Be a Cheap Date This Holiday Season! 10 Fun Outings

It's been an insane holiday season and it's only December 9. Tree up? Check! Hanukah parties attended? Check. Advent wreath, cards getting cranked out, kids' shopping done? Check check check! Out to dinner with Rex? Um... not that kind of check, please! We're in savings mode.

Lack of funds is a dumb reason to not have fun this holiday season. It's cliche, but true, when I say that being present to the one we love is more important than an expensive present. Unlike credit cards, awesome memories are an interest we can all afford.

* Note: By no means am I saying it's okay to be a cheap axx if you can afford it. For me, 2011 is going to be the year I start shopping again and eating out more. Why? Because it's fun, that's why! And as soon as my minor debt is gone - as well as some built up resentment about it between Rex and I - I'm going to really splurge on myself. But until then, here are 10 things I hope to do for, and with, Rex before Christmas. Feel free to add your own thoughts!

1. Go on a walk through the neighborhood at night. We live in a real 1950's flashback neighborhood. Who wouldn't feel romantic bundled up in a warm coat, holding their spouse's hand while staring at lit up fat men on frost bitten lawns? (Okay, that last part? Not so sexy. But you get my drift.)

2. Light a fire. Get naked. Do it to "Santa Clause is Comin' To Town." You won't regret it.

3. Make a rockin' holiday meal. Something warm and cozy and unforgettable! And then, if you're like me and the ballet/karate/homework/playdate schedule forces you into a fetal position under the Xmas tree sucking down eggnog like a drunk on cheap whiskey, just get the kids in bed (sxxrew the teeth brushing for once) and spike your mate's decaf with Kailua. It's cheaper than Starbucks and will have them singing "Joy to the World" quicker than you can slip into my #4 suggestion.

4. Get one of those Santa teddies and ask him if he wants you to be his ho-ho-ho. (Seriously, shut up. You try to come up with a better line than that.)

5. Create a holiday album featuring a photo from each holiday you've been together. Shutterfly has a lot of options. If you're really short on cash, there's nothing wrong with just printing some up at Costco (or on your own home computer) and sticking them in an album.

6. Write a love letter. I used to write one every year to remind Rex about the fun we had. Given the last letter does not mention our home, our rabbit, and our two kids, it's time to update that tradition.

7. Include your spouse in the kids' traditions. So far this year I've had a little surprise for each of my kids each night thanks to our advent calendar box. I always write poems with clues to where the present hidden. So far Rex has yet to open up one of those wooden doors and find a note for him. Perhaps I'll wrap up a Snoopy tie from the 99Cent store and let him read his own personalized clue: "You won't get tied up, but here's what you got, something for your neck, that starts with a knot!" (Okay, the rhymes are goofy, but the kids love it. And why should my husband miss out on the fun? Of course, I'd love a poem from him for me: "I didn't give money, I didn't buy toffee, but here's something my love, since I know you love coffee!" And then, I'd open up a jacuzzi sized tub of Yuban! Hoooray for me! Hooray for my little fantasy life! Now moving on...)

8. Go ice skating. I'm sure many of you have real lakes that freeze where you can chance death on your blades of steel. But for us L.A. folk, we need to simulate both snow and ice. But you know what? I'll take the Hollywood version. I have visions of Rex and I skating hand and hand around a rink. We'll laugh! We'll flirt! And after the tenth time of him picking my sorry butt up off the frozen floor, we'll go out for hot cocoa. We'll spend five dollars at Starbucks and convince ourselves about what rebels we are to sneak away from the kids for one night only to enjoy just the two of us. We'll make out like teenagers on our driveway and then collapse in bed before we can even muster the words, "Wanna poke?" Oh yeah, it's romantic around here.

9. Read a Christmas story out loud. Does anyone have any good suggestions? Aural sex has always worked wonders for us. (No, the nativity story will not work. I love them, but given Rex has once referred to it as a "lovely little fable" I'm looking more along the lines of The Spirit of Christmas. You know, something about a husband bought his wife maid service for a year.

10. See our kids' winter performance. There's nothing like watching your off spring dance badly in elf hats to make us grateful for the family we've made. When he cries (which he always does when he watches his kids) it's the perfect time to answer his question about what I really want most for the holidays. "A vasectomy reversal!" I'll shout with glee! And then he'll remind me, like how he felt after our ice skating experience, that certain things are now permanently frozen - and that's how they are going to stay. (Hey, can't blame me for trying.)

Any ideas out there for making the most out of the holiday season without breaking the budget?

* Photo taken in 2000. Hard to believe that 10 years ago we were still in our little condo... the champagne glasses from the wedding still sparkle and shine on the book shelves. It's time to dust those off this season and remember how lucky we are! Hope you do the same!


Posted by Andrea Frazer

Reprinted with Permission of Hearst Communications, Inc.