Something Simple

We’re up to the final letter in our ABC’s of dating, it’s the Z date! I’ve been wanting to take Emma to a Zen Meditation group. Meditation as a couple doesn’t get highly rated on $30 Date Night – nor should it… it sounds terrible!!! Which is exactly why I want to do it!

50% off Couples Massage Courses

Over the weekend Emma and I presented another of our increasingly popular Couples Massage Courses. 80 people walked through the door – our biggest number to attend a day thus far.
I always love watching couples enter the room shy and completely unsure what to expect. My ice breaker usually involves some form of uncomfortable remark [...]

5 Perfect Date Ideas Beginning with P

10 more dates to go and we’ve finished the alphabet! Here is my pick of the P Date Ideas for you. How’s your alphabet dating going? Have I missed any good P ones we should know about?

Pack a Picnic
A classic! Take a fully-stocked picnic basket to a patch of green near you and while [...]

5 Outstanding Date Ideas Beginning with O

Orienteering
To be honest, a week ago I didn’t even really get what Orienteering was.
Well, I knew it involved co-ordinates and maps and things like that… and I have vague memories of a compass and a girl guide uniform in my childhood… But we did do some orienteering of our own this week for our O [...]

6 Nifty Date Ideas Beginning with N

Okay this is one of those ones where we draw a few long bows and you tolerate it happily… and if you have any great N date ideas then hand ‘em over! We desperately need some!
Night Walks
I remember when I was little we went with my Girl Guide troupe on a night walk through a [...]

5 Marvellous Date Ideas Beginning with M

Museum Date
Soak in some culture and history at a museum – a great way to spend an afternoon together and enrich your beings all at once. Go for your city’s flagship museum or find an off-beat, quirky little niche museum… there are thousands of these all over the world, we bet there’s some in [...]

5 Lovely Date Ideas Beginning With L

Love Conversation Starters
These adorable little cards from Kikki-K are one of our favourite things for couples. Full of fun little questions for you to quiz each other on, it’s a great activity to do while on a picnic, and most especially if you’ve been seeing each other for some time. It’s likely you’ll discover [...]

4 Kooky Date Ideas Beginning with K

Our K-date was kind of dismal this week… but more about that later. In the meantime, here are four K date ideas for those playing along at home!
Fly a Kite
Let’s go fly a kite… up to the highest heights! I’ve had that song stuck in my head all week. Pick a clear, sunny [...]

5 Great Date Ideas Beginning with J

Jigsaw Puzzle
On a rainy afternoon, settle in with one of those huge 500-piece jigsaw puzzles and some hot chocolate and yummy snacks. It’s a great way to spend a miserable day together.
Jump Yourself Silly
Ever seen one of those trampoline parks? They have indoor and outdoor ones, it’s basically Olympic-sized trampolines all set next [...]

The 5 Best Date Ideas Beginning with I

Welcome to I week of ABC Dating. Here is the compiled list of I date ideas, for those of you who are playing along with our alphabet dating game at home.
Ice Hockey
Go see an ice hockey match! The sport has become more popular in recent years. Even our hometown of Melbourne has a [...]

5 Hot Date Ideas Beginning with H

Oooh… H is one of those tricky ones we keep coming across! These five Happy Date Ideas were the only ones I could come up with, but I know you clever little things will be able to offer some more great ideas to me as well.
Hedge Maze
Get lost in a hedge maze together. This is [...]

7 Great Date Ideas Beginning with G

G is for Green Date Ideas
Which we already discussed awhile ago. Click this link to see our Gorgeously Green Date Ideas list, compiled for us by Cate and Chris at GreenRenters.org
G is for Games

Like, board games. And such. Either hold a game night at home for the two of you or tuck [...]

5 Gorgeously Green Date Ideas

We’re up to week ‘G’ and in addition to the list of date ideas beginning with ‘G’ I’ll be posting later (when I’ve written it!), the wonderful Cate and Chris from Green Renters have guested today’s post, giving us five great, green, sustainable date ideas for you to try! Challenge yourself to a month’s worth [...]

9 Fabulous Date Ideas Beginning with F

F is for Ferris Wheel
Ah, the romance of being trapped in a small, swinging compartment with the love of your life, your lips all sticky from fairy floss as you gaze out at the view. This could either be very romantic, or in the case of people like Den – absolutely terrifying. Try and [...]

6 Exciting Date Ideas Beginning with E

Ooh – we knew there’d be some sticky letters on this Alphabet Dating business of ours… but I didn’t expect one so soon! And to be honest, I was hoping Den would get stuck with them. X, for example, will be a killer. O might be a bit difficult.
But they’re weeks away yet. Let’s [...]

5 Date Ideas Beginning with D

Well we’re up to week D and Den seems to be stuck on what to do. So I’m posting this not least to give him some ideas of where to take me for date night this week! Stay tuned for our date review of whatever this particular alphabet date will end up being.
D is [...]

Unleash Your Inner Bunny!

Happy Easter, Lovers! It’s going to be a fun weekend… if you’re feeling like doing something sweet for your sweetheart then send them on a personalised Easter Egg hunt!
Imagine the look on their face when they wake up in the morning to find the house strewn with chocolate eggs! Or send them into the [...]

Alphabet Dating: 10 Date Ideas Beginning with B

B is for Breakfast (or Brunch)
The perfect date if there’s just not enough time in your week or you suddenly find all your nights booked up. Get up a little early and have breakfast with your sweetheart, whether you take them out or cook for them in bed is up to you!

B is [...]

Alphabet Dating: 9 Date Ideas Beginning with A

So to support you (and us) through an Alphabet Dating adventure, we are going to publish a list of date ideas each week that start with our Letter of the Week (Sesame Street, we’re coming after you!)
If you’re thinking of Alphabet Dating, now’s a great time to start. You can check back in every [...]

Alphabet Dating

Well, we felt we needed even more structure than usual this year – and to be honest, a new dating challenge. When we have SO MANY date ideas to choose from on our little date night generator, it can get a bit hard to decide what to do next.
The ABC Dating trend has been [...]

Top 5 (Non-Soppy) Valentine’s Day Date Ideas

The commercialism of Valentine’s Day seems to be grating on everyone’s nerves this year. And it’s not just singles that are hating Valentine’s Day. Couples everywhere that I speak to are vehement. “Bloody Hallmark”… “Overpriced Flowers”… “Don’t tell me when to be romantic towards my wife”

You know what everyone? Get over it.
It’s VALENTINE’S DAY! [...]

The ‘Top 10′ Date Lists Collection!

If we had a popularity contest for our blog posts, these would be the winners, so I decided to make especially for you… Our Top 10 Date Lists Collection!
Well… not all of them are Top 10s as such, but you get what I mean. A quick glance at our most looked-at posts from 2009 [...]

Mystery Date Box Idea!

This great, inspirational dating idea was submitted by Kirsty, one of our users over at $30 Date Night – I thought we should share it with you here!
“Combine all your favourite date ideas and put them in a box! My partner and I have created the ‘Mystery Date Box’ – Each fortnight we pull [...]

20 Festive Christmas Date Ideas

The rush of the festive season can leave you and your sweetie feeling a little short of time… don’t quit on your weekly date nights amidst all the chaos. Here are more than enough Christmas-themed date ideas to keep you going through the festive season!

1. Go get your tree!
2. Make Eggnog
3. Decorate the tree together over Eggnog
4. Bake [...]

Guest Post: $30 Cake Night

This deliciously decadent guest post comes to you from the divine Jess Pryles of Sugadeaux Cupcakes. You can find her on Twitter @sugadeaux or visit her mouthwatering website here…
While we’re all still shaking off the winter blues, sometimes a great date can be spent as a night in. With chocolate. And cake. How can [...]

Table for One?

With Den away all week, I’ve had plenty of time to be alone, indulge in all that Secret Single behavior without having to lock doors and such… last night, I even took MYSELF on a date night. Alone.
I was watching the lovely Mia Freedman and a panel of mothers on 9am yesterday morning talking about [...]

5 Fresh Date Ideas for the Mornings

Sometimes (like last week!) the only time you can find for a date night with each other during a hectic week is a sliver of time of a morning… whether it’s a few hours on a weekend or stealing time before you go to work, here are a few morning date ideas that may appeal [...]

6 Other Ways You Can Hang Out With Your Sweetie

Date night isn’t the only way to spend time with your sweetheart! We give you 6 more great ways to make sure you get some quality time together instead of getting caught up in the humdrum of daily life. These six ideas are great if you find yourselves pressed for finding time.

1. Do the [...]

7 of the Most Romantic Date Ideas Ever

Swoon. Candlelight, soft music, long-stemmed roses and tummy-butterflies… every couple needs romance in their lives at some point. Not all of our date ideas at ThirtyDollarDateNight.com are the most romantic (some are fun, some are silly and some are downright cheesy!) but the ones that ramp up the romance factor ALWAYS seem to be appreciated… [...]

Happy Birthday to US! The Best of $30 Date Night.

I have to say, I’m a little fuzzy and happy right this second! I JUST realized that we posted our first blog entry one year ago today… Happy Birthday to us!
So, at one year old, we’re still toddling around finding our feet, but so happy to report that we are looking forward a much [...]

5 Ways to Do Something New With Your Sweetie

Here at $30 Date Night, we work from the philosophy that doing new things with your sweetheart sparks the same brain chemistry as when you first fell in love. This is why we suggest date night – doing something new every week will keep your loved-up and giddy!
Quite literally speaking, when you do something new [...]

7 Completely Free Date Ideas

We notice that on our $30 Date Night site, our Free Date Ideas page has become rather popular all of a sudden!
Well, what our people want, our people get. Here’s our choice for top ten free date ideas you and your sweetie can do together! Recommended for long-term couples to indulge in when they’d [...]

5 Worthy Date Ideas That Give Something Back

Here are five date ideas that don’t rate all that well on our $30 Date Night voting system. True, they’re not the most romantic of ideas – and we are certainly not suggesting you necessarily use them in your early courting phase! But if you are one half of a committed couple that knows each [...]

10 Saucy Date Ideas You Can Do Naked!

Our next door neighbor thinks our date ideas are hysterical – and regularly teases that we tend to take boring ideas and add ‘do naked!’ to make them a bit more exciting. It’s true. We do. And so especially for Gath, I bring you ten great date ideas that you can do naked!
Best of [...]

Tame the Bear and Lame Date Ideas

Last night I watched some talk show with Kevin Bacon in it discussing master-googling or google-bating, whichever you want to call it. Basically – its where you google yourself to see what comes up.
And so, I’ve just googled ThirtyDollarDateNight.com to check out who’s talking about our date ideas site and what’s being said. And [...]

10 Fun Date Ideas for a Lazy Sunday

We moved date night to Sunday this week, as it was the only spare time we could find to indulge in a few hours quietly together. There’s something lovely about a lazy Sunday date. I’ve compiled a list of a few great lazy Sunday date ideas here for you, after the jump.

5 Creative Ways to do the Movies – the $30 Date Night way!

So, we know that a lot of you love the movies… and we don’t want to begrudge you one of your favourite pastimes… but if you are going to do it, do it with flare! Remember, it only takes a small injection of novelty to make it a butterfly-inducing date!
Here are five ideas to [...]

10 Great At-Home Date Ideas (for Parents)

I know, I know. There’s toys everywhere… You hum ‘Hot Potato’ by the Wiggles because it’s stuck in your damn head from watching it over and over again… You haven’t had a conversation for months that doesn’t involve the potty, the children, Iggle Piggle… you eat at 5 o’clock when they eat because it’s easier… [...]

The Bookstore Date Idea & 5 Other Conversation Starters

The Bookstore Date Idea is one that was suggested to us awhile ago, and I’ve been curious to try it! I love reading, always have. Den, not so much. But I thought we’d give it a crack anyway. A beautiful, warm Wednesday night so we took a stroll down Lygon Street to Borders and good-naturedly [...]

Ten Pin Bowling & 5 Other Cheesy Date Ideas

Oh, I know, I know… groan… Ten Pin Bowling is soooooo lame, right? Yes, you’re absolutely right. But the fact that it is so daggy is what makes it a whole lotta fun!

I must admit, Den did look pretty dubious when he realised where I was leading him. In fact, he seemed so unimpressed [...]

How to Give a Good Movie Night Date

The Incomparable Heath Ledger
Den has been hanging to see the new Batman Movie and we desperately needed to get out of the house (cabin fever was setting in) so Movie Night seemed like a nice, manageable date for the both of us. I jumped online to make sure we could book great seats (I HATE [...]