Inexpensive and Free Date Night Ideas -

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I was trying to find some new ideas for dates with my husband. The following were suggested to me by some sweet ladies:

What about the library, our library even has a little snack area, so you could nibble on something or at least have a hot drink there…

The bookstore, bookstores usually have a snack area too…

An outdoor skating rink? …

A drive down rural roads to watch the moonlight on the snow and stop to star gaze….

A movie night at home after the children are in bed?

I agree about the date nights. My husband amd I like to go to movies, but there is rarely anything that we want to see, so mostly we go out to dinner, also. But sometimes we will go to a coffee place and split a crossword puzzle. He’ll put in a word, then pass the puzzle to me and I do one, and back and forth. You wouldn’t even have to buy a coffee to do this. Our favorite is Caribou, though. My expectations for these outings is not very high! I just like being with him. Also, while not ideal (it works for us in giving us alone adult time) we’ll get our daughter in bed a little earlier than usual, then put in a movie just for us. We have made pizza (just for us!) and share it during the movie. Another thing we have done, while not a "date night", it has helped us feel like adults without our kid joined at the hip 🙂 is we had another couple over for games and had a really nice dessert and coffee and great conversation. I really felt enriched after that evening.

Here are some ideas that I use. Stopping to get food before hand is good too….

Walking on the lakefront even in this cold weather it would be more of a day time date but there are HUGE ice bergs out there right now and even thought it would be a cold walk it would be pretty…

My husband and I sometimes walk around Gurnee mills mall we window shop and may eat at the food court…

The Kenosha museum is free so that is also an option…

Go out and see one of the programs out at CLC they have alot of things scheduled and not that expensive to get into. . .

You could even go to one of the CYT plays but that would be more of a family outing…

You have to check out groupon.com! We’ve just booked a ton of things to do
in Chicago for our 25th anniversary, and we got them 1/2 – 75% off!
I would never have thought to do some of the fun things they have offered.
You get a new groupon every day, so you can pick which offers you like.
Groupon = group + coupon.. . .

Another place to check online for ideas: http:// www.enjoyillinoisblog.com They often post a "cheap thrills" list of
day by day cheap or free things to do in the greater Chicago area. In
general, this blog has lots of great ideas for places to visit and
things to do, with kids or for a date. . . .

Another good website to find some events going on is http://www.lakecounty.org/events.cfm