Budget-Friendly Date Ideas That’ll Impress

Dating is hard. Finding that person whose quirks you find charming—or, better yet, finding that person who finds your quirks charming—is no easy feat. But just because dating is hard doesn’t mean it has to be hard on the wallet. A lavish, six-course dinner with wine pairings or a weekend getaway to the Hamptons are all certainly lovely date ideas, but let’s face it: Most of us are not Jeff Bezos. In fact, many of us are just downright cheap. And that’s okay: Cheap bastards deserve love, too.

“Whether you are on a budget, or you are just cheap, there are plenty of date ideas that can be both engaging and affordable,” says Brittney Smiejek, a matchmaker with the dating website Three Day Rule.

Plus, here’s a little secret: when you meet the right person, it’s not going to matter how much you spend on your time together. What matters is that you're spending time together in the first place. Here are 40 cheap date ideas recommended by experts (and members of the Men's Health team!) you can pull off on a budget.

Pro tip: If you've exhausted all the options on this list, you can probably find lots of other free events in your town happening today or this weekend, says Wendy Newman, author of 101 First Dates. Try an app like EventBrite, All Events in City, or simply Google “free events near me” to see what crops up. Even your local library might have author Q&As and cooking classes going on.