This is the first of many "Ask Liz" posts. Send your questions to eliz.calhoun@gmail.com. Next to finding a great bargain, I sure do love giving advice. The following question is from a delightful friend of mine (*you know who you are*). Even though the answers are specific to our geographic location, they can easily be adapted for just about anywhere with a Mexican restaurant and an AMC movie theater.
Q:
My boyfriend's birthday is coming up this month, and I want to do something nice for him, like take him out somewhere—do you have any ideas?
A:
Hm, birthdays are tough. There are two elements to consider:
1) The gift (or gifts)
2) The celebration
The gift is the easy part. We need to stay cheap, right? Stay away from gift cards, because they have a dollar amount printed right on them. They say, hello, I’m poor and I’m passing my poverty on to you. Something homemade is always welcome, but I’m not talking about a scarf or tea cozy. You could make him the ever-popular Mix Tape/CD of your songs. A framed picture is also a nice semi-homemade gift. Digital prints (5x7) are only 99 cents at Ritz camera, and they’re ready in one hour. You can even upload your pic at http://www.ritzcamera.com/ and then pick up at the store (no shipping!). Also, you can find super cheap picture frames at The Dollar Tree, Wal-mart, Target, etc. Also, your boyfriend's into movies, right? MovieStop and Blockbuster are good places to find relatively new, gently used movies for anywhere from $2.99 to $7.99. And of course it’s easy to find NEW books on http://www.amazon.com/ for a couple dollars (even with shipping, you can easily stay under $10).
Okay, now on to the celebration. After his gifts, he won’t care where you take him out! No really, what do you guys like to do together? Dinner and a movie is a classic date night, but can get pretty pricey. Here’s an idea: take him out on a weeknight. It has to be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday for this to work. First, take him to dinner at Plaza Azteca in Hampton (free appetizers – chips & salsa!) and everything else on the menu is pretty cheap. Then take him to see a movie at AMC 24, right across the parking lot. It’s only $5 per ticket all day (even at night) on weekdays. Can’t beat that!! Also, get this – you can get UNLIMITED popcorn and soda for $5. But also only on weekdays. And that may or may not require a Moviewatcher card, which you need to have anyway because it earns you free movie tickets and other stuff. Get one free at http://www.moviewatcher.com/.
Okay, so after the awesome, thoughtful gifts, and the mouth-watering dinner, and the romantic (or whatever) movie, your boyfriend is going to totally want to marry you (more).
Hope that’s helpful. If you had something else in mind entirely, well, then . . . you're on your own!
Ask Liz
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Posted by Liz at 5:52 AM
Labels: cheap, dining out, gifts, going out
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