Last week I got the cover art for my next release and promptly shared it on my Facebook Author Page. Small-Town Girl is the fourth book in my Goose Harbor series and it tells the story of Brice Daniels and Kendall Mayes. One of the things that I really loved about writing this couple is that Brice is great at taking Kendall on sweet dates—bringing her to a local ice-cream shop after she’s had a bad day, being at her side at a town event, or planning a sunset picnic on the beach.
Writing their story reminded me how important it is to be intentional about planning sweet moments with my real life hero. In the rush of careers, other relationships, and taking care of our child it’s easy to let romance fall to the wayside. To chalk dating up as something that people do before the days of endless diapers and mortgage payments.
But dating is important for every stage of a relationship. No matter if you’re newly married, been married forty years, in the beginning of a brand new relationship, engaged, or cleaning up after toddlers or teenagers all day—every relationship needs planned time together.
In the past week I’ve jotted down cheap/easy date ideas for this spring and summer. Here are ten of my favorites:
- Ice-Cream Date! Okay, so I stole this one from Brice and Kendall … but who doesn’t love some ice-cream? You can either go to a local ice-cream place and get cones and stroll the neighborhood together or if it’s hard to get away, buy a tub of ice-cream from the grocery store and share a bowl together on the front porch.
- On a windy day go to the dollar store or to the toy section of a store and buy a cheap kite (you can usually buy them under $5). Find a large park in your neighborhood and take turns trying to get it to fly. Bring along some snacks and make sure to snap a couple pictures or take a quick video of your kite flying attempts on your phone to laugh about together later.
- Go on a Pick-Your-Own date. My husband and I love hunting down local farms that offer the opportunity to pick our own produce. We always have so much fun together and spend the time joking and deciding what we’re going to use our bounty of berries for (then we go home and cook together!). If you live in the US you can go to the website pickyourown.org and discover all the farms near you. You can also do the same thing at a farmer’s market.
- S’mores, because you know you love them. This is great because it can be done in your own backyard (or over your oven if you want to stay indoors). Unplug from your phone, the television and the internet and spend an hour toasting s’mores together. Shake it up by changing out the normal ingredients by adding a peanut butter cup, Nutella, or strawberries. Use your imagination!
- Camp out in your backyard (for married couples). I’m serious. I know it sounds silly because you’ve got a comfy bed right inside but you’d be amazed at all the conversation and cuddling that happens when you pitch a tent in your own backyard and sleep out there. If the great outdoors aren’t your thing, then fake it by tossing some sleeping bags on your living room floor, pull up a recording of a campfire (YouTube is wonderful for this), turn the lights off and spend some time hanging out together.
- Use YouTube to learn a new dance or skill together. My husband and I did this with Michael Jackson’s Thriller Dance. We took a few weeks and learned a segment of the dance every night and we laughed and bonded so much during that time. Finally, we had it memorized! It’s now this little something special that we share. Now whenever we’re at weddings or basically anytime the song comes on we both drop whatever we’re doing and start the dance. If dancing isn’t your thing, there are YouTube videos for everything—refinishing furniture, cooking tutorials, workout videos. Pick one and commit to learning together.
- Decide on a show together and spend a weekend binge watching the whole thing in your pajamas while having a junk food fest. Sometimes cuddling and Netflix really is the best.
- Go to a town-wide yard sale or a large thrift shop each with $5 in hand. Set a time limit and each person has to find the best deal or the funniest object (pick a goal ahead of time). After your purchase, snap pictures of both and post them on social media and invite your friends to vote one who wins for the best pick (don’t tell your friends who purchased what!). Beforehand decide what the prize will be: winner gets to pick what you guys do on your next date or loser buys ice-cream. Everyone loves a little friendly competition.
- Go see fireworks together. Near where I live, summer is full of free firework shows. For those in the US, of course there’s the Fourth of July, but there are also many towns and sporting events that shoot off fireworks all during the summer. The stadium where the local minor league baseball plays is just down the street from me and they have a fireworks show ever Friday night. Grab a blanket and enjoy the show.
- Last but not least is the ever popular star gazing. Don’t roll your eyes because this date idea is popular with good reason. It’s sweet and leads to snuggling and something about being in the dark and taking in the stars and realizing how little we are in the world makes us start talking about deep things. So grab a blanket and some snacks (and bug spray). Pull out your phone and use a star charting app and spend some time cuddled up next to the person you love.
GIVEAWAY ALERT: This week I’m giving away a copy of the first THREE books in my Goose Harbor series. You read that right. Someone who comments on the blog today will win copies of The Widower’s Second Chance, The Fireman’s Secret AND The Single Dad Next Door. I’d love to hear about the best date you’ve ever been on, your funniest date story, or fun/cheap date ideas that I can add to my list.
Here’s the blurb for Small-Town Girl. It releases in August and is already up for preorder!
Goose Harbor, Michigan, is the perfect place for Kendall Mayes to start over and open her date-planning business. When she encounters handsome loner Brice Daniels, who is struggling to keep the shipping business he runs going, she sees an opportunity. A weekly sunset cruise catering to couples and tourists will keep their dealings strictly business. Kendall has had enough of failed romances, and Brice is too burned by love to give it another chance. But despite their reservations, they soon let down their walls. Yet when Kendall’s silent business partner is revealed to be Brice’s longtime enemy, staying together might be next to impossible.
Happy Reading!! -jess
A coffee drinker, avid reader, and chocolate aficionado, Jessica is multi-published and writes sweet romance for Love Inspired. She holds degrees in both Communications and Biblical Studies and has worked as a zookeeper, a librarian, camp counselor, horse wrangler, housekeeper, and finance clerk, but now loves her full-time work in municipal government. Jessica and her family live in the Midwest.
These are all fantastic ideas, Jessica! Funny, just this past weekend, Derek and I talked about getting a kite. :)
Great ideas! My husband and I like biking, walking and playing board games together- we have great conversations over any of these activities. Will have to try out some of your suggestions sometime.
Awesome cover, Jessica! Great ‘date’ suggestions, too. I’m adding Small-Town Girl to my summer TBR pile.
What great ideas. My husband and I enjoy taking walks along the beach where we live. We have our best conversations during these walks.
My husband and I love ice cream so we used to walk to a local ice cream stand in our neighborhood about 3 times a week after dinner during summer. It was a 30-40 minute walk that we used to unwind our day and enjoy ourselves. Bike drives to nearby parks and a picnic were among favorite end of day dates.
We moved to a much bigger city now and we try to create a nice atmosphere at home most of the time since those are no longer possible. Dinner at the patio/ balcony is my favorite.
Love these! Especially ice-cream…but that might be because I adore ice cream anytime.
Most of these are good family activities, too.
Best date is a picnic on the bluff overlooking Lake Michigan and the Whirlpool Compass Fountain (SW Michigan). Then walking the beach and the pier (weather permitting). A ride for $1 on the Silver Beach Carousel. Concluding the evening watching the magnificent sunset overlooking the lake.
Goose Harbor reminds me of all the lovely little village and communities on the south eastern shores of Lake Michigan. Climbing Mt. Baldy in Saugatuck is also a great date.
Jessica, your books are on my summer reading list.
Love all these ideas! My husband and I have been married for 37 years and the best dates have always been the simplest ones. Star gazing, sitting on the beach listening to the waves, sitting on the back porch listening to the birds sing and more quiet dates. Although,I must tell you about the time I got sick and threw up all over the place when we were first dating. He cleaned up the mess and cleaned me and never complained. What a true gentleman! :-)
Great ideas Jessica! Love the cover! My hubby and I sometimes just go grocery shopping together as a kind of date. Have a great day!
My husband and I started flying kites again last summer with our daughter (well, she’s too young to fly them but she likes to run around on the ground and point at them) and it’s so much fun! Anything that produces time together, zero technology, and the chance for laughter seems to be the best recipe!
Biking and board games! Both great ideas.
Thank you!! I was so pleased with this cover. They captured such a romantic moment *swoon*
You’re so lucky to have a beach nearby! I’d love to do that.
Thanks for your date ideas! We’ve been married a long time, it’s a good reminder to be purposeful. Our youngest is graduating college this weekend. We’re soon to be empty nesters, another stage of life! (Although doing daycare in our home during the day keeps us busy part of the time :-)!)
I think one of my favorite times was riding a rented bike on the beach in the moonlight
I loved hearing about your ice-cream dates. With a little one now, we’re the same way about staying home anymore. We try to find creative ways to spend time together and date at home :)
We love camping together, going on walks by the river, and do some of our best talking while driving. I love that you blame your first date idea on your characters, Jess! I wonder where they got the idea? ;)
Full Disclosure: Most of these date ideas always include our daughter :)
Thank you! And you guessed it! The town of Goose Harbor is inspired by the Saugatuck/Douglas area!! We visit Saugatuck a few times a year, every year and just love that area. We love swimming at Oval beach.
Melissa he sounds like a keeper!
Grocery shopping or browsing is a great date! Although … I usually spend far more money when my husband is along for the adventure.
A moonlit beach bike ride sounds wonderful! I might have to have my characters do that in an upcoming book :)
I’m afraid I do have quite the sweet tooth! :)
Yes, he is a wonderful man. :-)
My husband and I love to go camping (in our RV). He does most of the cooking while I read or crochet. I’d love to take dancing lessons but he’s not interested….I guess it would be ackward too, he’s 6-5 and I’m 5-4.
We live close to the beach, and there is a hotel that rents out private outdoor spas by the hour for a really small fee. We love to go here on date nights and just relax. There’s nothing like enjoying the coastal air while sitting in a nice, warm hot tub.
Ha! Our boys end up on our dates sometimes too. And you know what? That’s okay.
Awe. What sweet ideas. I think that the little things are the best. Ice cream is the top of my list!!
Great ideas! Although for us, with 6 kids, some of the date ideas that involve being at home don’t really work out for us (too many people around for finding quiet moments). Also with 6 kids, it can be kind of difficult finding someone willing to watch them all while we go out. But we do try to spend some time together each night after all the kids are in bed (and before our 14 month old ends up in our bed for the night). Sometimes we watch a show or movie on Netflix and sometimes we just talk because it’s one of the few times we have available to do so without interruption! :) Thanks for sharing your ideas!
Jessica, love your ideas. Hubby and I like to explore unique and different eating places, especially when we’re traveling. We recently ate at our first Vietnamese restaurant.
Anytime with my husband is the best. Specifically, he took me to see Chonda Pierce knowing there would be few men in the audience. Not only does he say he loves me, he shows it.
No need to enter my name, as you know, I’ve already read/reviewed these books and now I am SO looking forward to the 4th Goose Harbor novel!! :-)
Yummy, ice-cream shops! We have one here in town where you pay $1 for a cone, no joke! They have so many varieties of local homemade ice-cream it’s really hard to choose. My favorite (even though I don’t indulge much) is called Smurf. Blue ice-cream with mini-marshmallows & I think either fruit loops or Capt Crunch berries. It’s sooooo good but oh so sweet! It’s located in what we call the Carousel Mall, named because there is a Carousel in the middle you can actually ride. So we’ll get our ice-cream & walk through the little mall :-) More often than not, we stop in the toy store to see what we can find for our grand-girl :-) In the same mall, there’s also a little place that’s all decorated in 50’s memorabilia & they play 50’s music. There’s a checkered counter with red vinyl stools to sit on and you can order home-brewed root beer floats! They also make their own sodas, all kinds of flavors! They even carry the old-fashioned glass bottles of all the sodas you used to be able to get way back when. It’s such a cool little shop :-) Maybe some people would call that a cheap date, but I call it quality fun time with my husband!
We also like to take day trips and drive down the coast. There’s a cheese factory about an hour south of us that we like to go buy cheese curds (squeaky cheese) and go through the gift shop. Just down the road from there is another little specialty shop that carries various cheeses, gourmet cracker/ veggie dips, various mustard/bbq/hot sauces, oh just all kinds of special foods, local wines (though we don’t drink) & chocolates/candies from around the world. They also have a little place out back where kids can feed the various farm animals. Our kids always loved doing that and now that they are grown, we take the grand-girl…although I don’t think she’s too keen on the goats eating from her hand, lol!
Since we don’t always have the money for big stuff, we just find little to no cost things to do. On nice evenings, we’ll go along the promenade to walk next to the ocean. Or walk downtown and explore the shops, or just take the grand-girl to the park across the road. There’s a lot to do here that costs nothing but adds to our quality togetherness :-) Even just renting a movie from Redbox, making popcorn and sitting on the couch watching said movie is nice. I think if you really think about it, you can always find something to do or do nothing at all! :-)
Thanks for all the date ideas! I really love your idea of camping out in the back yard! Can’t wait for the weather to warm up so we can do it! One of the best dates we ever went on was going to a matinee movie on a weekday. The movie had been out for a while, and we got lucky and managed to have the movie theater all to ourselves! It was awesome and very romantic, and of course, we shared some popcorn and a few kisses to boot!
Fun to read all the ideas! A very memorable date was when my husband to be and I went for a walk, in the rain, in Muir Woods (north of San Francisco). We’d agreed on limiting physical contact (until we knew each other better), so it was a bit interesting when we took refuge in a hollowed out tree that wasn’t very large :-)
We’re 5’3 and 6’2 here! Although I can’t complain, mine loves to dance.
That sounds DIVINE!!! I’m pretty solidly a Midwestern girl, but you all are making me reconsider this beach-living thing.
You’re so right about the little things. My most memorable date was my husband (when we were dating in college) took me out for a late night stole on the Lake Michigan shore right after it had snowed. We were the first footsteps all along the lake. It was so pretty and quiet and we had such a special time together.
Yes! It’s all about intentional time together – however that looks :)
How fun! And adventurous! I love it.
That’s so sweet about him taking you to see Chonda Pierce! Great guy right there.
That mall by you guys sounds like the perfect place to enjoy some time together and you have me drooling over those flavors. My favorite ice-cream is chocolate marshmallow (now I want some!!). And cheese curds are the BEST. Every time we’re in Wisconsin (which is fairly often) we get a huge bag of them.
And you’re exactly right – there are SO many ways to “date” without spending any money or by spending very little. Most of ours are the same – we go for walks by the river by us, stuff like that. I also think those kind of things leave you with the best memories and more time to connect (over a lot of the expensive options for dates).
Last but not least THANK YOU SO MUCH for all your reviews. *hugs* Reviews are better than chocolate (and knowing me, that’s HUGE).
A matinee movie on a weekday is a great idea!
Margaret your story sounds right out of a romance novel! I love it. Thanks so much for sharing.
These are all fantastic free/cheap summer date ideas. Thanks for sharing. I am currently in the mood for ice cream so that might be my first pick. ;)
Also, thanks for the giveaway!
sydneyjames68[at]gmail[dot]com
A fun date my husband and I went on before we were married is boogie boarding at the beach and building sand castles :) Thanks for the great giveaway!
colorvibrant at gmail dot com
What makes a good date for me is holding hands, talking, sipping wine, eating some good food, and giving and getting back rubs! A date doesn’t have to be expensive!
My husband and I have been married 44 years. I guess the closest thing we do resembling a date, is about every Sunday we go do a little shopping, mostly for odds and ends we forgot to pick up during the week, and then we have lunch at a restaurant.
I love reading books and seeing new authors. Great job.