Date night? Night out? Fun?

[Deleted]

Single, couples, etc... how much do you spend on a monthly basis on going out, laying back, having fun?

We go out about once a week even if it just for a movie or going bowling.

We used to go out more often but since we got a WII we tend to stay home and play (yes getting a bit obsessive lol) .

I am thinking we spend about $50-$75 a week depending of the week or what we do, so about $200-$300.

Also every couple of weeks or so we have guys night out or ladies night out but that comes out of our allowance so doesn't really count (usually costs me about $50 also)

[cronewitch]

Almost nothing. I usually go visit my mom and brother. I might bring something but usually get a free meal. Next week my SIL turns 60 so party at her daughter's. I gave her a $225 gift card to a store that sells office supplies. She is making a sewing room, she retires in 4 months so she can get some tables and bookshelves. I got the gift card free so no cost for party or gift.

[Tiny]

I spend spend about $120 a month on fun stuff and/or hobbies. I have 'game night' with different groups of friends several times a month (usually a potluck dinner is involved so that cost is included in the$100). During Opera season I spend on a take out dinner (after work) and/or snackies for Intermissions. If it's not Opera season I might take in a movie or other low cost entertainment. I have the $9.99 a month subscription to Netflix. I might save up leftover money to purchase something for my hobbies (game night, cooking, etc).
Opera/theater tickets are a line item in my budget and NOT included in the $100 a month Fun Money. Season Tickets are big expense. I choose not to eat out alot (fast food dinners) or go out drinking alot (every fri/sat nite) so I can spend money on other hobby stuff. But, I still occassionaly go out for drinks or have a nice dinner (at a restaurant with cloth napkins/table clothes).

[Urban Chicago]

BK (before kids), we probably ate out 3-4 times per week, a couple movies a month, maybe one night at the bar per month.

Now, we eat out once per week, after music class. I will also sometimes pick up a drive-through lunch once per week after play group. We go to a movie every couple of months (when grandma really wants the kids for the day) and we haven't been to a bar at all.

Big money savers in that way! We also got TIVO, so we could watch our shows after the kids are asleep, but that doesn't cost much.

[gooddecisions]

I go out a lot and spend very little. I find the best happy hours where drinks are as low as $1 and apps are half price or free. I register for free movies and concerts. I can't even remember the last time I paid to see a movie, but I go at least twice a month. Valpak almost always has coupons for 1.99 bowling or bogo ice skating. I actually just found an alley that has free Sunday morning bowling. I'm not good at grocery shopping, but i can find the best deals for going out. In the summer, I like to rally my friends for cook-outs, pick up games in the park, hikes, the free concert series and floating on the river.

[Deleted]

I don't pay on dates so those are no cost to me. That is something about once every week or two. I have a girls' night every week with 2 girl friends. We rotate houses so every 3rd week I'm on the hook for snacks. That's about $20 but I always have left overs that become my lunches. Puppy training costs me $20 a week. A few weeks after puppy training I will have Charlie in dog training. After that I will add something so the $20 will be pretty consistant. That is my regular stuff.

[Deleted]

hard to say...


a couple of hundred a month is my guesstimate.

[Deleted]

Mar 1, 2011 12:30:35 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Single, couples, etc... how much do you spend on a monthly basis on going out, laying back, having fun?

It depends on the season!

We spend less this time of the year as there is no football or baseball. All we have is hockey and the symphonies, with the occasional concert or play thrown in.

Fall is the busiest... baseball, symphonies, college football and pro football, and hockey at the tail end.
Summer only has baseball.

There are line items in our budget for all the season tickets. The plays, musicals, concerts, etc are not in the budget. We add those as we can...

[8 Bit WWBG]

DF and I don't have "date night", we just go out when we go out and have a good time. Most of the places we go end up costing between $30 and $50 after tax and tip. We go to movies in bursts depending on what is out, but get cheaper tickets thanks to costco. A regular priced movie is $11, but we are paying about $8. Sometimes we'll go every weekend for a month, then not go for several months.

[reader79]

I've been going to trivia night at a bar for a while now, it's once a week. The drinks are pretty cheap for NYC, and they have halfway decent food. So maybe $25/week on that.

I like going to the movies, but don't always have someone to go with, I would like to do that about once a month, which is about $20 for ticket/food. I have a netflix subscription, so when I see an ad for a movie I put in in my queue, and if I don't see it in a theater, it eventually ends up at the house.

I don't like dancing, so no clubs or lounges. And I've had my xbox for a while, but play the same games. If I want something newer I knock on the wall and my brother lends me one.

[qofcc]

We go out with friends to a bar for wing night every week and spend about $20-25 on food and drinks (total, not each comes out of allowance). We also go to the bargain movie theater and spend $4 ($2 ea) 1-2x/mo. We get together with friends at their house 2-3x/mo and bring snacks or drinks costing $5-15 each time. So probably $100-150. Not counting annual vacation and dinners out for birthdays.

[justwhoever]

We don't go out. But we play an on-line game. It's $15/mo. each. So $30 a month for us to "hang out" together. If there's not any money for that month...we don't play...but can still stand to be around each other. lol

[whoisjohngalt]

Now I am all depressed. I miss going out, I miss trivia night, I miss wings, I miss getting free drinks, OMG, I think I actually miss bars!!

I need to get a life

Lena

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

What is a date night? What is ladies night?

I can count on one hand the number of date nights we've had since DD was born. We spend maybe $50. I think it averages out to maybe once a month?

[mithrin]

I go bowling twice a week. One night for league, which is $16 (though some of that money will come back in prizes at the end of the year--last year counting prizes, the weekly net was $10). Sunday nights is 'Bowl for Bucks'. $16 to play 3 games and if you get a strike with a colored pin in the right spot, you get $1. There are also side pots and a card game, so I end up spending $29 each week, though that's offset by my winnings.

My wife and I go out 2-3 times per month, usually spending $25-30, and occasionally get take-out.

[Clever Username]

I've got 4 kids and babysitter trouble.
I'm lucky if I've got something on DVR or Redbox that's intriguing enough to have my wife leave her laptop closed.
If I want it really snazzy, I'll light a fire, pour some wine or mix a coctail.

[kdamron]

We go out 3-4 times a week. Ours is a very social group. DF and I went out for dinner last night since we don't have the girls, we have friends having a BD party Wednesday at Aw Shucks, taking a weekend getaway with the running buddies this weekend.

Often we'll meet at a bar/restaurant and then head on out to someone's house where we hangout in the garage ( ) and drink and watch any sports that happen to be on TV.

Then in the summer we all take boats out to party cove and tie up and drink some more. Hmmm...maybe I need to hang out at EE more...all of our entertainment seems to revolve around drinking. Fall, tailgating, more drinking and hanging out. I wonder if I have a problem...

Say 500/month. It's in the budget.

[justwhoever]

Last year for DH's bday we went to Wendy's and shared a frosty. So that was the last date. And it cost us maybe $2 with gas. lol But it sure was nice to be C and J for a bit instead of daddy and mommy.

[dragonfly7]

Too much, especially on eating out. Everything depends on the season. In the spring/summer, we go to the movies 2-3 times a month, but we are lucky enough to have a good quality theater nearby that still has $4 matinées. It has also started a reusable cup program for drinks. We usually go to a larger event like a Ren. Faire, the science museum, etc. once every couple of months unless we have family in town to entertain.
I need to go back to ignoring DH's refusal to consider what he wants for dinner ahead of time and just cook whatever I want. We eat out much less often that way.

[Cookies Galore]

Mar 1, 2011 13:54:23 GMT -5 reader79 said:

I've been going to trivia night at a bar for a while now, it's once a week. The drinks are pretty cheap for NYC, and they have halfway decent food. So maybe $25/week on that.

Oh man! We used to have the best place ever for trivia! They had great food and drink specials during trivia and the winning team got a $50 gift certificate. My team was great at trivia. Bea Arthur Fonzarelli forever!
Even though BF and I have a pretty decent liquor cabinet at home, we do enjoy going out with just us or with friends. We do Friday happy hour once or twice a month and we also make dinner plans a lot with friends. Sometimes we make plans to go out, sometimes we make plans to cook a big dinner and play board games. Last Saturday we grabbed dinner and went to another bar for drinks; there was a burlesque show happening when we got there, which was awesome. On the flip side, when a friend helped us move furniture a couple of months ago, we came over and I cooked dinner for him and his wife as a thank-you.
We're big sports fans so we also go to a lot of games throughout the year. My Dad gives us a portion of his Phillies season tickets as our Christmas present (six games), so April-September we have a tailgating budget. We are going to a Flyers game in a few weeks and soccer season (MLS) starts soon and we tailgate those games as well (maybe four a season).
We'll go dancing every so often. Philly has some great clubs that don't play that horrid club music; one of my favorite dance parties in nothing but Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Prince.
We do have relaxing Friday nights where we just have a couple of drinks and listen to some music. I always dominate the selection, though.
I guess if I were to average it out... $100-$200 a month?

[tcu2003]

In the summer, we go to 1-2 baseball games per month (DH is a big baseball fan, so usually get decent tix - probably around $100 for tickets, parking, food/drink), Theatre in the Park about 1-2 times per month (around $30 total per time), see something at Starlight once or twice in the summer months (around $100-125 with dinner), and probably dinner 2-3 times per week (sometimes fast food, sometimes nicer, so on average, maybe $30/meal). We also play miniature golf occasionally (maybe $15 - not sure).

I've got Wine Club every month with the girls, so as long as I'm not hosting, I'm just out a bottle of wine.

In the winter, we tend to go to see a show at the Music Hall (around $125-150 with tix/dinner, unless we get a discount on the tix), see a movie ($20 for tix), or do dinner out with friends. DH's group of college friends also take turns hosting get togethers for KU bball games, especially during the tournament, which is potluck, so that's pretty inexpensive.

A couple of other things we randomly do are go to an Improv Show at a place on of DH's high school classmates owns (one of my HS classmates performs there, so I like that we both know people) and playing board games.

[Cookies Galore]

I can't wait for baseball season!
Breakdown-
Tickets: $0 (baseline, face value $47)
Parking: $15 (split two ways)
Pint of rum: $9
Soda for mixing: $2
Beer: I dunno, BF buys it for himself
Hoagie and sealed bottle of water (to bring in the ballpark) from Wawa: $6
Pretzel inside: $3.75


Come on, summer!

[resolution]

We spend $60 a month on four gaming subs (two each) and about $200 a month going out for brunch and dinner. Some months it ends up a bit more; we went to the dinner theater last week which was higher than a normal dinner and we have Marti Gras tickets for Saturday (includes dinner and some minor gambling).

Our budget is a little sloppy, we have the gaming and eating out budgeted but whenever it runs over or we just want to do something different it just comes out of our checking account without being accounted for in the budget.

[ZaireinHD]

Hmm... I guess it depends on the amount of interaction of friends and/or family people have?
my chick is depressed and doesn't take medication for it AND she is a bit anti-social.
so I'm spending about $120 per month?

[gsbrq]

Our "date night" is lunch every Saturday at a local tex-mex joint (we have a few in the rotation). With a couple of margaritas, runs about $40/wk.

We don't go to movies, but we do go out to see live music maybe 2-3 times a month. Probably around $200 on average for that.

It all comes out of our "fun money" account...when that's getting low, we'll skip the live music for a little while, but we don't skip the weekly date.

[kgb18]

We're actually having a grown up date night this weekend. It's a double date, but it's kid-free. We went out with a group of people last weekend, but we took DD. It cost DH and me $50, but we don't do that very often. We'll probably spend at least $80 this weekend. But this is pretty unusual for us.

[upstatemom]

Mar 1, 2011 14:42:48 GMT -5 Clever Username said:

I've got 4 kids and babysitter trouble.
I'm lucky if I've got something on DVR or Redbox that's intriguing enough to have my wife leave her laptop closed.
If I want it really snazzy, I'll light a fire, pour some wine or mix a coctail.

Karma for the snazzy comment, it made me laugh. Also I am sitting here with my lap top as my DH watches the Military channel... I will close it if he changes to the food network.lol


modified to fix spelling... its been a long day