The first Friday of the month is here again and it is time for another College Life 101 article. Today’s article is all about providing all of you college students with cheap and creative date ideas. You could ask my girlfriend and she will be the first to admit that I’m not the best person to be giving date ideas but lucky for the internet and for email I have been able to compile a decent list.
Classic Date Ideas:
Bowling. A great idea if you are half decent at bowling. I unfortunately could not bowl properly if my life depended on it. I love to bench press and dead lift but for some reason I can’t roll a bowling ball properly. If you want to spice it up a bit you could try night time glow in the dark bowling and maybe toss a few drinks into the equation.
Mini golf. I love play mini golf but the only problem is that I get a bit too competitive. This is the perfect idea for a sunny summer afternoon or even a nice spring day. You don’t have worry about being skilled because mini golf is simple and fun for most people.
Go for coffee. This is ideal for a breakfast or lunch date and you can never go wrong with a cup of fresh brewed coffee. How effective and fun this date is depends on your conversation skills. If you’re a shy person then I doubt you’d want to meet for coffee and come off as completely quiet while the other person rambles on.
House party. You can’t go wrong with a classic house party. Usually tends to be very inexpensive with the only cost being alcohol and transportation (bus or cab). These are hard to come by because not many people want to throw a house party but when the opportunity presents itself bring a date and some good conversation topics.
Creative Date Ideas:
Go to bar where you are popular. When I say popular I mean popular in the sense that people actually acknowledge you with some respect. You don’t want to bring someone to a bar where you are the most popular guy because you make a complete fool of yourself or because you are known for something your not proud of. Bring your date somewhere where everyone knows your name so that you will seem like a popular guy. The reason this works is because you want to come off as person that is easy to like and fun to be around.
Prepare the meal yourself. This probably won’t go over too well if you live with your parents and they’re home at the time. This is an excellent idea for college students living on their own. No excuses, if you suck at cooking all you need is a little help from the almighty Google and a 10 minute how to cook x meal video and you’re set.
Amateur night at a comedy club. The reason I got specific with amateur night is because these tend to be either really cheap or free. The best part is that sometimes the comedians will completely flop and you guys will have something to talk about. Even if the amateur comedians are really funny then at least you won’t have to do any talking the whole date. The less you talk the lower your chances of saying something stupid.
There are so many more creative and cheap date ideas that I’m missing out on but that’s the great part of running a blog. I look forward to reading some of your great ideas.
Photo: urbanshoregirl
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I love bowling and think it’s a great date but it is not cheap at all. 2 games plus shoes can run close to $30 plus figure some food and drinks.
Movies are a cheaper date without the food, or do something simple like a day picnic.
Agreed that bowling is *not* cheap. But how about going to wander round a museum or art gallery, or going to a local fair? They give you a lot to talk about, and make you look cultured.
Try out local art crawls, gallery crawls or pub crawls. Those are usually dirt cheap and pretty fun. Of course you should make sure that something like an art crawl would actually interest your date.
Don’t limit yourself just to coffee. College campuses are usually magnates for trendy beverage shops like tea houses and bubble tea.
I’m not a big fan of parties, usually too noisy and crazy.
I love cooking for dates. Most people really appreciate a good meal. Make sure you can actually make the meal before you decide to invite someone over for it.
@Craig I agree that it is not the cheapest activity but it all depends on where you go and on what night you go. Many places have 2 for 1 nights and so on.
@Wilhelm Yes I considered including museum and art gallery buth to be honest I have never tried either of those activities. To be honest when putting together an article for College Life 101 I try to write something realistic for college students and I honestly don’t know any college student that has taken a date to an art gallery.
@SaveBuyLive You made a very good point. Wherever you choose to bring your date you must be positive that it is an activity that interests them. Nothing worse than bringin a science girl to an art gallery and have her fall asleep due to boredom. Excellent thoughts on the cooking food idea. I’m sure it has helped you many times in the past. Thanks for deciding to comment on Studenomics and I look forward to reading more from you in the future.
Ahhh yes. The cheap alternatives to enjoy one’s self. Being out of college, I still have a social life like I was in college and boy is it costly! I try and only go out 1 night a weekend w/ my friends but that rarely happens. Often we find ourself spending too much out, so we finally found the solution: Purchasing a keg.
On weekends, rather than going out and spending way too much money idnividually on drinks, we have began to purchase a keg for the weekend and relaxing at someones home. Split up the prices for the keg, ice, and supplies, and you have yourself a cheap social thrill under 20 bucks (Depending on how many friends you have that will actually do this).