Summer time seems to free up more time. The sun stays out longer, many jobs offer up summer hours, things tend to slow down for many people and I think the nicer weather just makes people want to do more. While this is great and I, personally, do love summer, constantly having plans can get expensive. That’s why I wanted to share with you some great date ideas that are free or relatively inexpensive! Just to clarify, I use the term “date” loosely; these are ideas that can be used by couples, friends or even families.
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Hiking or Visiting Trails
Exploring nature is an awesome way to spend time with friends, significant others and family. There are several places where you can hike for free and even if there is a cost associated with hiking, it is generally something reasonable like a fee for parking. Something that my husband and I love to do is take our dog with us and go on the bike path in our town. We don’t own bikes, and our dog has not yet learned to ride one =P, but we love to walk or jog on the path in the warmer months. I love going for walks because it’s just kind of soothing and it’s a good time to talk and catch up with someone. My husband and I also like to walk our dog together on weeknights around our neighborhood as a way to spend a little more time together.
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Gym Dates
For me, I tend to do more working out in the summer. Since summer is peak vacation time and people spend lots of time in bathing suits and just less clothing in general, it seems that this is when most people are trying to get/stay in shape. This is why a gym date is a great thing! While my husband doesn’t have a gym membership (he prefers to work out at home), a friend of mine who also happens to be a neighbor does. Since I don’t work Fridays in the summer and she works from home, we have officially made Friday mornings our gym date time. It’s a great way for us to get to hang out with zero additional costs (since we both already had memberships) and we’re being productive at the same time. Many gyms offer guest passes, too, in case your friend, family member or significant other does not have a membership of his or her own.
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Eat In
While going out to eat at restaurants is great, sometimes having dinner in at home is just as good. The only cost is the cost of your groceries, which you may or may not have already depending if you like to stock up when there’s good deals. BBQs are my favorite because there’s less clean up and effort from a cooking stand point. We love doing BBQs with other couples and just spending the night on someone’s patio or deck chatting it up. For a more romantic date night, opt for cooking something together with your significant other, lighting some candles and playing some music. It’s easy to create the ambience of a restaurant in your own home!
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Game Night
Nothing beats a good old fashioned game night! Whether it’s board games, video games, cards or even cell phone app games, you can have a ton of fun doing a game night with a bunch of people. A few of my personal favorites are Scattergories, Cards Against Humanity, Poker and Cranium.
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Bring the Theater to You
Invite your friends, significant other or family over for movie night. With streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu or with cable, you can certainly find movies that you don’t have to pay anything additional for. Make some popcorn or other snacks at home, cozy up on the couch and hit play! I love movie nights in because you get to stay in your pajamas if you want to, whereas that may be inappropriate at a movie theater.
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Picnic
A picnic can be done anywhere from your local park to a hiking trail to your backyard even. Bring a blanket, sandwiches, fruit, vegetables, snacks, water and maybe even some wine and you’re good to go! A change of scenery can be nice and who needs a formal table and chairs to enjoy a meal anyway?
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Visit a Park
Speaking of parks, there’s a lot you can do when hanging out at a park. As mentioned above, you can have a picnic at a park. Or revisit your childhood and have a competition to see who can swing higher on the playground. Or play a softball game with a bunch of friends. Or go fishing (we have a small pond at the park near us). Or play a little basketball. The list can go on and on depending on what you can find at your local park.
Great ideas, Courtney.
Sounds like you and your husband are walkers, just as we are. 🙂
Haven’t been to a park in a while. There’s a number of state parks nearby, so we need to venture out again.
Hopefully, you’ll hear from others with great ideas.
Game night is a really good idea. It’s great to do as a couple or with other couples. We’ve had a few game nights with other couples and it’s always been fun.
We haven’t done game night with folks outside of the family, but it’s always fun and we don’t spend money when we’re hanging with the kids.
Hi Shin!
I don’t know why I never got a notification for this comment!
Thank you and yes we are! Our neighborhood really lends itself to walking/jogging so we like to take advantage of that. We also took our dog on his first hike a few months ago, so we’d love to do more of that!
I agree! Game night with couples can be so much fun! Especially when you add a few cocktails to the mix haha