Valentine's Day on a Shoestring *updated

Well, i'm sitting at home w/ my bff the laptop -- i should have a name-my-laptop contest! -- thinking how fabulous it is to be able to help friends have kidless dates, and vice versa, and about VD day that's coming up. Really our last date was one of the most fun! After the live-acoustic-at-coffee-shop bombed, we came home, took the laptop up to bed with us & enjoyed music-surfing together half the night, snacking on "coupon food" and eventually watching some 80's "rock-umentary" on google video.

Always up for vicarious adventures, i thought i'd compile a list of links with fun & frugal ideas for those luckies who will get to spend Valentine's Day with their honeys. And check the library for books such as "Cheap Dates" and "Romantic Antics".

Mystery Cafe at the Milano Inn
http://www.themysterycafeindy.com/topten.html
This is NOT frugal, but i SO want to do this!! and we have a BOGO coupon too! This would also be a fun group date or moms' night out.

Free and Cheap Date Ideas: Frugal Romantic Fun for Couples on a Budget
http://dating.suite101.com/article.cfm/free_and_cheap_date_ideas

I love the very first one -- ruthlessly exploit your friends!! We have a canoe and 2 kayaks that are honestly available to friends any time they're home!! We also have a Zoo Book with lots of BOGO coupons that we'll probably never use -- a fun way to try a new restaurant! Other suggested items to borrow are DVD's, video game consoles, board games, tandem bike, fondue set, etc.

More fun suggestions from this site:

"Challenge yourselves to complete a sizeable household project together – making a raised bed, building a birdhouse or painting a room – and reward yourselves at the end with cheesecake or an ice-cream sundae.

Make up a drinking game for your favourite movie. Traditional drinking games can be found online for classics such as Star Wars (“take a shot every time someone has a bad feeling about this”) or The Lord of the Rings (“drink every time Frodo falls on his back”); but you can customise the concept for your own much-loved film. Don't forget to add in non-drinking elements such as flinging popcorn, kissing or shouting the line along with the character.

Get online together and Google a culture with which you're unfamiliar – maybe Polish, Turkish or Tongan. Then find a recipe online for a traditional food from that culture, and have a spontaneous "ethnic food night"! Bonus points for watching a film about that culture or finding some traditional music to listen to during dinner."


50 Cheap Date Ideas: Discount Dating, from Marie Claire magazine
http://www.marieclaire.com/sex-love/relationship-issues/articles/cheap-date-ideas?link=rel&dom=msn&src=syn&con=art&mag=mar

I think my fave here was to rent a scary movie, wach it together, then visit a haunted house (find one at http://www.hauntedhouse.com/; i think the hannah house used to give tours thru the whole year & might still?)

Test drive the most expensive car they'll let you take off the lot; take turns driving.

Invite another couple you don't know really well over for a potluck dinner. ask them to bring appetizer & dessert; make the main course together w/ your sweetie. get to know each other better over stories of the evening's culinary successes (or failures!)

some of the ideas sound more like field trips for the kids, but another good one to check out is #20 Play Twenty Questions. More fun ideas from this site: get free day passes to a gym you could never afford, dream-plan a road trip or vacation together, act like a tourist & sight-see in your own city, log onto a local university website to see if they have any interesting lectures or events scheduled.

Free Date Ideas
http://www.cheapdateideas.net/date-ideas/free-date-ideas/

This guy adds fun little tweaks to the 5 most common free date ideas. Enough inspiration, at least, to create one's own games around the locations.

Ideas for Dates Under $10
http://www.theromantic.com/stories/cheapdates/main.htm

Oh, lots of different things to click on; just go play around here if you haven't settled on anything yet.

101 Date Ideas: Thoughts to Spark Your First Date
http://dating.suite101.com/article.cfm/101_date_ideas

Go to the hobby store and pick out a project to work on together for the afternoon. Volunteer for a cause together. Take a one-tank weekend trip. People-watch while holding hands at a coffee shop.

The Best Source: Hundreds of Dating Ideas
http://www.coolestdates.com/index[30-39].htm
Select your age group, then click on "Free Dates" or whatever category floats your boat!


Romance 101: Cheap Date Ideas
http://www.rom101.com/storyview.jsp?storyid=431
Lots of different ideas, from the flat-out crazy to assembling a really challenging puzzle together.