Mark and I love a good date night out once a week, but that can get expensive! We’ve learned a few tricks over the years on how to spend quality time together out of the house without breaking the bank.

First up, Mark is super awesome at looking up free events on Nashville Guru. You can even find happy hour specials for each day of the week here. I personally love using this website to help us find fun, new things to do around town all year long. We have our “old faithful” spots we know we’ll for sure enjoy, but it’s exciting to change it up a bit! It can be a gamble to try a new spot, but it can payoff.

Speaking of “old faithful,” this month we ate at one of our all-time favorite burger joints in Nashville, Burger Up East. Not only is it way less crowded than the 12 South location, but they also offer free 1-hour parking in the lot behind the building. Who doesn’t love free parking in this city? A nice coincidence this particular evening, we found out we made it just in time for the end of happy hour. For $29 total we each got 2 mini burgers, 1 cocktail, and shared a trio of their yummy fries and dipping sauces. Our two favorite burgers are the Bison and Woodstock. If you’re feeling extra hungry grab an order of their chicken wings, onion ring tower, or kale salad (my personal fave). The wait staff is always super friendly and accommodating too. Burger Up East never disappoints!

Our next stop was free “jazz” at the rooftop bar Rare Bird of Noelle Hotel. This is where our night racked up a bit more than normal. Although the entertainment and entry was free, parking downtown is a nightmare so we ended up paying $15 to park in the garage next door. Not to mention our 2 drinks were just as much as our total bill at Burger Up. And I put “jazz” in quotations because it was actually a DJ playing jazz music which had we read more closely on Nashville Guru then we wouldn’t have been disappointed that there wasn’t live music. That was our bad. Whoops!

BUT I will say that the drinks were delicious and the views were stunning. The hotel itself is gorgeous and we definitely enjoyed relaxing in the downstairs lounge waiting to go up to the rooftop. I could’ve sat on that leather couch and stared at the architecture for days.

When it comes down to the nitty gritty of going a little over budget, it wasn’t a big deal. We enjoyed delicious quality food, beautiful views, experienced something new, and most of all spent time together. You can see that on our smiling faces.

And to make this particular date more budget friendly you could drive around longer to find free parking, skip the drinks, and just enjoy the view. Whatever floats your boat!

We know that when next week’s date night rolls around we’ll have to be a little creative and do something cheaper. That challenge keeps us on our toes and is equally exciting. Stay tuned for Part 2 of Date Night on a Budget.

Now it’s your turn! Tell us your favorite date night places in the comments!