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Unforgettable Dates on a $20 Budget While they say that the best things in life are free it's pretty hard to make an amazing first date impression with holes in your pockets. Then again, playing it thrifty your first time out is probably not a bad idea -- even if you can afford something a bit more spectacular. Why is that? Well, a first date sets a precedent. If you rent a limo and trip the light fantastic at a five-star restaurant your first time out, how will you top that come your second date? Now, if you can afford that lavish lifestyle and find yourself comfortable with the possibility that your date is more into your pampering than you (and I don't mean that facetiously, if you are really cool with that and accept it going in, spend away) keep spinning that wheel of luxurious reinvention. However, for everybody else, it makes perfect sense to play it thrifty on a first date. Yes, even if it's that special someone that "could be the one." While I could have entitled this DateIdeas.com article "The Perfect Free Date" I've decided to generously arm myself with a $20 spending limit to provide some form of financial flexibility. Yes, your date may still fall for you if you a penny-pinching spendthrift but if you expect to run off a series of free dates into lasting relationship that will test your creative boundaries even more than the rich cat with the chauffer and the knack for fine dining. Okay. $20 for a first date doesn't seem like a whole lot but the catch here is that you couple something that is truly free with a little extra something. What do I mean by that? Taking your date to the library? That's not as dull as it sounds. By walking the aisles together you can learn a lot about someone by sharing your preferences or recollections of books you may have read in the past. Yes, the library is brightly lit. There aren't too many people who look good under library light (what, you thought all librarians were homely? Perish the thought!). Yet it is a unique -- and free -- way to spend time and test the limits of hushed silence. After that, it's time to put that $20 bill to work. Drive over to an ice cream parlor -- preferably that mom and pop place than a national chain. While most dates involve dinner, and that will eat up more than $20 right there if you go to most casual to upscale table service eateries, you can always schedule your date early in the afternoon to take any dining pressure off (and, hey, if things go well, continue). However, there is also the homemade meal. Whether it's a romantic candlelit dinner at home or you're making sandwiches to take on a picnic somewhere else (beachside, by the airport, by a creek, traditional park) by making the first meal homemade you control the budget. You control how much you are spending. And while a few bucks will buy you enough goods at the market for a memorable meal those same bucks spent at McDonald's is bound to be ordinary. So spend wisely. Take in a cheap attraction like bowling or miniature golf and pair that with a packed picnic meal. Most bowling alleys and putt-putt attractions have tables (or you can just trek out elsewhere for the meal -- somewhere safe yet romantic hopefully). Check your newspaper for extraordinary events that are cheapies. Maybe there is a free star-viewing event at a local observatory or planetarium. Maybe there is an eclectic street festival worth checking out. Maybe there is a dirt cheap community theater play being presented. All these things will be cheaper than the traditional "dinner and a movie" or the night out to the club where the tab always winds up larger than you bargained for in the first place. Go Back to DateIdeas.com

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