Sunday, August 30, 2009

Favorite Cheap Dates

Yesterday, the Tribune ran an interesting article about dating on the cheap without appearing cheap. As a single woman this intrigued me.

Sure, I enjoy over-the-top romantic Bachelorette-type dates, but that's not realistic. In my opinion, the best dates are the simpler ones that don't cost a bunch of money. I'm happy as can be with a creative date where we can laugh and have fun any time.

The Trib had 10 general recommendations:

1. Cook dinner at home;
2. Watch movies at home;
3. Pack a picnic, stargaze (I have a terrific telescope!), fishing at midnight, fly a kite, or take a walking tour;
4. Hang out at the library (I recommend the Arlington Heights Memorial Library. They have many free programs.);
5. Volunteer to babysit a friend's kids;
6. Volunteer in the community;
7. Exercise;
8. Attend free days at a local museum;
9. Attend a local high school or college football game (I recommend John Hersey High School and Lake Forest College, my alma maters.); and
10. Go out for dessert.

Those are good ideas, but I have my own:

1. Mini-golfing;
2. Visit an historic state park;
3. Watch the sunset with a bottle of wine or the sunrise with a thermos of hot chocolate;
4. Concerts in the park (many towns have free concerts);
5. Local movie nights in the park;
6. Lawn seats at Ravinia can be very cheap and pack a picnic;
7. Attend a local festival;
8. Ice skating at Millennium Park (or anything at Millennium Park);
9. Zoolights;
10. Check out the holiday lights on State Street;
11. Attend a parade;
12. Game night at home (Parcheesi and Candy Land are personal faves); and
13. Take a frisbie and a picnic to Lake Michigan.

What are your favorites?

3 comments:

  1. Babysit? As a date? Are they kidding? What happened to the "no boys" when babysitting rule?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I know! Of course, I suppose that as adults, the thinking about be that we're more mature than horny teenagers who are always scheming for 10 minutes alone. (At least that's what I heard. I OF COURSE, was never like that.)

    If some guy I was dating suggested we babysit some random person's kids (even kids that belonged to our friends), I'm not sure I'd be thrilled. But, if the guy had kids and we were doing something with them, that wouldn't be bad (not on every date though).

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think - in defense of them - babysitting as an excuse to go to a park or one of those strange mini-fairs... That could be a lot of fun - but only if you really know each other and are both friends of the children and the parents... Otherwise, it's just a guy wanting help with a favour for a friend or hoping he'll get in your pants by being "sensitive."

    Number 3 on your list is one of my favourite things to do, though. I LOVE watching sunrises...

    And, I totally love mini-golf... ;o)

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving a comment on Little Merry Sunshine. Due to the volume of spam comments, all comments must be approved to ensure they are not spam or spambots. Thank you for understanding.