara, and I’m so glad you’re here. I am an obsessive bargain hunter and penny pincher, and I am determined to live a full life without EVER paying full price. 
Ah! I love these ideas! I’m not sure which one I like the best. My husband and I love trying quirky things to keep life exciting, and I ADORE the swap stories and treasure hunting ideas!! So out of the box. I also think going to a random sporting event and cheering our faces off sounds hilarious! HOW TO CHOOSE???? Thanks for a great article!
@Megan These are fantastic cheap date ideas, Valentine’s Day or not! The writer in my also loves the idea of making up stories while people watching and then sharing them, but I’m not sure I could get my husband to go for that. I think that would be a fun “friend date” activity, though. The yoga class would definitely work for us. What a special treat to go to yoga together – we used to go every Thursday, and now it’s like once a quarter. Ug. I miss getting sweaty together!