Written by Diane Bauer, M.S.
Diane Bauer Therapy, PLLC

Oftentimes couples love the idea of date nights but struggle to find ideas for fun and inexpensive things to do—maybe they are new to town and don’t yet know of all the fun things their hometown has to offer or perhaps they’ve lived in one place a long time, have their favorite spots, and those are the places that become their ‘go to’ activities.  Following is a list of 50 ideas for inexpensive dates in and around Fort Collins and Northern Colorado.  Enjoy!

• 1. Stroll through CSU’s campus and reminisce about your college days—what you loved, what you maybe regret, the people who were important to you, how the experience shaped who you are today. Check out the university website for guest speakers, concerts, special events that you may want to put on your calendar for later on!
• 2. Learn to dance! Check out the free dance lessons at The Sundance Saloon or other venues in town.
• 3. Plan a picnic lunch and head up Poudre Canyon. There are plenty of secluded spots along the river where you can spread out a blanket and spend some time just talking!  Wade in the river if you find a calm spot.  Watch the squirrels edge toward your yummy lunch.  Take photos of the scenery.
• 4. Take a brewery tour. Fort Collins has several options for local craft brewery tours or head north to the Budweiser plant where you can also visit the Clysdales!
• 5. Wander through Barnes & Noble and choose a book to read to each other—a classic, a favorite from your youth, something new one or both of you has wanted to pick up. Commit to reading a chapter or two a night, alternating who is reading aloud.  Discuss what you find interesting about the evening’s chapter.
• 6. Plan to see a movie at the Holiday Twin Drive-In (2206 South Overland Trail, Fort Collins). Few cities have drive-ins anymore—enjoy the fact that Fort Collins still has one and enjoy it before you no longer have that opportunity!
• 7. Take a mini road trip up Poudre Canyon and see if you can spot any moose around Cameron Pass. Visit the Moose Visitor Center in Walden (56750 County Road 14, Walden, CO).  Note—best times to see wildlife tend to be early morning or dusk.  Pingree Park is another great place to spot these elusive animals.
• 8. Plan a weekend yurt trip in the Colorado State Forest with Never Summer Nordic (neversummernordic.com). Take the kids or leave them home—your choice! This can be extra special in the wintertime when some of the yurts are only accessible by skis or snowshoes!
• 9. Play a childhood game. Chess, checkers, Yahtzee, Aggravation, Uno—there are lots of choices.  Tell each other what makes this particular game really special for you.  Who did you play it with?  When did you get the game?  Who gave it to you?  Did you have a favorite playing piece that was always yours?
• 10. Head to a spa and get a massage. You’ll both feel pampered and more relaxed afterwards!
• 11. Get to the nearest bike path and spend a day (or part of the day!) exploring the many wonderful bike paths right here in Fort Collins. Walk, bike, rollerblade—whatever suits you!
• 12. Stargaze! Find a clear, cool evening and spend some quiet time together outside, looking at the stars.  See what constellations you can each identify and share with each other.  Check out the astronomy laboratory at Observatory Village (www.stargazerobservatory.com)!  Check the calendar for any meteor showers, comet sightings, eclipses, planets aligning, etc.  If possible, go far enough out of town (Poudre Canyon?) where the city lights aren’t interfering as much with your view.
• 13. Check out the flea markets on South College one Saturday morning. If you have something the two of you collect, decide that the first of you to find an item representative of the collection gets to choose the lunch spot.  Commit to buying nothing, but maybe identifying the net piece you’d both like to add to your collection.
• 14. Sign up for Design & Paint at Genoa Coffee & Wine (genoaespressoandwine.com) –paint a matching pair of wine glasses that you can later use to toast your growing connection!
• 15. Plan a date night at Barnes & Noble where you spend your time in the travel section, making plans for your next really big adventure abroad. Look at maps, travel books, etc., specific to the location you mutually choose to explore.  End the evening with coffee and dessert in the café.
• 16. Plan a sunrise hike to the top of Horsetooth Rock. Pack a picnic breakfast or plan to visit one of Fort Collins’ wonderful breakfast spots after you’ve hiked back down again—Silver Grill?  Rise?  Egg & I?  Bluebird Café?
• 17. What was your favorite restaurant while you were dating? Plan a special return to the same restaurant on the anniversary of your first date.  Let your partner choose your meal for you and plan to share!
• 18. Go to Fort Fun (1513 E. Mulberry, Fort Collins) for an afternoon of miniature golf! Winner buys dinner at loser’s choice of restaurant!
• 19. Spend an afternoon playing tourist in Fort Collins. Take selfies at different landmarks around town.  Alternately, play tour guide for each other for a day, each of you choosing your favorite spots around town that you would want to be sure to share with someone new to town.
• 20. Volunteer to serve a meal at the homeless shelter downtown (Fort Collins Rescue Mission, 316 Jefferson Street, (970) 224-4302).
• 21. Go to a free concert in Old Town Square (downtownfortcollins.com/events). Have ice cream at Walrus (a hometown favorite—125 West Mountain Avenue, Fort Collins)
• 22. Plan a day at New West Fest (downtownfortcollins.com/events/bohemian-nights-at-newwestfest),starting at the Silver Grill (a classic—218 Walnut Street), ending with dinner at your favorite Old Town eatery. Go online beforehand to check out the free concert options and plan your day so each of you gets to see/do one thing most intriguing to you!
• 23. Take a quick trip north to Vedauwoo, WY. Make it a day trip of hiking and exploring or take a tent and stay overnight in a magical place!
• 24. Choose a nearby hot springs to explore. Glenwood Springs is the big, obvious choice, but there are many smaller and more intimate hot springs locations in both Colorado and Wyoming that are within an easy driving distance.
• 25. Rent a tandem bike and explore some of the local bike paths in a new way!
• 26. Feed the geese at City Park (1500 West Mulberry).
• 27. Volunteer for a service project together.
• 28. Go fly kites in an open field close to your home. Better yet, build your kites yourself beforehand!
• 29. Have an impromptu garage sale and put the proceeds aside to fund a weekend trip to a place you’d both like to visit.
• 30. Look through old photographs and share the stories behind the photographs.
• 31. Sign up for a cooking class together at The Cupboard (thecupboard.net)
• 32. Go bowling! Take a couple you enjoy and make it a double date.  Go out for coffee and dessert afterwards.
• 33. Go roller skating at Rollerland (324 South Link Lane, Fort Collins). It’s a great work-out and they have some fun slow songs where you can get close!
• 34. Check out the local farmer’s market. Plan a meal together that uses primarily fresh produce from the market.
• 35. Look for an opportunity to ‘pay it forward’ today—buy the coffee for the next person in line behind you at Starbucks, buy the meal for the person in line behind you at Qdoba, etc. Look for an opportunity to give back.  Give your kids each $20 and ask them to use it to ‘pay it forward’ today and then report back to the family how they used their $20—you’ll be surprised by their creativity!
• 36. Rearrange a room in your house together. Get creative.  It doesn’t have to stay that way forever, but give it a chance!
• 37. Test drive a new car with no intention of buying it and no pressure to make it your own. Pick something you’d both like or drive one for each of you.
• 38. Purchase a journal or blank book and one of you start a story. Pass the journal back and forth and each of you add a chapter or a portion of the story, adding to one another’s writing as it comes back to you.  Read the completed story to each other when you both agree it has come to a place of completion.  Be as creative as you each can be.  No judgment.  Just add what comes to mind.
• 39. Take a tour of the garden railroads locals have built (ncgr.net for details on time and locations—the 2016 tour is June 4, 10 am – 4 pm).
• 40. Give each other foot massages.
• 41. Pick one local festival that you’d like to attend together—a bluegrass music festival, a beer festival, an arts festival, etc. Or choose one of each and research together which you might like to attend.  Put it on the family calendar and rearrange things, if necessary, in order to fit it in.
• 42. Rent paddleboats at City Park and take a leisurely tour of the lake.
• 43, Visit a local corn maze together. Pack a backpack with a thermos of hot cocoa and go enjoy the evening together!
• 44. Go on a Scavenger Hunt with your cameras and see how many of the Art in Public Places painted transformer boxes you can find around town (approximately 15 boxes are commissioned annually, the project began in 2006 as a way to reduce problem graffiti). Share with each other which are your favorites, and why.
• 45. Pull out your art supplies and some poster board and create a relationship collage that shows what you value most about each other.
• 46. Take a trip north to Albany County, WY (20 miles east of Laramie at the Vedauwoo exit of I-80) to visit the Ames Monument, a large pyramid that marks the highest point on the transcontinental railroad (8,247 feet). The nearby ghost town of Sherman, WY was once home to several hundred people.  There was a general store, post office, school house, two hotels (Sherman House and Summit House), two saloons, and a railroad station house.  In 1918, Union Pacific Railroad closed the station house and relocated the tracks 3 miles south.  Residents soon abandoned Sherman, leaving behind a small cemetery that is still present today.
• 47. Saddle up and go for a trail ride at Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch (2939 N County Road 31D, Loveland, CO (970) 667-3915). One hour rides are $37 per rider.  Call ahead for reservations.
• 48. Hike Grey Rock. Located about 25 minutes from downtown Fort Collins in lower Poudre Canyon, this is a popular 7.3 mile loop trail of moderate difficulty.  Dogs are permitted on leash.  Back-country camping is also permitted (contact the Arapahoe Roosevelt National Forest for permit information and closures (970) 295-6600).
• 49. Take a tour of the Avery House, 328 West Mountain Avenue (open Saturdays and Sundays 1-4 pm). Built in 1879 at a cost of $3000, the Avery House was home to Franklin and Sara Avery and their three children, Edgar, Ethel, and Louise.
• 50. Ride the trolley on weekend and holiday afternoons from April 30 through September. Rides are $2 for adults, seniors and children are $1.  Moms ride free on Mother’s Day and Dad’s ride free on Father’s Day!  A three mile round trip between City Park and downtown along Mountain Avenue takes about 30 minutes.