There’s a growing body of research that’s demonstrating that regular date nights with your spouse can significantly increase the happiness in your marriage. Sadly, few married couples make time to have exclusive spousal relationship time.

A weekly date night might sound like a lot, especially when you have some big financial goals to hit. Here are 10 ideas for your date night that are budget friendly.

• Go on a nature hike. In the United States, we’re lucky to have an expansive and affordable parks system. Find a local park and go explore!
• Cook a new recipe. New experiences are always an adventure. Spend the evening together cooking in the kitchen.
• Take a pilgrimage to a local holy site. There are a surprising number of holy sites within a reasonable distance from your home. Local dioceses have many of these hidden gems if you know where to look.
• Go star gazing. Nothing’s more humbling than looking up in the night sky and seeing it filled with stars. If you live in the city or somewhere where’s there’s lots of light at night, find a spot out in the country and enjoy the Milky Way!
• Watch a movie on the lawn. Sure, we watch movies on a regular basis, but what about ones projected onto the side of your house or garage? Find a projector to rent or borrow, pull out a blanket, and enjoy a movie in a new way.
• Take a Parks and Recreation class. Your local parks & rec department puts on classes on a regular basis on a variety of classes. They might be cooking classes, dancing classes, or even foreign language classes. The great thing is that they’re extremely cost effective. Find one to take together!
• Take dancing lessons. Dance lessons have been popular among married couples for some time. It might be worth taking a look.
• Learn a new language. Foreign languages can be tough to learn, and the less you use it, the more you forget. Pick a language and then immerse your relationship in it.
• Solve a puzzle. Puzzle building is a classic family activity. Why not bring it back?
• Visit a museum. Museums are popping up all across the country, even in small towns. Find one of these local attractions and check it out!

Planning date nights isn’t hard, but keeping it as a priority can be. With a plan in place, it can be much easier to stick to weekly date nights.

Tags: Dating