Date Night Reviews
A Double Date Night at Hanoi Hannah
We have been meaning to eat at Hanoi Hannah for ages, but the waits are always long and to be honest, we just haven’t gotten around to it. But when our awesome friends Cheryl and Tim suggested it for a double lunch date one day, I was on board immediately!
Burlesque Bar Date Night
If there’s one thing I now know about Burlesque Bar, it’s that you will probably get what you least expect. Burlesque has long been a bourgeoning scene in Melbourne. I love me a bit of glitter and pasties – this was not my first burlesque show. The history and glamour of the genre just enchants me, and the ballsy women that put themselves up on that stage night after night to titillate, shock and tease (in more ways than one) their audience are just amazing.
Couples Photography Session: Date Night Review
We went on the most beautiful date recently.
It was an afternoon spent at one of our favourite places – the Fairfield Boathouse. We got dressed up, we took out a rowboat, we walked memory lane… and we just happened to have a photographer with us too to capture all the fun!
A Simple Date Idea
Simple and Easy Date Night.
This is so simple it’s stupid! Don’t read any further because you are running the risk of allowing the following three letters come out of your mouth in succession: d.e.r.
There are times where Emma and I just don’t want to go out. Pfft, date night – who can be bothered? So, staying at home it is, and what could be easier than doing it at home with a good old fashioned “themed” cook up. Our theme of choice, Mexican!
It’s nothing fancy, it’s not difficult and it’s a whole lot of fun! This is what we did.
Ghost Tour Date Night
You know what terrifies me? Ghosts. And aliens. And zombies. Zombies are our most real threat, what with the impending Zombie Apocalypse and all. But because I am an amazing wife, you know what I organised for date night recently?
A ghost tour. Because I knew Den would love it.
Comedy @ Spleen Date Night Review
What to do on a mundane Monday when you have a date scheduled?
Den and I have been struggling to find time to date each other lately. The only slot we could fit in for the last few weeks was a Monday night – hardly a party time. We’d spent a fair bit of time working and socialising together, so it wasn’t like we hadn’t seen each other… which of course means there’s not much to say when you get to date each other finally.
The Number 96: A Surprisingly Awesome Date
In Melbourne, we have trams. In the US, you call them cable cars and San Francisco is also famous for them. They’re an awesome form of transport, actually. Super convenient for going where no train has gone before, and while they’re not exactly fast, they beat the hell out of taking the bus.
Schooled. Schnitzel Night Take Two.
After the Great Parma Disaster Date of 2012, I decided that rather than just bitching and moaning to Denis about exactly how he should show a lady a good time I would instead take it upon myself to execute the same date, done completely differently to prove to him that there are date nights and then there are great date nights.
Not Your Typical Date Night: Donating Blood
The Australian Red Cross is in crisis. When I first decided to do this date, they had less than three days supply of blood left in their banks.
I have been meaning to book this date in for awhile now, ever since someone suggested it over on the $30 Date Night Generator. It is a free date idea, obviously, and afterwards you get the warm fuzzy feeling you can only get from donating to a worthy cause.
Do You Need a Backup Date Idea?
ooooo-kay… so I scrapped my first draft of our chicken parma date idea. It was written, complete and ready to go live, but in essence my review sucked because the date sucked! Which opened up the question…
Lamest Date Yet
So, according to Den, this last date scored me the honour of having taken him on the Worst Date Ever.
I did not think it was all that bad, to be honest. It certainly didnt stack up to expectations, but surely borrowing a kid or cutting Den’s hair makes an afternoon at glow in the dark mini golf seem acceptable?
Date Review: Huxtaburger
Huxtaburger has been the name on every Melburnian foodie’s lips lately.
Devotees of the new burger joint are effusive – Instagram-washed arty pictures of burgers are plastered all over my Facebook stream (and I’ve added a few here for your own viewing pleasure).
I myself had but a tiny taste on my way into the adjacent Bill’s Bar on opening night, ducking back out to the fluorescent-lit grill for a teeny-tiny Rudy burger
Oyster Hour at Mezzo Bar
Pro: Mezzo Bar / Mid April (Australian Fall) Picturesque = a wonderful space, outside, summer breeze yet leaves falling in the top end of little bourke street, Melbourne of course.
Con: The date lasted approximately 45minutes – because we only spent $30!
We Did It! The Worst Date Idea Ever.
It was the date night that was never supposed to happen.
The Worst One Ever, in fact, as voted by users of $30 Date Night.
It was regular user Ming who submitted, a few years back, the date night idea of Cutting Each Other’s Hair. It’s clocked only 1.5 stars on our 5 star rating system, from a total of 474 votes (and counting).
San Francisco: Nick’s Crispy Tacos
No doubt about it, San Francisco is a massive city! Even still, Nick’s Crispy Tacos is no secret to the Bay Area. Located near the corner of Polk St & Broadway in Nob Hill – this place was packed, and for good reason too. Davide, a good friend of mine and a San Fran local chaperoned me as I have left the beautiful wife back in Australia to look after our massage business back home.
Sex On The Beach
Its vacation time for Emma and me; we’ve survived the New Year festivities and are relaxing our way through a sunny beach-side Queensland holiday… The ocean is warm, the sand is gloriously soft and I’m feeling as frisky as a squid on Tuesday. Needless to say sex on the beach was a high priority on this beach-side vacation.
Sunshine and Good, Cheap Food
It was a beautiful day in Melbourne last Thursday. I always say there is nothing quite like a gorgeous Melbourne day. It is partly because we never know when the good weather might come back. It may be 30 degrees and sunny now, but by Christmas day we could have 17 degrees and pouring rain…
Y is for Laughter Yoga (Video)
This is one date I’ve always wanted to do. Laughter Yoga clubs exist all over the world.They are free to attend, usually held in public parks or city squares, and the benefits of practicing are enticing – more endorphins, less cortisol. An antidote for anxiety, stress and inflammation in the body. It may reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and more. You burn calories when you laugh. Best of all, you feel good!
The X Date!
Den takes Emma out on a date searching for hidden treasure… you’ll be disappointed with what they find! But, don’t let this stop you – the potential this date has to rock your sweetie’s world is HUGE – find out how… read more.
W is for Whisk(e)y Tasting
Not many of our $30 Date Nights involve alcohol due to the prohibitive cost. At best, there’s picnics with BYO wine from the cellar (doesn’t count if it was paid for eons ago… or even last week!) so you know you’re onto a good thing when you can get your hands on some hard liquor and a beer for your budget
V is for Vegetarian Feast
Our Alphabet Dating Challenge is drawing to a close and it’s getting to the pointy end of the alphabet where the letters are harder and harder to match to an appropriate date idea (X, Y, Z are all giving me cold sweats).
V, luckily, had quite a few options. Most of them food-related. I decided I was going to take Den once and for all to one of my favourite little restaurant gems…
In ‘U’SA we eat!
The concept of the “Great American Diner” is a novelty to Australia. I never knew it existed until Emma mentioned it, an all American diner in our very own backyard of Melbourne. Excited, I was dying to find out if the American Diner would cut the mustard amongst Melbournian pallets.
T is for Titanic
This was a fabulous date that we managed to squeeze in on our Vegas trip among conferencing and partying and getting married and whatnot.
And I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
For the next almost-decade, Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition will be docked at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas.
S is for Shopping
I’m not one of those women who drags their husband shopping for new clothes. I always feel sorry for them, the guys who sit forlornly outside the changerooms in boutiques as their woman parades garment after garment in front of them for their “opinion”. I saw a lot of it when I worked a brief [...]
Row Your Boat Date Idea
Includes Video! The row boat date idea on Central Park Lake – New York. Inside you’ll get tips on how to make your row boat date idea fun. The vid makes some reference to Emma’s karaoke performance in Vegas – I’ve sworn never to show it, but I’ve still got it. Make sure you comment and let her know how much you want to see it!
Q is for Quesadillas
I have to admit, Q had me stumped for awhile!
I turned to Twitter for inspiration and my fantastic Tweeps had a plethora of ideas for me… A day trip to Queenscliff, a game of quoits and a quickie among them… we settled on a late afternoon date that involved Quesadillas from Trunk Diner.
P is for Photography Night Walk
This P date was a great one. My darling husband bought me a much longed-for DSLR camera a year or so ago and I rarely get to use it for arty shots. Mostly because it’s hard to find the time
O is for Orienteering / Geocaching
Use your smart phone to locate hidden containers around you city. Daters Emma and Denis spent a few hours trekking through Melbourne CBD to see what hidden caches they could find. It’s cheap, easy to do and a fun date idea playing secret squirrel. Read more about Geocaching Melbourne CBD with $30 Date Night.
Date Night for 2011 begins! The Night Market.
The first date night for 2011 found us at the Suzuki Night Market at the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne… and it was AWESOME! You don’t want to be shy of crowds in any market – let alone the Melbourne’s Night Market – it was packed! Although I have seen it busier. The night was [...]
M is for Money
Money, money, money. Got a huge jar of spare change at your place? Cash it in at the bank and use the spoils as your date night budget this week! You won’t believe how much cash you have sitting in one little jar!
L is for Laksa
Would you believe that Emma has never had Laksa before? So this week, L is for Laksa… something new. Rce Queen. LEVEL 2 / 231 SMITH STREET, FITZROY – Melbourne (Australia). Check it out.
Fly my Kite!
In my head – I thought Kite Flying would be a breeze (no pun intended). The packaging had a label saying “not suitable for children under 36 months,” what it really should have said was “not suitable for under 32 year of age.”
J is for Jigsaw Puzzle
I loved our J date idea. It was a horrible, cold, rainy Melbourne afternoon – no one would want to be outside in that. Luckily, we were prepared and snuggled in our warm apartment with a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle that I picked up from the supermarket for $3.99…
I is for Italian Waiters Club
For a long time this iconic Melbourne establishment has been the choice restaurant for really good Italian food. It’s well hidden down an alley and up a flight of dodgy stairs.
G is (also) for Games Night!
Relationships are all about games. The Hard-to-get Game. The If-You-Don’t-Know-Why-I’m-Angry-I’m-Not-Going-To-Tell-You Game. The Hide-the… oh, nevermind. The point is…
G is for Game Show
It was quite awhile ago that a user submitted an idea to the date night generator suggesting to go participate in a studio audience.
It ticks all the boxes as far a great date night goes for us – something new we’ve never done before, cheap and above all, fun, giving you something to talk about while on your date.
Deal or No Deal, Baby!
Em’s and I have been keeping this one secret from you. G is for Game Show! DATE NIGHT on DEAL OR NO DEAL! The episode airs tonight (Thursday 15th July) – in Australia – 5.30pm EST on Channel 7.
F is for Football
With the high fever of the world cup that has been going on the past weeks, it was only logical that F be for Football in the grand scheme of Alphabet Dating. After all, it’s only us Australians and the US that call it soccer. To the rest of the world, it is Football. You [...]
E is for Ebay
Razzie from Melbourne, Australia submitted one of the more unusual date ideas on $30 Date Night – the ebay date idea. “one wife for sale, slightly used but still has plenty of years left in her. Needs regular attention otherwise may perform poorly. Does NOT come with a guarantee. No refunds!”
Life Drawing in Sydney!
We had our first Sydney Date Night ever! YAY! It was sensational!!! The most fun I’ve had in Sydney for a long time! We’ve recorded video of this date idea, check it out!
LoveStars Astrology Date Night Review
I’ll let you in on a little secret: I really, truly believe in astrology. I’ve been scoffed at before for it, but that doesn’t matter to me. I’m still a believer. I could not be more of a Pisces if I tried. I’m your typical dreamy (read: flaky), emotional (erratic) romantic (unrealistic) type with an [...]
D is for Dumplings
There ain’t much romance in cheap dumplings – but who says you need romance to have a great time and a good feed?
D is for Dumplings and Delicious – you should DO it this week!
D is for Den You’re Freakin’ Disappointing
I won’t put roses around it – I’m letting the team down… Sometimes I don’t have the motivation to take Emma out on date night. I don’t know about you, but lately I’m feeling like everything else is getting in the way… meetings, finding more staff, paperwork, fixing bugs in our websites, paperwork, more paperwork…grrr…… [...]
C is for Comedy Festival
And so our alphabet dating streak continues. C, for us, is for Comedy Festival which was a wonderfully spontaneous date we decided to go on last night. What I love about the Melbourne Comedy Festival is that they run a box office from the Town Hall that you can walk into at any point during [...]
B is for Breakfast and Radio and Breakfast Radio
Today’s date of the week starts with the letter B. We kicked off the day with Breakfast radio – with the Hump Day Crew on Melbourne’s Joy 94.9fm! We love these guys and always have a rockin’ time when on radio with them. If you’re in Melbourne make sure you tune your radio it 94.9fm [...]
Alphabet Dating: A is for African Cuisine
You may have caught yesterday’s post on ABC Dating – we’re going to spend the next six months working our way through a dating alphabet. This has a few benefits – we make sure we’re doing something different every time we go on a date and we also introduce a little more structure into the [...]
Alphabet Dating
Well, we felt we needed even more structure than usual this year – and to be honest, a new dating challenge. When we have SO MANY date ideas to choose from on our little date night generator, it can get a bit hard to decide what to do next. The ABC Dating trend has been [...]
Getting Back on the Date Night Horse
I have to confess, ever since Christmas hit Den and I have been kind of… slack when it comes to date night. It’s been a blur of road trips, holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, partying… summer nights at rooftop bars… bad, bad date night couple. We’ve waned from our usual Wednesday night date night, which means some [...]
We Went Plane Spotting
AN IMPORTANT NOTE FOR EMMA: darling, please do not read this post – I fear for my life! I know you read all my posts, but you can skip this one – it’s boring. As much as Emma is going to hate me saying this, I’m going to say it anyways… Emma has some expectations [...]
The Complete List of $30 Date Night Reviews!
Den and I try and do a date night every week together. The catch is, we try and do something new together every time… keeps us interesting! I’ve rounded up a list of all the date night reviews we’ve done since starting this blog – and had great fun reminiscing back in the process! Click [...]
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