Happy Monday lovelies!
Am I the only one who woke up this morning beyond confused as to where the weekend went?? I’m telling y’all, if someone could invent a weekend pause button I would be their forever fan. This weekend was such a fun and relaxing one for us! It seems like the past two months have been hectic, so it was nice to have 3/4ths of the weekend to ourselves.
Between moving and already having some set travel plans anytime we can save money it’s a huge plus. After our Saturday night “date” I came up with the idea for this post! So here you have it, my guide to a date night for under $20 in Columbus.
Date nights are always fun, whether you are on your second or hundredth, but they can also add up. Just because the budget is tight, doesn’t mean you can’t still have a fun evening out! Here are some tips for planning a date night for under $20:
- Find a free show or event.
- Buy your own wine. A glass of okay wine can cost anywhere from $4-$8 at an event or dinner. Why spend the extra money when you can buy a bottle for $8.
- Plan ahead of time. If you plan the date a week in advance it’ll give you time to see all of your options and make a money saving decision.
- Utilize Groupon. No, this post is not sponsored by Groupon, but they constantly have sales on top of their already marked down prices. You can go to a wine tasting or brewery tour for less than $20 for two people.
So, how did Aaron and I spend our Saturday night without spending more than $20?
We had been wanting to attend Shakespeare in the park for a few weeks. Saturday evening seemed like the perfect time to have a chill evening while still getting out of the house. The play started at 8pm which gave us plenty of time to make dinner before heading over to the park. Since I love to cook I decided there was no reason to eat out, but I was definitely not in the mood for a grocery store run. So my mission was to make dinner with all the food purchased earlier in the week. I ended up searching the pantry and fridge, and came up with grilled chicken and pesto pasta. I had grilled some chicken the day before and we had plenty of leftovers for dinner, a box of pasta in the pantry and some pesto I had purchased Monday. Easy as pie and didn’t add any additional cost to our night!
We packed up our blanket, cups, bug spray and some water before heading to the show. On the way to the park we decided to grab a bottle of wine, since neither of us are picky when it comes to wine we went for the $8 bottle of Dark Horse. 
Up to this point all we had spent was $8.15 on the night, not too shabby. At the park Aaron bought a soft pretzel and Gatorade which ended up costing $4.50 and all the money went back to the actors. The play lasted until around 10pm, which is a decent time length when you take into consideration it was free! Was the acting top of the line? No… But the show was entertaining, we both had a great time and we had a great time mixing it up.
It was nice changing up our Saturday night from the usual dinner and drinks. On the way home from the play we both agreed that we wanted to start attending more of the events around Columbus. We had a really fun night and ended up only spending a total of $12.65 on a date night.
Going into Saturday night our intentions were not to spend as little money as possible. But it’s pretty amazing how much fun you can have when you keep it simple. If you’re in the Columbus area definitely check out the last show this month for Shakespeare in the Park! If a play isn’t up your alley, here are some other fun and inexpensive things to do around Columbus:
- Night Light 614 – buy your movie ticket ahead of time for $6
- Comedy Showcase – free admission to the show
- Columbus 10 for $10 wine tasting– every week there is a new city offering wine tasting for $10. Doesn’t get better than that!
- Local ‘n Live– Live music and cocktails take place every Friday evening.
Hope this gave y’all some fun ideas for your next date night! If you’ve gone on any fun date nights recently please comment below!
XOXO
Emily