Bulk Foods Mom and Dad Date

R and I recently had an especially enjoyable date afternoon that cost all of $2.80! Here's what we did:

1. Drove to Central Market and picked out about 18 different snacks from the bulk food bins and bought just a tiny amount of each (about 20 cents worth each snack). They were interesting snacks, most of which we had never tried before: dried cantaloupe, wasabi peas, dried garlic pods (!!), a few international candies, etc.

2. Walked around Mayfield Gardens, a picturesque private park here in Austin that is open to the public and enjoyed the water gardens, flowers, and plenteous peacocks that were wandering around the grounds.
3. Settled on a pleasant bench under the trees there and discussed a chapter of the book Shepherding a Child's Heart (a book that we have both read several times, but we still find fresh food for thought there as our children get older)

The snacks gave us something to do and pleasant, light conversation as we talked about our preferences. The garden gave us quiet (an increasingly precious commodity), and a romantic setting. The book gave us a renewed unity in our vision as parents.

We're fortunate to have a family at our church that regularly does babysitting "swaps" with us; that way, both couples can have inexpensive date nights; so we're always trying to think of new ideas for things we can do for dates. Any suggestions?