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By Mike Barclay of 10CentsWorth
Picture this. You’re getting ready to go out with the girl (or guy) of your dreams for the first time and you want everything to be perfect. Dinner and a movie won’t cut it. Your brain starts spinning trying to come up with “unique” date ideas. Wouldn’t it help if there was a bunch of date ideas in one place, organized by category?
Well friends, look no further than HotDateIdeas.com.
The site is owned and run by a man named Dave who’s done a fabulous job of making that first impression a good one. Dave spends personal time evaluating and trying his date ideas so he can give a more personal review of each date, which is my favorite part of the site.
HotDateIdeas.com has a top 10 list of rated date ideas to look at right off the bat, a news feed with blog posts about new dates Dave is trying out, and a new section called “romantic ideas” that shares creative ways to let your significant other know you’re thinking of them. There’s even a forum where you can ask questions about dating and relationships and get advice from other users.
HotDateIdeas is a great site if you struggle with originality when it comes to wowing the person you’re taking out. The left column of the home page is categorized into different “genres” of dating ideas. Click on any category and it’ll take you to a separate page with summaries of all the ideas. Click further on any idea and you’ll see Dave’s experience with the date, including extra tips to make the date successful.
Here’s a few of my favorites.
Stargazing – Not groundbreaking material, but when’s the last time you laid out in a dark area and watched the stars? If you have any phone made by Google there’s a free application called “Google Sky Map” that shows star charts and constellations to add to the conversation.
Blackout – I’ve done variations of this myself just because so much of my life revolves around technology that it’s nice to “step back” for a moment. Use candles, turn off cell phones, computers and TV and just enjoy each other!
Now I know my ABC’s! – This one caught my attention as a day date. Find an activity for every letter of the alphabet. You’ll need the whole day to get through this type of activity, but it’s a great way to get to know each other as well as have a memorable date!
The only part about HotDateIdeas.com that bugged me was having to dig to find the purpose of the site. The About tab could be more visible. The only ways Dave makes money that I can see is via advertisements all over the site. I like the free information on HotDateIdeas.com, but he could make this a membership site or at the very least have a “donate” button.
If you want fantastic ways to spice up a relationship that’s fallen into a routine, or sweep that new special someone off their feet with something they’ve never seen before, HotDateIdeas is a great way to get those creative juices flowing.
What are some ideas you’ve used or would like to try when it comes to dating? Are there spin offs of anything on HotDateIdeas that you’ve done, or any ideas you have personal experience with? Let the love flow!
If you are counting the days until the beginning of the month when your spending budget is replenished, like me, here are a few ideas and resources to get you to May.
- Make meals out of whatever is left in your fridge. Click here to see how many days I lasted when I stopped buying groceries.
- Or cook recipes suggested by one grocery store that only cost $3 a day, which is how much food stamp recipients have for groceries.
- Park your car in favor of biking, taking the bus, or walking. Hubby and I recently took the bus downtown for a date and I was pleasantly surprised how convenient it was.
- Most museums have at least one free day a month. Check when it is at museums near you.
- Instead of going out to an expensive dinner or show, invite your friends over or go on one of these cheap dates. Or rent a free DVD from the library.
- If you hit the bars, leave your credit cards at home and only bring the amount of cash you want (or have) to spend.
- Find out what kind of free stuff you can get on Frugal Freebies.
- Dig out unused gift cards and re-consider using them. Maybe I will go to Panera Bread, after all!
Make it a game to see how long you can go without spending. Instead of feeling trapped because you cannot buy anything, think of how powerful you feel by doing so much without spending!
The stock market is tankin’ and you don’t want to be bank breakin’…no, I can’t rap but I can suggest seven ways to have fun without spending. Keep reading for three group date ideas.
Play the question game – thought you knew everything about your partner? Play the question game by asking a question that both of you have to answer. For example, what is your favorite book? What is a vacation you would like to take? Who was your first kiss?
Classic movie night – rent two or three old movies, make popcorn and prepare to snuggle.
Take a long walk – is there a nearby neighborhood you’ve wanted to explore? A favorite nature trail that gives you both peace of mind?
Make a special dessert for your sweetie – pick one that is not very labor intensive, like chocolate lava cake, then serve warm with fresh raspberries.
Reminisce – drag out pictures, letters, and other mementos from when you dated. Take turns telling the story of how you met and fell in love.
Game night – play backgammon, cribbage, cards, boggle, scrabble, or another fun game for two. Don’t keep score so you can focus on having fun.
See a drive-in movie – a special treat that you can enjoy with homemade popcorn. Find drive-in theaters by state at DriveInMovie.com.
For groups:
Throw a sushi party – split the cost by asking each person to bring $5 to $10 worth of fish. You provide the seaweed sheets, sushi rice, toppings like avocado, sesame seeds, cucumber and scallions. Beer and sake are optional. Each person gets to make their own roll, then serve it to guests.
Game night – does Pictionary ever get old? Other great group party games include Uno, Mexican trains, or BS.
Ugly night out – plan a night on the town but tell everyone the theme is ugly night out. I guarantee it will spark great conversation and reveal new things about your friends.
Fore more date/party ideas visit CoolestDate.com.
A friend posted a number of short how-to videos related to Valentine’s Day that I enjoyed watching. Topics include:
- how to pick out jewelry for a woman
- how to cook a sex-charged dinner
- how to pick our lingerie for your lady
- how to score on Valentine’s Day
- how to survive Valentine’s Day alone
Each video is 2-3 minutes. Watch them here.
More V-day resources: cheap Valentine’s dates and a source for Valentine’s Day coupons.
Itching to see all five of the best picture Oscar nominees? AMC Theaters has just the deal for you. They are showing all five movies on Feb. 21 for $30, or $25 if you are a Movie Watcher member. The ticket includes a large re-fillable popcorn.
Here is the line up. All times are local.
Milk – 10:30 a.m.
The Reader – 1:05 p.m.
Benjamin Button – 3:45 p.m.
Slumdog Million – 7:15 p.m.
Frost/Nixon – 9:45 p.m.
You can come and go as you please, so if you have already seen one of the movies you can use that as a break to stretch your legs and get real food.
Thanks, Roxanne!
Love is getting cheaper. Valentine’s Day spending will drop 5% this year with jewelry, intimate apparel and dining out taking the biggest hits, according to market researcher IBISWorld. You may opt for homemade gifts this year, or you could find some great discounts to lower the cost of gifts.
One source of V-day coupon codes is CouponChief.com. The site pays users who register and upload coupons. To use their coupons, you must click through to the retailer from their site.
The site has a special five-page section of Valentine’s Day coupons, including 15% off at Teleflora, 20% off plus free shipping at Diamond.com, and 10% off an order of $35 or more at Chocolate Source or Nirvana Chocolates. ProFlowers offers $20 off a dozen long-stemmed roses and Edible Arrangements offers $5 your next order.
Some of the discounts on this page are not directly related to V-day, like the Children’s Place and Kmart, but depending on what you are looking for they may be useful.
What is the cheapest outing you have gone on? Can you think of any nights on the town for under $30 in your town? If so, share your experience by leaving a comment. Even if you live in another city, I bet a lot of ideas can be replicated elsewhere!
Here’s mine to start.
My first idea for a cheap date on Saturday was to go to an art gallery opening, which often have gratis snacks and wine. But we could not find anything nearby. So I checked out Going.com, a Web site devoted to helping people without a nightlight get one in 32 cities across the country. The recession busters tab looked promising but all the events were far-flung – too costly a drive.
Then Hubby stumbled upon Westside Eclectic in Santa Monica on the Third Street Promenade. The club bills itself as a “comedy mecca for literally almost hundreds.” The 9:30 p.m. show was $10 bucks and we could stay for the 11 p.m. show if we wanted more laughs. $10 a head was more than I wanted to spend but we decided to head over and check it out. Maybe I could haggle at the ticket booth.
We were a bit early so we stopped at Angelato and split three scoops of double chocolate fudge, mint chip and pomegranate gelato for $6.45. (Buying a triple is cheaper than two singles). While we ate we were treated to a free performance by a French woman singing songs on her guitar. A street character wearing a lizard on his sombrero stopped to listen, too.
When we got to the comedy club, it was buzzing. I chickened out about asking for a discount – it was busy, we wanted to go inside – so Hubby forked over $20 while I added my BargainBabe.com flyers to their postcard rack. As we waited for the comedy trio Chick Force 3 to come on I spotted a rack at the back of the club with The Onion, a satirical newspaper.
I went back to get one and what did I discover? Three coolers of free beer. Granted it was Bud Light, Tecate and Miller Light. But free beer is free beer. I grabbed two and returned to my seat to tell Hubby.
Chick Force 3 members Michelle Miracle, Laura Baggett and Abbey Schachner, pictured, were all very funny in their own, distinct way. Having a few beers only made me enjoy it more. Later I learned that *most* shows at Westside Eclectic have free beer. Score!
The total cost of our date (we ate dinner at home and found free parking) was $26.45. Not too shabby! Can you do better?
