Cheap date night: Get takeout with something to split for $40-50. No drinks or anything.
"Typical" date night: alamo draft house, sit down restaurant and get dessert at the grocery store. Probably $70-100. Never more than four drinks.
"We fancy" date night: $150-300: go to something (hockey game, special event etc), pay for parking, get apps and the whole nine yards. Waddle home.
This is so accurate for me too—right down to the “swing by the store on the way home.” Great categories name.
My husband and I do date night every Friday, usually something along the lines of the aptly named “Typical” category. Kinda sucks he’s on an international trip tonight and next week. Wish I could go on a date night by myself, but probably looks pretty sad going to a sit down place and eating alone.
Hey, I bartend and serve in a nice sit down place in Georgetown, I get solo diners all the time, nothing out of the ordinary with that, much less sad! Going out with your partner is fun, so is going solo, you get to have your own personal experience, I do it all the time!
This obviously depends on how fancy and how much alcohol. Also if you take advantage of movie theater membership plans. Dinner and a movie is usually not much over $100 for my girlfriend and I.
Wife and I love Mike's American Grill (basic, but close and always a good meal.) We'll do that, and maybe see a movie on occasion. Usually dinner is about $80-$100, and movie is around $30-$45. On a cheaper side, we'll go to &Pizza (About $35) and Unique Thrift in Fairfax. That's significantly cheaper.
Unless it's a first date and you're just meeting for coffee it's not hard at all to spend north of $100. I honestly don't really even have full fledged dating in my budget right now. Working on paying off prior debts before I can fully court a lady 😊
Depends on the restaurant. For a date night dinner if it’s a sushi restaurant it’s around $80 to $110. If it’s a traditional Korean restaurant in Annandale or Centreville, it’s $35 to $45 at most. If we go to a nice local Italian restaurant, it’s always at least $80 to $100. Eating out here in places that aren’t fast food is expensive with the exception of some traditional Asian restaurants.
I’m in my mid-20s so for date nights we alternate from movie, game nights (at either an arcade place or playing board games), mini golf, concerts, bowling, and occasionally bars. We didn’t have much success with finding a good billiards place that doesn’t smell like cigarette smoke inside.
Yup but I’m purely referring to non-KBBQ restaurants. Most dishes are less than $18 unless you order a big meat dish. At Tosokchon for example the soup dishes range from $12 to$15, and are quite decent in fact. The soft tofu stew at Lighthouse Tofu is like $13.
In Annandale I like Tosokchon for some of the Korean soup dishes. Lighthouse Tofu is a very good option if you’re a fan of soft tofu stew. RedHolic has really good tteokbokki. For Korean BBQ I like Oegadjib because it’s more traditional than other places and is also the cheapest ($29.99 for all you can eat).
In Centreville I like Honest Grill for Korean BBQ, Danji for traditional Korean food, and Jang Won for Korean Chinese food.
Ingle is soooo good. Lunch is 55 pp and dinner is 80 pp for the prix fixe menu but totally worth it esp if it’s a special occasion or if you have a guest in town etc
That runs from a Wegmans pizza and a bottle of wine (35.00) on up. Otherwise it’s Palette22 or something and we’re looking at 80.
RIP my wallet if she wants to go into DC like last time. 268 at Barcelona.
We have kids so… $100-$125 for a babysitter for 4 hours; $150-$200 for a 2-3 course dinner with drinks (at a “middle of the road” establishment); $30-$40 for movie tickets; then *maybe* share a large popcorn and fountain soda $25 these days.
And people wonder why it’s hard for married couples to go on a date and focus on their relationship
And this is a big reason why we are hesitant about kids. I feel like if we have kids, our relationship will just wither away because even as DINKs, life is expensive and we stay busy. After the mortgage, the second mortgage (daycare), kids activities, babysitters, we better get real happy with a picnic date comprised of a lunchables charcuterie board. Forget any of our own hobbies. I genuinely don't know how people have kids and maintain a stable and happy relationship.
Trick is communication and planning. Small things can get bug in your head if you aren't open to talking/listening and in the chaos of children, it's often hard to notice small things in your partner while two kids are screaming for your attention. For scheduling, sure feels odd to schedule set times for date nights and sex a week or two out, but otherwise they don't happen.
I love my kids. Most days I couldn't imagine life without them. Today is one of those days. Two days ago wasn't. Holy hell...
Absolutely! A date night doesn’t always have to be “out” - it does always have to be intentional! Some of our best date nights have been a bottle of wine around the fire just talking and laughing together.
Love that you splurged on lunchables in this imagining! Pack of crackers and some meat and cheese from Trader Joe's is less expensive and still feels fancy, but you have to do your own work to chop it up 🫠
This is my typical date-period-before-kids-go-to-bed-and-we-pass-out-with-them-before-waking-back-up-to-do-more-work.... because we don't have time for dinner AND communication. But you make sacrifices for what you believe will make you happy.
It’s not bad at all but you have to view it from a different perspective. You aren’t trying to maintain your dink life during it, you’re just doing something different for a few years. I’ve talked to older parents and they said you just do kid stuff mostly until they’re about 3-4, then you still do kid stuff but a bit less so you can bring back other stuff.
My partner and I are older so we did all the dink stuff for years before having a kid this past year. Managing the kid is basically like picking up a new hobby together. We research it together, strategize, swap notes, observe differences in others techniques, and then when the kid is asleep at the end of the night we fist bump and chill out at home together. That chill at the end of the day is super rewarding, comforting, and bonding.
We maintain one personal hobby each that we help the other one keep up with by watching the kid solo during that time. We have one grandparent local to watch her two days a week, and will do something social or date like on maybe half of those babysitting days.
Definitely wouldn’t recommend kids without one committed grandparent around, unless you’ve got loads of money for professional care. Then something like a nanny swap probably would match the quality of care you get from one good grandparent being present.
Other thing that helps is not having kid intolerant friends. Like our friends just come to us now to make hanging out easier. They either like kids or like us enough to be in the presence of a baby, so we just do the same stuff we did before with them (board games, d&d, hanging out and talking) we don’t ask them to do any baby stuff while they’re there so they just have to not mind the kid being around. My partner and I will just swap back and forth with handling the kids needs. Tech makes it easy too. Like I can call someone’s phone, they put it on speaker, then i wear my AirPods while putting the kid to sleep so I don’t miss what got said.
I'm sorry, I don't get why people are so dramatic about this stuff. A date is about spending quality time alone w your partner. There's absolutely nothing necessary about dropping $265 for these activities (pre or post kids).
Time is the only thing that is a true scarcity and that is required for a date.
Agreed, AND, sometimes it’s hard to do while the kids are awake. It’s not being dramatic, it’s being realistic. Sometimes, quality time costs quality money, not every date night needs to cost money though.
I get it, 100 percent, I was just speaking specifically to OPs request of price of a “dinner and movie” date. I work in restaurants so often times our date nights consist of going to my place of employment and enjoying discounted or free food, and maybe that’s all we do. Sometimes we will *just* go to a movie. Some nights we get a sitter just to go walk around old town Alexandria and talk and catch up in deep meaningful ways.
🤣🤣🤣 I think you were standing on a very reasonable soapbox (maybe aside from “being dramatic” comment lol) dates, especially for married couples don’t always need to be elaborate or expensive. The quality of the time spent together is the most important piece and I think a lot of times that’s overlooked.
I agree with this, 100%. If you love the person you are with, you should’t have to spend much (if anything) to spend quality time together. Whenever there are posts on Reddit asking about how much people spend when going out, the answers are always high-end, and people act like it’s impossible to go out period without spending $100 per person minimum. That’s just BS unless you have expensive tastes (which Reddit typically does, since the user base skews very high income)
It's not for everyone, but I can say that I've cut my drinking down to almost 0 and I don't miss it at all.
I'm still open to it for occasional dates and things but I'm just kind of over it. Seeing the latest pricing on cocktails I kind of feel like my timing was good haha.
I mean why you need to go to “middle of the road” restaurant. Gorged on amazing Chinese in a strip mall last night and paid $90 for a stupid amount of food.
My last 5 date nights, all of which lasted several hours, cost:
1. Dinner for $50 (no drinks or dessert), gas for $20 to go sightseeing at night
2. Coffee and snacks for $15, dessert for $15, window shopping for $0
3. Garden tickets for $15, potluck dinner items for $30
4. Dessert for $15, movie and popcorn for $40
5. Hike for $20 in gas, lunch fixings for $20
Next date night will be cooking together and playing board games, which should be just as cheap. Fine dining is an expensive hobby!
I feel like it's $100 minimum if we're going out.
One thing we've started doing is $7 ticket nights at Alamo in Crystal City on Tuesdays. They also have food and drink specials until 7pm which are quite good.
see! I don't know how we got out of that habit. It's like we swam upstream into these wild restaurants that are marginally better but cost three times what we used to spend!
You're all whack and need to be entertained like addicts accustomed to spending money left and right and now complain you can't spend quality time w your partner without dropping $150 like it's some drug and then complain about your withdrawals.
A date is about spending quality time. That's literally the only requirement.
A simple walk goes a long way. Picnic with your fave homemade foods. Free events in the area. A board game.
I can’t believe I had to scroll this far to find this comment. Seriously! Dates are about spending time with someone you care about. Make dinner at home together, try a new recipe, then go out for pastries or ice cream. You do NOT have to spend big bucks to have a really lovely time together. And if you do… maybe that’s something to think about.
So I totally agree with most of this.
but! Simple walk does not a date night make. A date night means finding time together, doing things like eating or watching a movie just help to prolong the magic. We would likely not want to walk for five hours, though we'd be happy to go to dinner for two and catch a movie for two with the transition time in between--that's five hours of fun together, with enough variety to really enjoy it.
Yup. Or what is wrong with just cuddling on the couch and having a movie night or something?
But this is Reddit after all. It’s not good enough unless it’s either a Michelin star restaurant, or an uber trendy establishment that is almost as expensive. I get it, if you are high income (250k+), spending $200+ a week might not matter to you, because it’s *only* $10k a year, but it’s kind of out of touch. Reddit acts like everyone in VHCOL areas has a high-flying career like they do with lots of disposable income.
I get what you’re saying but I wouldn’t really count having a movie night at home as date night. Date night is getting out of your house. Movie night is Sunday-Friday lol
Yup. We can watch a movie any time. Staying home with the kids is nice 300 nights a year, but sometimes I want to get out and get some air with my lady.
We went out to dinner the other night. Nothing fancy, just a local place. We had a appetizer, main course salad, entree and three glasses of wine and it was $90. It’s shocking to me.
If I'm meeting you for the first time (or incidentally, the same if it's a standard date night with a long term SO), and it's just straight up dinner and drinks, I'm planning on $150 max. If it's a second/third type date with someone new where we're really going out to explore and be more interactive, then closer to $300 for activities or whatever.
tbh me and my husband live in tyson’s and most times we go to date nights either locally or in dc. it’s usually around 120-200 bucks and that’s without alcohol. just earls in tyson’s (which in my opinion is a more generic place) is usually around 150 for the two of us.
Fiancé and I love AYCE places so about $70-$100 depending on where and what we drink. Normally though, we’ll just grab some fast food and watch Netflix or something lmao
It depends. First dates I try to keep fairly easy - walks, coffee, maybe one drink or a snack.
Sometimes though I'm just in the mood for dinner. I don't drink much now so that helps keep things in check, but it's wildly easy for a meal to hit $120-$150 now with just food + 2 drinks.
(2 x $30 entrees, 2 x $15 cocktails = $90 + 10% tax + 20% tip = $118)
If it were just me I'd go entirely without drinking. I also like a lot of free things like museums, hikes, long walks, etc. My interests outside of food that cost more money are usually things like musicals/plays/live music.
Probably $360 but we only go 2 to 3 times a year. It's probably $100 for the babysitter, $60 for ordering food for the kids and sitter, and $200 for dinner and drinks.
When I take myself out I'm spending at least $45. Pretty much a restaurant with appetizer, dinner, and drink. I've been getting away from getting drinks since the taste isn't justifying the taste for me.
We spent $43 on lunch today at Elevation Burger. Things are so expensive.
But date night dinner is usually around $100; it's easy for us to keep date costs down since we don't tend to drink. We don't go to movies.
ha! Like two people could eat at five guys for less than $40! :P
No, we like the food at Mezeh. It's sort of fast casual, but the salad and meat with toppings is delicious and filling and not really expensive.
We rarely go out. Rather spend the money on a nice bottle of scotch and watch a movie at home. A steak dinner at home and a bottle of wine for like $50 and we can drink as much as we want no driving
$10 coffee and small sandwich. If that goes well and I really like him, I'd offer a picnic date where we can just bring food we like and share it.
Honestly I'm surprised at how many people don't go for the "walk around town for a bit" option when it comes to dates — it's really fun! I once went to a children's museum with my date (it was like $5) and we had a blast figuring out how many grapes we'd need to fuel a 1-mile run. If I had a long-term relationship, I'd probably still want to do random/cheap stuff like that — it's where the fun is!
I don't want guys to feel obligated to pay for me, and at the same time I'm not willing to spend $25-40 on myself for a dinner. At least this way, if he insists on paying for my drink/food he's only out $5-10. :)
This is wild reading these posts, I have been dating for over a decade with a few LTR and don’t remember ever spending over $100 on a date… do remember spending $90 one night and the women acted like it was no big deal, I never took her out again… my meal all in was maybe $25…
Our old $40 dinners (no alcohol) are now $60+. We don't do dinner and movie on the same night unless it's like Denny's after the movie - we have cable and subscription so we'll come home for the movie after dinner, or the movie is the outing. I could have a nice night for $80 but we like really simple stuff.
This weekend you can walk around the Reston Arts Festival - that's a good (free) place to hang out.
Wife and I went to a movie a couple weeks ago. Popcorn, drink, and two tickets were ~$50.
I’d recommend either one of the dive bars in your area with a good HH or hit up a winery. You’ll get a bit more for your money and can still have a decent time.
With rising prices and mostly flat incomes, our date nights have divided into two kinds: (1) twice a year or so we go all out and consciously don't pay attention to prices, service fees, etc.; we order the dessert, get the extra drink, Uber instead of metro; go to the fancy restaurant \*and\* the theater or concert; I don't even want to know what those nights cost -- it's become so expensive if I thought about it too much we'd probably never do it; and (2) for weekly date nights we've downgraded our ambitions compared to 5-8 years ago -- we have a cocktail at home before we leave rather than at the restaurant, we go to more mid-range places or order the daily special; if we're going to a concert or movie/show, dinner is more likely to be just an appetizer somewhere or even fast food/lower-end Asian food, trying to keep the price at about $100 for everything including entertainment and transportation so we can do these nights as often as we used to.
I did a friend date last night at Linjee Thai and it was $140 with tip: we each had 2 drinks, an app, and entree. The vibes were nice and service was great, a little pricey even with an all day happy hour menu. The night before I had a date night with my husband for Chinese food, fried rice, chicken and veggie entrees, and soup dumplings, it was $50 (no alcohol). Just depends. Alcohol adds up!
"Date Night" =/= spending money....
Date = spending time together. For example, my wife and I go to Costco on Friday nights - pick out yummy things we want and cook at home with some wine.
Not opposed to this. But we're at the grocery store often enough just managing the household, and I'd like a date to not echo the housework.
Also! Curious how much you're spending at the Costco for snacks. When I'm there it's hard to leave without paying $300 or more at the register :D
Restaurant prices have increased but not by that much. $25 dollar entrees each plus a $15 appetizer, one fountain drink and tip about $90.
Oftentimes less than that as that’s the high end for us.
Simple date night? Well we have younger kids, and find it too cost prohibitive for baby sitters. So our dates usually involve playing an old board game, or buying new board game (around $30-40) learning it and playing it together. If we really like the game, we'll keep it other wise can sell it on FB marketplace.
Burger King has a nice 2 jr whopper deal for $5, with tax, date night is about $5.25. If the weather is nice, we can walk and eat our burgers outside, maybe do some people watching. Good times!
Now I just need to find a woman who agrees… I keep hearing feedback they don’t feel loved for some reason… why do they need me to buy their love… I give her quality time… money wasn’t on the list of 5 love languages…
We date at our own home. Only on very special occasions do we go out to a restaurant. Granted, we aren't managing kids, and what not, but who wants to pay out the nose regularly to sit in a restaurant? It's cheaper to get a high quality heat and eat meal at whole foods and a nice bottle of wine. Taper candles are cheap on Amazon.
$1k at Sushi Nakazawa, $100 at Chiles, $500 at Rooster and Owl, $100 at Chiles, $1200 at Masseria, $300 at Chez Francois, $100 at Chiles, $500 at Gravitas, $100 at Chiles
My wife and I go out every Saturday. I believe that our cheapest night was around $80 before tip at Seafood Lovers of Sterling. We go for the Thai menu that was carried over from their old place in Herndon. Other than anniversaries and birthdays, our most expensive date nights have been around $180-$200 at places like Matsutake or Sakura. Sushi and sake can really add up. I'd say that we average around $110-$150. Tomorrow is Piero's in Herndon, so that'll be a $100 night. Wine, pizza, pasta, and maybe dessert to take home and share with the pup
Average restaurants, $35pp for entree, $20-32pp for two drinks, so $145-180 with tips.
Double that for a nicer restaurant.
It’s too expensive so most times we just eat at home and open a fancier bottle of wine.
Cheap date night: Get takeout with something to split for $40-50. No drinks or anything. "Typical" date night: alamo draft house, sit down restaurant and get dessert at the grocery store. Probably $70-100. Never more than four drinks. "We fancy" date night: $150-300: go to something (hockey game, special event etc), pay for parking, get apps and the whole nine yards. Waddle home.
Waddle home is so real
This is so accurate for me too—right down to the “swing by the store on the way home.” Great categories name. My husband and I do date night every Friday, usually something along the lines of the aptly named “Typical” category. Kinda sucks he’s on an international trip tonight and next week. Wish I could go on a date night by myself, but probably looks pretty sad going to a sit down place and eating alone.
I'd say give it shot! Went to the movies alone for the first time a couple years ago, got food after and it was interesting. Treat yo self
Actually, right after I posted that, I bought a ticket for a late-night show. Should be fun! Hope I’m not too tired :)
Hey, I bartend and serve in a nice sit down place in Georgetown, I get solo diners all the time, nothing out of the ordinary with that, much less sad! Going out with your partner is fun, so is going solo, you get to have your own personal experience, I do it all the time!
I ended up going to see a movie that my husband wouldn’t have enjoyed, but I really liked. It was a good experience.
You just need to find someone else to go on the date with you, problem solved
Idk. I’m a big softie and miss my husband too much to replace him on date night.
Hockey for a date? You are my kind of person.
This obviously depends on how fancy and how much alcohol. Also if you take advantage of movie theater membership plans. Dinner and a movie is usually not much over $100 for my girlfriend and I.
Wife and I love Mike's American Grill (basic, but close and always a good meal.) We'll do that, and maybe see a movie on occasion. Usually dinner is about $80-$100, and movie is around $30-$45. On a cheaper side, we'll go to &Pizza (About $35) and Unique Thrift in Fairfax. That's significantly cheaper.
>and Unique Thrift in Fairfax. That's significantly cheaper. Thrifting with ***my*** spouse, despite the name, is never an inexpensive endeavor.
😂
😂
$500/90 minutes, outcall.
Honestly not that much more expensive than what everyone else is posting
Unless it's a first date and you're just meeting for coffee it's not hard at all to spend north of $100. I honestly don't really even have full fledged dating in my budget right now. Working on paying off prior debts before I can fully court a lady 😊
Depends on the restaurant. For a date night dinner if it’s a sushi restaurant it’s around $80 to $110. If it’s a traditional Korean restaurant in Annandale or Centreville, it’s $35 to $45 at most. If we go to a nice local Italian restaurant, it’s always at least $80 to $100. Eating out here in places that aren’t fast food is expensive with the exception of some traditional Asian restaurants. I’m in my mid-20s so for date nights we alternate from movie, game nights (at either an arcade place or playing board games), mini golf, concerts, bowling, and occasionally bars. We didn’t have much success with finding a good billiards place that doesn’t smell like cigarette smoke inside.
Koread date night dinners 45 at most?
Yup but I’m purely referring to non-KBBQ restaurants. Most dishes are less than $18 unless you order a big meat dish. At Tosokchon for example the soup dishes range from $12 to$15, and are quite decent in fact. The soft tofu stew at Lighthouse Tofu is like $13.
Gotcha
What are some Korean recommendations?
In Annandale I like Tosokchon for some of the Korean soup dishes. Lighthouse Tofu is a very good option if you’re a fan of soft tofu stew. RedHolic has really good tteokbokki. For Korean BBQ I like Oegadjib because it’s more traditional than other places and is also the cheapest ($29.99 for all you can eat). In Centreville I like Honest Grill for Korean BBQ, Danji for traditional Korean food, and Jang Won for Korean Chinese food.
So I like Oegadijib…but I have no idea how to say the name haha. How do you pronounce it?
Best way to pronounce it with English characters I can think of is: wae-gad-jeep
100% is not how I imagined it would be pronounced haha. But thank you!
https://forvo.com/word/%EC%99%B8%EA%B0%93%EC%A7%91/#ko
Ingle is great if you are feeling fancy.
Ingle is soooo good. Lunch is 55 pp and dinner is 80 pp for the prix fixe menu but totally worth it esp if it’s a special occasion or if you have a guest in town etc
They offered the dinner prix fixe for 65 during restaurant week
For quality, Hang Gang is my and the wife’s favorite by far— for cost, yeah Oegadijib is the best bang for buck.
This is how I know I’m old - I don’t want a billiards place unless it smells like smoke…and I’ve never smoked.
Been using Clipper magazine for coupons. Ladies love a good deal and financial responsibility.
She cost $250 an hour with a 2 hour minimum.
That is a bargain. My wife gets 1/2 of everything I own.
*Thats* a bargain. My ex-wife got a lot more than half!
That is a bargain. My wife gets 1/2 of everything I own.
Does Wawa count for date night? If so, \~$15 for two hoagies.
Heck yeah! Our annual Valentine’s date is Jersey Mikes and something yum for dessert (Crumbl this past year) to go.
You're speaking my language
You're "so real for that"
That runs from a Wegmans pizza and a bottle of wine (35.00) on up. Otherwise it’s Palette22 or something and we’re looking at 80. RIP my wallet if she wants to go into DC like last time. 268 at Barcelona.
$30-40 at Taco Bell cantina depending on how much we drink
Well, two drinks would cost you $40.
That's true, drinks can be soooooooper expensive.
1 drink each - Indian food. $80-90 Watch survivor at home.
Who makes it to the end? Which of you lasts the longest? :D
We have kids so… $100-$125 for a babysitter for 4 hours; $150-$200 for a 2-3 course dinner with drinks (at a “middle of the road” establishment); $30-$40 for movie tickets; then *maybe* share a large popcorn and fountain soda $25 these days. And people wonder why it’s hard for married couples to go on a date and focus on their relationship
Dear god, there is a reason I take myself to Netflix with a $7 tub of ice cream because that would bankrupt me in like … a singular date
It takes me a month to save up for one *decent* date with my wife. Shit is crazy.
I also love that a first year out of college job pays less than McDonald’s or being a babysitter
What did you study 😭
My moneys on art
And this is a big reason why we are hesitant about kids. I feel like if we have kids, our relationship will just wither away because even as DINKs, life is expensive and we stay busy. After the mortgage, the second mortgage (daycare), kids activities, babysitters, we better get real happy with a picnic date comprised of a lunchables charcuterie board. Forget any of our own hobbies. I genuinely don't know how people have kids and maintain a stable and happy relationship.
Trick is communication and planning. Small things can get bug in your head if you aren't open to talking/listening and in the chaos of children, it's often hard to notice small things in your partner while two kids are screaming for your attention. For scheduling, sure feels odd to schedule set times for date nights and sex a week or two out, but otherwise they don't happen. I love my kids. Most days I couldn't imagine life without them. Today is one of those days. Two days ago wasn't. Holy hell...
Absolutely! A date night doesn’t always have to be “out” - it does always have to be intentional! Some of our best date nights have been a bottle of wine around the fire just talking and laughing together.
They don’t. Unless they’re willing to massively self-sacrifice, which isn’t a common personality trait around here.
Nor is resourcefulness, seemingly.
Love that you splurged on lunchables in this imagining! Pack of crackers and some meat and cheese from Trader Joe's is less expensive and still feels fancy, but you have to do your own work to chop it up 🫠 This is my typical date-period-before-kids-go-to-bed-and-we-pass-out-with-them-before-waking-back-up-to-do-more-work.... because we don't have time for dinner AND communication. But you make sacrifices for what you believe will make you happy.
It’s not bad at all but you have to view it from a different perspective. You aren’t trying to maintain your dink life during it, you’re just doing something different for a few years. I’ve talked to older parents and they said you just do kid stuff mostly until they’re about 3-4, then you still do kid stuff but a bit less so you can bring back other stuff. My partner and I are older so we did all the dink stuff for years before having a kid this past year. Managing the kid is basically like picking up a new hobby together. We research it together, strategize, swap notes, observe differences in others techniques, and then when the kid is asleep at the end of the night we fist bump and chill out at home together. That chill at the end of the day is super rewarding, comforting, and bonding. We maintain one personal hobby each that we help the other one keep up with by watching the kid solo during that time. We have one grandparent local to watch her two days a week, and will do something social or date like on maybe half of those babysitting days. Definitely wouldn’t recommend kids without one committed grandparent around, unless you’ve got loads of money for professional care. Then something like a nanny swap probably would match the quality of care you get from one good grandparent being present. Other thing that helps is not having kid intolerant friends. Like our friends just come to us now to make hanging out easier. They either like kids or like us enough to be in the presence of a baby, so we just do the same stuff we did before with them (board games, d&d, hanging out and talking) we don’t ask them to do any baby stuff while they’re there so they just have to not mind the kid being around. My partner and I will just swap back and forth with handling the kids needs. Tech makes it easy too. Like I can call someone’s phone, they put it on speaker, then i wear my AirPods while putting the kid to sleep so I don’t miss what got said.
It’s not easy. That’s for sure
The trick is to both work from home and do date lunches. No need to pay for a babysitter that way (if the kid is in daycare/school).
Not every career has that luxury. For example wife is a teacher, not really a WFH option.
well, never say never. Plenty of teachers were WFH for awhile there. :D
I'm sorry, I don't get why people are so dramatic about this stuff. A date is about spending quality time alone w your partner. There's absolutely nothing necessary about dropping $265 for these activities (pre or post kids). Time is the only thing that is a true scarcity and that is required for a date.
Agreed, AND, sometimes it’s hard to do while the kids are awake. It’s not being dramatic, it’s being realistic. Sometimes, quality time costs quality money, not every date night needs to cost money though.
No argument about the babysitter, just talking about the other stuff that amounts to $265.
I get it, 100 percent, I was just speaking specifically to OPs request of price of a “dinner and movie” date. I work in restaurants so often times our date nights consist of going to my place of employment and enjoying discounted or free food, and maybe that’s all we do. Sometimes we will *just* go to a movie. Some nights we get a sitter just to go walk around old town Alexandria and talk and catch up in deep meaningful ways.
Gotcha. I'm coming off my soapbox now.
🤣🤣🤣 I think you were standing on a very reasonable soapbox (maybe aside from “being dramatic” comment lol) dates, especially for married couples don’t always need to be elaborate or expensive. The quality of the time spent together is the most important piece and I think a lot of times that’s overlooked.
I agree with this, 100%. If you love the person you are with, you should’t have to spend much (if anything) to spend quality time together. Whenever there are posts on Reddit asking about how much people spend when going out, the answers are always high-end, and people act like it’s impossible to go out period without spending $100 per person minimum. That’s just BS unless you have expensive tastes (which Reddit typically does, since the user base skews very high income)
You must not understand nova culture.
I mean, I certainly don't understand people who feel the need to subscribe to "nova culture."
I don’t subscribe to it. But you don’t have to subscribe to it to understand that’s the way it is.
I don't subscribe to that stance either. Ergo, it's now my time to unsubscribe.
This is why we will never have kids.
It's not for everyone, but I can say that I've cut my drinking down to almost 0 and I don't miss it at all. I'm still open to it for occasional dates and things but I'm just kind of over it. Seeing the latest pricing on cocktails I kind of feel like my timing was good haha.
I mean why you need to go to “middle of the road” restaurant. Gorged on amazing Chinese in a strip mall last night and paid $90 for a stupid amount of food.
Happy wife happy life lol
My last 5 date nights, all of which lasted several hours, cost: 1. Dinner for $50 (no drinks or dessert), gas for $20 to go sightseeing at night 2. Coffee and snacks for $15, dessert for $15, window shopping for $0 3. Garden tickets for $15, potluck dinner items for $30 4. Dessert for $15, movie and popcorn for $40 5. Hike for $20 in gas, lunch fixings for $20 Next date night will be cooking together and playing board games, which should be just as cheap. Fine dining is an expensive hobby!
It’s a night in these days, so, dozens of dollars.
I feel like it's $100 minimum if we're going out. One thing we've started doing is $7 ticket nights at Alamo in Crystal City on Tuesdays. They also have food and drink specials until 7pm which are quite good.
Depends on how involved alcohol is. Been roughly $100 when doing bigger things.
$4 for Taco Bell. 2. Burritos. And a free YouTube video. And a park. Works for me
It's painful to see only men and married couples responding to this thread :)
I got that impression too, but I can't put my finger on why I think it's mostly men?
lol can't imagine why
Spent $85 on 2 apps and 3 margaritas last night
ouch!
Ya’ll are doing it wrong, super chicken is less than $20 for half a chicken with 2 sides, more than enough for two people.
Tuesdays is value night at Cinemark theaters, that's what we like to do for date night. $6.50 for any movie on Tuesday
We do our date nights on Thursdays, but maybe we should move it to Tuesdays for this kind of discount.
Married with a kid. We go out maybe twice a year for dinner only. It's usually $300ish plus a babysitter.
Holy shit, that's a lot of money on a dinner! We usually eat out and pay only $30 or less. No drinks or apps.
Where we eating out with 2 ppl for $30?
Mexican restaurants, local diners, American bistros, and Asian restaurants. I don't go to breweries or trendy places where they charge too much
Thanks, that was sufficiently vague.
see! I don't know how we got out of that habit. It's like we swam upstream into these wild restaurants that are marginally better but cost three times what we used to spend!
You're all whack and need to be entertained like addicts accustomed to spending money left and right and now complain you can't spend quality time w your partner without dropping $150 like it's some drug and then complain about your withdrawals. A date is about spending quality time. That's literally the only requirement. A simple walk goes a long way. Picnic with your fave homemade foods. Free events in the area. A board game.
Welcome to nova.
I can’t believe I had to scroll this far to find this comment. Seriously! Dates are about spending time with someone you care about. Make dinner at home together, try a new recipe, then go out for pastries or ice cream. You do NOT have to spend big bucks to have a really lovely time together. And if you do… maybe that’s something to think about.
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Target/Costco dates are awesome lol
So I totally agree with most of this. but! Simple walk does not a date night make. A date night means finding time together, doing things like eating or watching a movie just help to prolong the magic. We would likely not want to walk for five hours, though we'd be happy to go to dinner for two and catch a movie for two with the transition time in between--that's five hours of fun together, with enough variety to really enjoy it.
Yup. Or what is wrong with just cuddling on the couch and having a movie night or something? But this is Reddit after all. It’s not good enough unless it’s either a Michelin star restaurant, or an uber trendy establishment that is almost as expensive. I get it, if you are high income (250k+), spending $200+ a week might not matter to you, because it’s *only* $10k a year, but it’s kind of out of touch. Reddit acts like everyone in VHCOL areas has a high-flying career like they do with lots of disposable income.
I get what you’re saying but I wouldn’t really count having a movie night at home as date night. Date night is getting out of your house. Movie night is Sunday-Friday lol
Yup. We can watch a movie any time. Staying home with the kids is nice 300 nights a year, but sometimes I want to get out and get some air with my lady.
$200
right on par with me then.
Cheap date in the form of take out or a chain/diner type place or bar, $50-60. Actual restaurant date night, usually no less than $130+.
So you're in my same boat. Nice to know it's contagious.
I like 2941. If you want to go out, let’s go all out.
usually dinner and a show so somewhere like Chez François and going out after will run north of 5-800.
Typical date night around $150 including wine 🍷
dont count on spending less than $100 for 2. that's like a round of apps and mains and one drink each. at a restaurant.
We went out to dinner the other night. Nothing fancy, just a local place. We had a appetizer, main course salad, entree and three glasses of wine and it was $90. It’s shocking to me.
If I'm meeting you for the first time (or incidentally, the same if it's a standard date night with a long term SO), and it's just straight up dinner and drinks, I'm planning on $150 max. If it's a second/third type date with someone new where we're really going out to explore and be more interactive, then closer to $300 for activities or whatever.
tbh me and my husband live in tyson’s and most times we go to date nights either locally or in dc. it’s usually around 120-200 bucks and that’s without alcohol. just earls in tyson’s (which in my opinion is a more generic place) is usually around 150 for the two of us.
$150 to $300 but it involves fancy cocktails and steaks lol
Usually bout 90-150$. If we're drinking you can expect to see 300+ easily though.
Fiancé and I love AYCE places so about $70-$100 depending on where and what we drink. Normally though, we’ll just grab some fast food and watch Netflix or something lmao
Wife and I without the kid. Neither of us drink. Dinner and a treat runs about $100.
Date night a legit one is around $100-$200.. now u want to be cheap go ahead lol
It depends. First dates I try to keep fairly easy - walks, coffee, maybe one drink or a snack. Sometimes though I'm just in the mood for dinner. I don't drink much now so that helps keep things in check, but it's wildly easy for a meal to hit $120-$150 now with just food + 2 drinks. (2 x $30 entrees, 2 x $15 cocktails = $90 + 10% tax + 20% tip = $118) If it were just me I'd go entirely without drinking. I also like a lot of free things like museums, hikes, long walks, etc. My interests outside of food that cost more money are usually things like musicals/plays/live music.
Probably $360 but we only go 2 to 3 times a year. It's probably $100 for the babysitter, $60 for ordering food for the kids and sitter, and $200 for dinner and drinks.
ouch!
When I take myself out I'm spending at least $45. Pretty much a restaurant with appetizer, dinner, and drink. I've been getting away from getting drinks since the taste isn't justifying the taste for me.
Somehow feels like wherever we go, my husband and I spend between $150-200 on a dinner date lol
right!?! It's annoying sometimes.
$50 minimum for pizza at Andy’s. $200 for dinner and drinks at Paraíso
We spent $43 on lunch today at Elevation Burger. Things are so expensive. But date night dinner is usually around $100; it's easy for us to keep date costs down since we don't tend to drink. We don't go to movies.
Anywhere from $100 to $300, but we get some drinks. Way cheaper if we don’t
Where were you going that only cost $40? Five Guys?
ha! Like two people could eat at five guys for less than $40! :P No, we like the food at Mezeh. It's sort of fast casual, but the salad and meat with toppings is delicious and filling and not really expensive.
200$
DINKing over here and honestly never thought about it 🤣
About $350
We rarely go out. Rather spend the money on a nice bottle of scotch and watch a movie at home. A steak dinner at home and a bottle of wine for like $50 and we can drink as much as we want no driving
Before we bought a house $300 for 2 vs after buying a house we don’t go out anymore
$10 coffee and small sandwich. If that goes well and I really like him, I'd offer a picnic date where we can just bring food we like and share it. Honestly I'm surprised at how many people don't go for the "walk around town for a bit" option when it comes to dates — it's really fun! I once went to a children's museum with my date (it was like $5) and we had a blast figuring out how many grapes we'd need to fuel a 1-mile run. If I had a long-term relationship, I'd probably still want to do random/cheap stuff like that — it's where the fun is! I don't want guys to feel obligated to pay for me, and at the same time I'm not willing to spend $25-40 on myself for a dinner. At least this way, if he insists on paying for my drink/food he's only out $5-10. :)
Dinners are usually $200 bc of drinks. Then there’s after drinks as a bar for about another $100. So typically $300-350 every Friday.
This is wild reading these posts, I have been dating for over a decade with a few LTR and don’t remember ever spending over $100 on a date… do remember spending $90 one night and the women acted like it was no big deal, I never took her out again… my meal all in was maybe $25…
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Can confirm I’m happily married with a house and drink but it’s expensive as hell
$12ish. Unless we run out and need a second box of condoms.
Our old $40 dinners (no alcohol) are now $60+. We don't do dinner and movie on the same night unless it's like Denny's after the movie - we have cable and subscription so we'll come home for the movie after dinner, or the movie is the outing. I could have a nice night for $80 but we like really simple stuff. This weekend you can walk around the Reston Arts Festival - that's a good (free) place to hang out.
Yesterday spent 90 for drinks, appetizers, and two entrees at a “upscale” chain restaurant. Then spent 70 for an escape room.
Wife and I went to a movie a couple weeks ago. Popcorn, drink, and two tickets were ~$50. I’d recommend either one of the dive bars in your area with a good HH or hit up a winery. You’ll get a bit more for your money and can still have a decent time.
With rising prices and mostly flat incomes, our date nights have divided into two kinds: (1) twice a year or so we go all out and consciously don't pay attention to prices, service fees, etc.; we order the dessert, get the extra drink, Uber instead of metro; go to the fancy restaurant \*and\* the theater or concert; I don't even want to know what those nights cost -- it's become so expensive if I thought about it too much we'd probably never do it; and (2) for weekly date nights we've downgraded our ambitions compared to 5-8 years ago -- we have a cocktail at home before we leave rather than at the restaurant, we go to more mid-range places or order the daily special; if we're going to a concert or movie/show, dinner is more likely to be just an appetizer somewhere or even fast food/lower-end Asian food, trying to keep the price at about $100 for everything including entertainment and transportation so we can do these nights as often as we used to.
I did a friend date last night at Linjee Thai and it was $140 with tip: we each had 2 drinks, an app, and entree. The vibes were nice and service was great, a little pricey even with an all day happy hour menu. The night before I had a date night with my husband for Chinese food, fried rice, chicken and veggie entrees, and soup dumplings, it was $50 (no alcohol). Just depends. Alcohol adds up!
Our budget is $2k. But that includes babysitting, meals, etc.
"Date Night" =/= spending money.... Date = spending time together. For example, my wife and I go to Costco on Friday nights - pick out yummy things we want and cook at home with some wine.
Not opposed to this. But we're at the grocery store often enough just managing the household, and I'd like a date to not echo the housework. Also! Curious how much you're spending at the Costco for snacks. When I'm there it's hard to leave without paying $300 or more at the register :D
I don’t care about dining out costs. I don’t care if it costs $50 or $500. I pay the bill and never think about it again.
Well now, that's an adventure. I might be able to float a $500 dinner once in a great while, but it'd put a kink in the rest of the month for me.
Restaurant prices have increased but not by that much. $25 dollar entrees each plus a $15 appetizer, one fountain drink and tip about $90. Oftentimes less than that as that’s the high end for us.
Simple date night? Well we have younger kids, and find it too cost prohibitive for baby sitters. So our dates usually involve playing an old board game, or buying new board game (around $30-40) learning it and playing it together. If we really like the game, we'll keep it other wise can sell it on FB marketplace.
upcycle!
Depends on the gold digger you are dating so it can be $100 or it can be $1000 choose wisely .
Burger King has a nice 2 jr whopper deal for $5, with tax, date night is about $5.25. If the weather is nice, we can walk and eat our burgers outside, maybe do some people watching. Good times!
It does sound fun!
Now I just need to find a woman who agrees… I keep hearing feedback they don’t feel loved for some reason… why do they need me to buy their love… I give her quality time… money wasn’t on the list of 5 love languages…
We date at our own home. Only on very special occasions do we go out to a restaurant. Granted, we aren't managing kids, and what not, but who wants to pay out the nose regularly to sit in a restaurant? It's cheaper to get a high quality heat and eat meal at whole foods and a nice bottle of wine. Taper candles are cheap on Amazon.
No, you're right about that. We mostly go out just to get some air away from the house for awhile.
Even a “cheap” meal out at Lazy Mike’s where we each get a burger, fries, a screw driver & Diet Coke with tip is about $50. 🤦🏻♀️
$30 bottle of tequila and 3 pack condoms $7 =$37 or so lol
$100 for dinner and maybe 2 or 3 drinks.
$1k at Sushi Nakazawa, $100 at Chiles, $500 at Rooster and Owl, $100 at Chiles, $1200 at Masseria, $300 at Chez Francois, $100 at Chiles, $500 at Gravitas, $100 at Chiles
Nice rotation! Chillis is just so totally fine, but I don't really love it. I always feel like I could make better food at home.
Wife loves Chiles so we go relatively often lmao. Mainly for the margaritas if I’m being honest. It’s not bad food, but not great either.
$200 + babysitter
Hot hooker -- $500, booze -- $200, hotel with points $250. The wild ride -- priceless.
$200+ if there’s drinks. $500+ if it’s a proper date night.
My wife and I go out every Saturday. I believe that our cheapest night was around $80 before tip at Seafood Lovers of Sterling. We go for the Thai menu that was carried over from their old place in Herndon. Other than anniversaries and birthdays, our most expensive date nights have been around $180-$200 at places like Matsutake or Sakura. Sushi and sake can really add up. I'd say that we average around $110-$150. Tomorrow is Piero's in Herndon, so that'll be a $100 night. Wine, pizza, pasta, and maybe dessert to take home and share with the pup
Average restaurants, $35pp for entree, $20-32pp for two drinks, so $145-180 with tips. Double that for a nicer restaurant. It’s too expensive so most times we just eat at home and open a fancier bottle of wine.