Love, Actually- Cheap Dates

Brandt Ranj, Staff Writer
February 16, 2012
Filed under Opinion

I’m not cheap, you understand

I’m just a cut price person

in a low budget land 

- The Kinks, “Low Budget.”

Dating while in college requires a lot of economization. Ultimately, the toughest facet to economize is time, but time equals money — the topic of this week’s Love, Actually: Cheap Dates. No, not the kind of cheap date that realizes they have to go to the bathroom right as the waiter or waitress is coming back with the check, but inexpensive ways to spend time with each other and have fun.

Cooking requires timing, precision and a sense of depth perception — attributes you may need later in the evening. Baking, on the other hand, is a lot simpler. Most cake mixes only require water, oil and a couple of eggs to be mixed before you’ve got batter. After a half hour and some frosting, you’re left with a delicious creation: cake! Cupcakes can be more fun because you’re able to customize each with sprinkles, words, etc. Baking a cake costs under $10 and only about an hour from prep to mouth. And don’t worry if it’s messy — that just means it’s made with love!

While you’re at Wegmans, why not check out the Redbox kiosks located conveniently near the entrance? If you’re like me and don’t have or don’t like Netflix, it’s an extremely cheap alternative. At a buck a movie, with the latest home video titles, it’s easy to have a movie marathon for under $5 — plus, no lag due to Le Moyne’s sluggish Internet. On top of movies, Redbox also carries video games. So if you’re a couple that enjoys shooting zombies, racing karts or just dancing, you can get your fix on the cheap side.

Speaking of “just dancing,” have you ever been in a situation where you’d like to go out to a club, but you’re already wicked comfortable in dressed-down clothes? My advice to you is invest the two dollars on Amazon.com that it takes to buy a headphone splitter. You dance, you can DJ, and if you pony up an extra $0.50, you can buy a headphone cable extender and not be forced to dance really close to each other. But hey, that might just be the point, right? No lights, slow dancing, you get the picture.

All these are dorm-centric, but what if you want to go out? As a foodie, I feel compelled to tell you about the best-kept pseudo-secret venue for a lunch date: Pastabilities. By night, Pastabilities is a fairly upscale restaurant that nearly necessitates fancy clothes, and a long waiting time, but it’s worth it because the food is delicious. However, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on any day but Sunday, it turns in a funky, casual, café-style eatery. You place your order and it’s done within two minutes, and you eat the same delicious food but at fairly steep discount. Penne alla Vodka, for example, costs a full $3 less during the day, and believe me, the portion is healthy!

My final piece of advice is free and a supplement to any of these activities — cuddling! Throw some light music on via your stereo or computer and talk about how much you’ve enjoyed the pasta, cake, dancing, movies or video games that have just gone down.