When you have kids, dating is NOT easy. But, it is an essential part of married life if you want a happy and healthy marriage. It helps keep the romance alive. It helps you reconnect. I allows you some adult time and if you are a stay at home mom, you NEED this! Usually, dates consist of dinner and a movie for us and we rarely hire a babysitter. Thanks, mom! Sometimes, we don't make it to the movie. Sometimes, we don't make it to dinner.
Late last week, my friend Carlyn (see below!) texted me to see if Anna would want to go to see a play that her friend, Eden is in. Anna said YES! And, then plans grew. Ems and Tay were invited too and then it became a sleepover at Carlyn and Jamey's house. So... STEP 1 to having a cheap date is to have a FREE babysitter. As I said my mom and dad usually keep Anna for us when we go out so this is not usually a problem.
Step 2: Pick a cheap restaurant, preferably one where you don't have to leave a tip and where the portions are HUGE so that you can split your dinner. Some good suggestions are Jason's Deli, Chipolte, Chick Fil A (I often eat kids meals), CiCi's Pizza, or Vinny's (1 or 2 will do!). Tonight, the plan was to go to Vinny's but I was worried about crowds since we limited time. Vinny's is small and great so that means a wait especially on a Friday night. When we go on the cheap, we split a stromboli or calzone. Since we were running short on time, we decided to hit Jason's Deli. Jason's is the PERFECT cheap night date spot. WHY? Well, you can get free muffins, crackers, and bread before you get there, then your meal is HUGE and more than enough for 2 people to split. Then you get ice cream for dessert (or more muffins if that's your thing). We got water and so our total bill was $7.60 for a 3 course meal. People... that's seriously awesome. And, if you should HAVE to take your kids, their food is super cheap too.
Step 3. Movies are expensive. I mean... HOLY COW expensive! Thankfully, we have a Cinema Cafe. It's a restaurant where they also play current movies. They also do a rockin' military discount but even their regular price tickets aren't too bad at $7.50 a piece. With our discount, we paid $9.50! Seriously, people! That's less than a ticket at AMC on a Friday night. There are other ways in which you can afford a movie. On Wednesdays, Cinema Cafe does Wacky Wednesdays and the movies are $3.50 all. day. long. For this movie lovin' family, that rocks. Also, AMC does reduced prices during the week too which make it very affordable. We didn't get popcorn tonight because we were full but had we gotten it, I think we might have hit the $20 mark.
Sometimes we need a little extra entertainment so if the bookstore is open, we'll go there. Or Target. Or Walmart. Walmart is actually very peaceful late at night on a Friday. All the crazies are out partying like it's 1999. If we skipped dessert, we might pick up one...A frosty, milkshake, a doughnut, you know, something good and yummy on the cheap.
So, if you're keeping track of tonight's date, you'll know that we spent $17.11. When was the last time you spent that on dinner and a movie out?
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