The FDN

Dates are fun.  Dates are expensive.  Dates that are inexpensive are just as fun.  This is what I have learned in the last three months.  I have never considered myself a high maintenance girl, who needed to be wined and dined by men to be happy.  But I do like an occasional dinner and movie combo, concert, play, or some other activity that requires a significant amount of cash to pull off.  Unfortunately (or fortunately), when you and your significant other are both between jobs, you have to get creative with these little outings.  This is how the Free Date Night was born, or “FDN”. 

The concept is this:  One person plans the entire date for the other, and the only rule is that you cannot spend more than $10 total (including dinner).  Going forward, we will most likely include gas in this amount as well, since it is $4/gallon.  Daniel and I are both very active people, and got pretty bored with the routine of applying for jobs every day at a coffee shop, eating in and staring at each other on the couch.  He took the first round, and I must say, I was more excited about what he had planned for FDN than I had been for a date in a long time.

When he picked me up, he had a big bouquet of yellow Gerber daisies, and handed them to me with the following disclaimer: “the date has not officially started yet, and these are actually your housewarming present.”  Well played.  Our first stop was to some office building in Century City.  I thought we may be going to pay a parking ticket or something, but it was actually an art museum of sorts, that had a Rock & Roll photography exhibit (free).  Unfortunately, the place was closed on Tuesdays (random) so we couldn’t stay long.  I thought it was a great idea though, and gave him partial credit for stop number one. 

Next on the list was a park near his house, where we played a few games of basketball/Horse next to a group of guys who probably should be playing for the Lakers.  Regardless, we both made a few half-court shots and had a good time doing it.  After we were overtaken by an eight-year-old future Kobe Bryant (true story-he just started shooting at our basket, and was making everything while we made nothing), we found a spot in the park to sit and answer a list of questions he had found on the internet.  This was honestly my favorite part of the whole date.  Definitely some fun facts uncovered. 

Dinner was at Chipotle (buy one, get one free coupon), followed by a movie on Netflix at his house (Casa de Mi Padre, which I had been dying to see).  It was really the perfect afternoon/evening.  I felt very special, and we could both feel good about only spending a whopping $6. 

When it came time to plan my night, I was really stressing out about the food situation.  $10 doesn’t go a long way for two people here, and I already had allocated a portion of my budget to something else.  After digging through my boxes, which I am still living out of, I found that beloved Chick-fil-a calendar my mom gets me every year for Christmas, which I never appreciate.  Thankfully, every single coupon was still attached.  Mom has saved the day once again!

I picked Daniel up with a little “before the date officially begins” gift.  A pack of moustache magnets.  You read that right.  He loves the moustache for some reason that I cannot understand, and I found some at Disneyland just a few days before.  As a side note, I don’t normally just jet on down to Disneyland to pick up gifts for him, but happened to be there visiting a friend for the day.  Anyway, we headed to our first stop shortly after, which was Point Dume (just north of Malibu).  After a gorgeous hike and some time at the beach, we went back to his house to carve a pumpkin ($3 at Trader Joes).  This ended up being him carving the pumpkin since I have no patience for such things.   Dinner was at Chick-fil-a (FREE!), followed by his high school homecoming football game, and then back home to watch another movie with our beloved Will Ferrell.  Great times.  Less than $10.  Success.

I highly recommend anyone who is currently working to try these as well.  We plan to continue the tradition even now.  Saving money is sexy.