Hellobee Boards

Netflix and chill?

HA.

What about going out for drinks or just dessert?

@regberadaisy: Our cheap night:

we will hit up Pepperjacks or Chic-fil-a (cheap dinner but still things we both like) and go indoor mini golfing or bowling.

We will go to a movie on the cheap night (our theater does Tuesday night tickets for $5 bucks, so we usually choose to go to a movie then and they do $2 popcorn as well!)

We will go shopping (if DH is in the mood) to get things we need or even just window shop. I LOVE walking around Home Depot and picking out things for our future house...i'm a dork but I love it.

There are movie tickets at our Costco, so we've gotten those. Groupon has also had deals on restaurants and comedy club.

See if there is a theater near you that plays older movies for cheaper.

I recommend Gilt City for restaurant deals (at least in our area, the restaurants on there are better than Groupon or Living Social).

If you have a Bank of America card, you can get free admission to a bunch of museums on the first weekend of every month:
http://museums.bankofamerica.com/

Bookstore scavenger hunts are fun (maybe a little cheesy, but I like them). Make a list of things to find in each different section - a recipe you like to eat in the cookbook area, a favorite children's book, plan a dream vacation in the travel section...then go to each area together and share what you find. And you can get coffee, too.

We go to taquerias pretty often for dinner on date night - burritos or tacos, plus free chips and salsa, and some pop costs us under $20. Same idea in terms of a nicer chain place or sushi restaurants usually do happy hour deals with cheap rolls. We do Vietnamese pho for dinner a lot too - huge bowls of hot noodle soup and we're out of there for under $20 as well.

A lot of time dinner is all we do. We sit and eat and talk and run through things we've been meaning to talk about like budget or home renovation plans or whatever. Between driving to and from the restaurant and dinner conversation, its a decent amount of time to chat. Sometimes we go get a soft serve afterwards to eat on the way home, sometimes we stop by Target or the store to grab a few things.

A few times we did cheap movie night ($6 tickets) on Tuesday nights and that was fun too, but DH usually doesn't want to sit through a movie very often, plus it means getting home later on a weeknight than we would like.

Museums and free concerts, if you like that and have some near you. I live in NYC and many museums are free certain hours, and you can find a lot of free concert listings online. We also have free outdoor movies in the summer in at least three parks that I know of.

Putt Putt
Drinks and appetizers
Hiking
Bowling
Going out for coffee

What we've done a few times is take the day off and send the LO to day care, so we have a date day so we have a lot more time + a lot more options + not babysitting cost! Is that something you can do?

We havent really done date nights, so I don't have great ideas.

Our YMCA has a parents night out once a month on a Saturday evening, where you drop the kids off for $15 from 5PM-8PM. They allow non-members to participate too, for slightly more... $20, I think - might be worth checking out if you're near a YMCA!

That 5PM-8PM time period is just enough to catch a movie, or have a long leisurely chat at Panera with soup/sandwiches/cookies.

Our aquarium in my hometown (Baltimore) used to do Fridays after 5 for $5, that was always a fun date. I'm sure other museums do that too? Also, Imax movies at the science museum tend to be a little cheaper than regular movies. Usually DH and I just go out to dinner. Sometimes we go do things that wouldn't be that fun with a toddler, like furniture shopping or going to Ikea... and even though it isn't fun, it is more relaxing.

$5 happy hour menus are our best friends. We can nibble on several appetizers and each have a beer for about $25.

Lots of bars, cafes, and coffee shops keep a nice stock of puzzles and board games. Some have pool tables, jukeboxes and darts. That kind of thing can occupy us, for hours.

There's a spa nearby us that offers weekly specials. We will sometimes reserve a sauna and private soaking tub for an hour. Pair with complimentary tea and warm robes, and it's a fair and worthwhile $35.