Fun, unconventional date ideas

This is something that doesn't suit everyone, but I had fun with it.

I decided that I wanted to start saving money by eating in, making my own coffee, packing my own lunches etc, but I was so used to spending a lot on the weekends eating out on dates or with friends.

I came up with a fun little idea that I thought would fail, but turned out to be a lot of fun. I call them "scratcher" dates, we basically go buy $5-10 dollars worth of scratchers and proceed with our -no spending- date, we packed a picnic lunch and found a very beautiful spot next to a performing art center where we could lay down on the grass, eat, and relax. We spent $5 for the scratchers, and won $9 so with that we took a walk to the downtown area, bought ice cream, fresh squeezed juice, and snacks. In total we only spent $14 ($9 of which we made) for our entire date.

One time I won $37 which covered drinks, and if we end up making more then we have to come up with creative ways to spend it during our outing. I expect to fail sometimes with this but we enjoy hiking and other things that don't require any spending, so we aren't at a loss.

We could have used the 5-10 dollars to buy coffee or whatever, but we wanted to do something that was a bit different.

My personal experience, but I would love to hear how you do date night on a budget.