{16 inexpensive summer date night ideas}

It is finally summer and you know what that means...Matthew is home for three whole months (only this time he won't be going back to Cookeville alone!!!! I will be moving in with two girls and attending Tech this fall! F I N A L L Y) Anyways now that it is finally summer and we are back in the same area code for longer than 3 days we will be spending more time together and going on dates :) Sadly these days dates can be rather expensive, like $40 for a dinner and movie. For college students or even newlyweds that can be a little too much. So I am going to share with you today some inexpensive but still fun date ideas you can do with your man! Who knows you might end up liking these ideas better than the  usual dinner & a movie date!

1. Themed movie nights Pick a movie you already have or run to your local Redbox (if you are going to do Redbox, LOOK UP PROMO CODES) and pick a movie you can do a themed date night.  Ex: The Tourist - You can make your man an invite for the date, maybe an admit one ticket on a map. Or the two main characters meet on a train so you could make a train ticket and leave for him to find. -If you and your man have traveled before then put out some pictures from y'all's trip. -You can begin the date by being "tourist" of your town, cheesy? Maybe but you might actually learn some pretty cool things about where you live (& most of it's free) - Since they are American tourist you can have American food for dinner (grill hamburgers and have fries) - Angelina's character travels around a lot in the movie so pick a place she goes and make a dessert from there. Ex: Crepes  -End the date night watching the movie Ex: The Holiday -Climb up in the attic and get out 1 or 2 Christmas decorations (wreath, small Santa, Christmas lights) -Get some hot chocolate packets and put one on a small box & wrap it up and leave for him to find and leave a little note in there with hints on it for what to expect for the night. -Make sure to drink the hot chocolate at the point in the movie that Cameron & Jude do with his girls...make sure you each have 5 marshmallows ;) -For dinner fix a few of your favorite dishes you have around Christmas (Sausage balls, Casseroles, Cheesecake) -Put up the Christmas lights in the room you are going to watch the movie  -End the night snuggled up under the blanket under the Christmas lights watching the movie with your man

2. Recreate your 1st date Do you remember what you did on your first date, what your wore or where you went? If it wasn't too long ago where the same outfit, have your man pick you up (or walk out the door and act like he is coming to pick you up). Did you hold hands? Did he open the door for you? If your went to dinner & a movie then go pick up dinner at the same place & go rent the movie and head back home & watch it. Do it all again just like the first time!!
3. Arcade games Remember when you were younger and skee ball was the stuff? Get about $10 in quarters and head to the local arcade and play all of your favorite games Are you or your man competitive? Make it a challenge and whoever wins the most games buys ice cream after!

4. Bonfire Do you have a backyard that you can have a bonfire or one of those fire pits? Run to the store and get Marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers to make s'mores! and since we are still have a few cool nights, bring a quilt and bundle up by the fire.

5. Cooking date Do you and your man like to cook? Hop on Pinterest and both of your pick something to make, pick something you have never made before. Let him pick the main dish and you pick dessert and swap the next time. both of you make out the list of things you need and head to the store.  Want to make it a challenge again? Both of you get your own basket and whoever gets all their ingredients and makes  it to the front of the store first wins.

6. Mini Golf or Go karts In our town we have a place called Go USA fun park They have mini golf, go karts, an arcade, batting cages and a driving range Just because they have all these things doesn't mean you have to do all of them in one night. If your local place has all of these that is great but only pick one for each time, not only is it cheaper but you will get more fun dates out of one place.

7. Drive In movie This has to be one of my FAVORITE things to do in the summer. I actually went to my first drive in movie last summer...crazy I know! It was so much fun and it's SO much cheaper than going to a regular theater.  So pack your car down with some treats and a few cokes and grab some chairs or quilts and head to your local drive in. They usually do 2 movies for the price of one.

8. Living room fort Remember when you were a kid and you and your siblings or bff's built forts in your living room and watched movies out of it? Well be a kid again for the night. Grab all the extra sheets and blankets you can and build a fort in your living room with you man. If you have some extra Christmas lights put them in and around the fort. Make a homemade pizza and eat in the fort while watching a movie. Any guys reading this? Surprise your girl by doing this and I can promise you that you will win boyfriend of the year & melt her heart all over again.

9. Game night Pick out your favorite board games that you have and go play out on the back deck one night. Stay up late playing 2 or 3 games, make it a challenge and whoever wins has to make the milkshakes.

10. Workout Trying to lose a few pounds or just stay in shape? Go rent some workout videos, get your cute workout clothes on, throw your hair up and get to moving! Rent a few different ones like cardio or yoga (try not to laugh watching your man try to do yoga)

11. Go to the park Do you live close to a park where you can go walking or ride your bikes? We live close to the greenway and I LOVE going there to ride bikes or just to go on a walk.  We get so caught up talking that we don't even realize we have walked a few miles. Take a Frisbee or if you have gloves and a softball take it and throw back and forth.

12. Eno date If you have an Eno or even just a regular hammock that you can fold up and take on the go then take them to the local park or even your backyard and just hang out (see what I did there, eh?) It's the perfect way to relax and to just catch up on your day .

13. Nerf gun night If you have more than one then you could have a little Nerf gun war. Only have one? That's fine too. Just sit up little targets on a shelf or the mantel and see who can knock down the most. Start out close to the targets and then back and around to make it more difficult to hit the targets.

14. YouTube watching Grab your lap top and cozy up on the couch together and just watch funny YouTube videos. Matthew and I love to watch funny videos and laugh until I cry. There is actually this couple that pull pranks on each other all the time and they are absolutely HILARIOUS. Just search on YouTube 'Couple pranks Jesse and Jeana"  They have a ton of videos so just watch all of theirs and you will be set for the night
15. Window shopping Do you have an outside mall? We have one called the Avenue and we love it. Leave your wallets in the car (hidden of course) and go from store to store and just look at the different things they have to offer. You could even try on clothes and see what you like and what sizes you'll need for later purchases.  I personally love going to Target and picking out furniture and home decor for our future apartment/house (we aren't even engaged yet and I am already planning on how to decorate our home haha) It's actually fun and you can find out when the stores you like will be having sales and when the sales happen you will already know what you want and what size!
16. Restaurant at home  One of my favorite surprises I have ever done for Matthew was in our second summer together. All I told him was to get dressed up and be ready by a certain time. I had ran by O'Charleys and picked up two steak dinners and then I had decorated the back patio. I blind folded him and gave him untrue hints to throw him off on where we were going. It was so funny listening to him ask about 50 questions. I took off the blind fold and this is what he saw...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well there are 16 different ideas that I love doing or that I am excited about doing this summer with my man!! When it comes to date nights you just have to be creative and really think about it so you don't end up doing the same things over and over. Some of these might not interest you or you might not want to do them and that is completely okay, just use that creative mind of yours and think of something you and your man would both enjoy!  Do you have any ideas or dates that you are planning on doing with your man this summer? Please share I would love to hear about them!! 

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{16 inexpensive summer date night ideas}