17 Frugal Valentines Day Date Alternatives

17 Frugal Valentines Day Date Alternatives

Valentines Day is a wonderful excuse to shower your spouse with examples of how much you love them. It can be exciting to get and give gifts, but it can also be stressful.

If you are looking for ways to make your husband feel loved without breaking the bank, I’ve got you covered! These Valentines Day date alternatives will leave your partner feeling cherished and leave your bank account intact.

Romantic Scavenger Hunt

Set up a scavenger hunt around your house. In each clue, tell them why or how much you love them. Include reminders of past dates or ways they have made you feel special. This is a totally free valentines day date alternative that will let your spouse know you were thinking of them.

Cook Dinner for Your Spouse

Especially if you are not the main cook in your house, try to mix things up by cooking a special (albeit simple) meal for them.

Make a Coupon Book

This one may seem a little cheesy, but I made one for my husband when we were broke in college, and the memory has lived on. Fill it with coupons for getting out of diaper duty or baby bath time, back massages, or an hour of silence. This one is my favorite! No questions asked, you just pick up the kids and leave the house for an hour so that your spouse gets a quiet hour to themselves.

Take Him to the Aquarium

While this can be a fun family date, it can also be a romantic one. Look for tickets during low-attendance times, and you may be able to find discounts. Strolling hand in hand and exploring can be a wonderful way to give the gift of quality time. Plus, all those dark alcoves are sure to stir up a little romance.

Hide Love Bombs

When I was in college, my roommate and I loved to hide inside jokes all over our apartment for the other one to find. Sometimes we would go weeks or even months before finding one and it always made us laugh. Similar to a scavenger hunt, you only need some construction paper and a marker or pen. I used pink and red to keep with the Valentine’s Day theme.

Cut out 20-30 paper hearts about 2-3 inches tall. Write notes reminding your husband how much you love him, appreciate him, or what you find attractive about him. Hide the hearts all over your house. Taped to the fridge handle, tucked into a book he is currently reading, under a coffee mug, or wedged into the edge of a picture frame are all great places. Bonus points if you enlist the kiddos to write some and hide them all over the house. Send your husband on a hunt; it is up to you whether you tell him how many you’ve hidden!

Take a Task

If there is something on your hubby’s honey-do list that he just hasn’t had time to get to, take it off his plate. While it might not be the most romantic, it is absolutely helpful. An act of service can go far in making your spouse feel appreciated. So if you can mend the broken fence, paint the guest room, power wash the house, pick up his mother from the airport, or clean and organize the garage, do it!

Take a Drive

Whether you live in the city or country, driving though scenic areas is always pleasant. It gives you time to talk as you go past idyllic farms, rivers, or forests. Imagine (out loud) living in that area and how different your lives could or would be.

Be a Tourist for the Day

Have you lived in a city for a while but never explored it like you would when on vacation? Use this Valentine’s Day to be a tourist in your own city. Go to the local tourism website and look at their top recommendations for things to do in your area. Tour the BIG THING in your city (think: battlefields, historic industries, museums, etc…). You may even find some websites have romantic attractions!

Go Camping

This one can be expensive if you have none of the equipment, but even if you have to buy a few things, you can get away with doing it for relatively cheap. Disconnect from technology and spend the weekend in nature together.

Go Bowling

I always forget how fun bowling is until I do it. We always have a blast, and it is very cost effective. You can grab a couple beers and food for well under $40. Plus, you can (lovingly) talk a little smack and get flirty. After all, isn’t that what Valentine’s Day is about?

Plan for a Future Trip

The whole point of this list is to SAVE you money and traveling can be quite expensive. Sign up for language lessons with the intent of gaining some proficiency before traveling to the country of your choice. Make a date out of daydreaming about a place you’d like to go and then make a plan to save for it! You will have a new hobby to do together, keep your brains sharp, and keep you motivated to save for the trip!

Plan a Game Night

If your hubby is into board games, make a group date night for Valentine’s Day! Gather some other couples and plan a night of gaming and snacks. If everyone brings a dish and a game, you could plan this for dirt cheap! You could also make it a Video Game Night by competing in Mario Kart or different Wii games.

You could even have a solo date night of strip battleship if you are feeling frisky.

Take a Cooking Class Together

Search online in your area for a class that you can take ahead of Valentine’s Day. Once you’ve learned how to make the dish, recreate it together at home. This is a great valentines day date alternative to the traditional dinner-and-a-movie.

Reenact Your First Date

This time without the sweaty hands and fumbling banter. Go to the restaurant where you first flirted or wander through a grocery store until your carts bump into each other. *swoon* Our first date was at a state fair, so whenever the fair comes to town, I love splitting some cotton candy and checking out the attractions with my hubby.

To save some money, try recreating your first date at home. If your first date was at a brewery, buy a few cans of specialty beers and have a flight tasting at home. If it was putt-putt, create a makeshift course in the backyard. You get the idea!

Have Some Friendly Competition

Find an indoor tennis court, basketball court, or other sport to play one on one. Pickleball is all the rage these days, your local gym may already have courts!

Up the ante by playing for favors such as: winner doesn’t do the dishes for a week, or loser has to give a foot massage. Having a little flirty competition can make for a very interesting Valentine’s Day.

Try a New Cuisine

If you’ve never had Thai food (or Ecuadorean, Russian, Japanese, etc..), try a local place together. Creating new experiences together is exciting and it will broaden your worldview. You may even find a new date spot in the future! Some other places to try are: vegan restaurants, tapas restaurants, fusion restaurants, etc..

Have a Close By Getaway

Rent a hotel room in the next town over. Eat at a restaurant you’ve never been to and explore local haunts like a tourist. Or spend the evening in with no kid-sized distractions.

Make this Valentine’s Day feel special without breaking the bank. Remind each other why you chose each other. If you are looking for more date night ideas, click here. Have you tried any of these Valentine’s Day date alternatives? If so, let me know in the comments below!