35 Date Ideas for Broke College Students

For when you want to spend time doing something different with your significant other, but do not have the money to splurge, here are some low-cost ideas.

1. Picnic in the park. Take a blanket and some food, and enjoy nature for the day.
2. Dress up, buy some ice cream at a grocery store, and eat it wherever. Whether you go for a walk or sit down at your favorite place, you don’t have to go to a fancy restaurant to dress up.
3. Go for a drive. Enjoy each other’s company and the scenery.
4. Play a board game. You can even invite another couple over and make it double date game night.
5. Bake a cake and eat it too.
6. Try to cook something neither of you have tried before. Even if it turns out terribly, the process will be enjoyable.
7. Spend the night camping. You do not have to drive too far or buy a bunch of food for the entire weekend. It can be just you guys, some snacks, and a tent underneath the stars.
8. Play some Pokémon Go. Catch ‘em all together.
9. Go for a bike ride. Renting bikes can get a little pricey, but, if you have your own, ride around the neighborhood for a bit.
10. Go for a hike.
11. Try some DIY. Look up a project you’ve always wanted to make, and build something creative together.
12. Make a playlist for each other and listen to them together.
13. Binge watch a TV show together. It is much more exciting when you have someone to watch with you.
14. Go to the park and play some ball — football, soccer, baseball, etc.
15. Go swimming at a local swimming pool or drive up to a nearby lake or beach.
16. Go fishing.
17. Find a movie theatre that shows movies that have been out for a while. Tickets at these places are usually very inexpensive.
18. Volunteer somewhere for the day together.

19. Go to a Peter Piper Pizza, Dave & Buster’s, or somewhere with cheap arcades, and battle over the games for the night.
20. Teach each other something new.
21. Explore abandoned places. Just make sure not to trespass!
22. Grab your favorite drink and snack and cuddle up to watch the sunset, or even the sunrise.
23. Go mini golfing.
24. If you both attend the same college, find a museum that will let you in for free with your student IDs.
25. Find free events that are happening around you. There are usually a few on the weekends.
26. Take a hammock up in the mountains and spend the day there.
27. Fly a kite.
28. Go “treasure hunting” at secondhand stores. Find interesting things, even if you do not end up buying them.
29. Go geocaching, which is basically like a scavenger hunt.
30. Play video games.
31. Go roller skating or skateboarding.
32. See an improv show — there are usually some that are relatively cheap.
33. Walk around bookstores, and buy each other a book you think the other would like.
34. Go to a drive-in theatre.
35. Make a bucket list and check some items off of it.