Cheap Dates for Creative Types

Financial markets are on the ropes. Here's eight cities’ worth of  ideas for keeping the romance flame alive on a budget.

By John Rossheim for MSN City Guides

Even as oil touches record highs and the dollar dwindles, the love machine must barrel on.  So for millions of us, the 2008 dating scene will be ruled by an unlikely troika: creativity, thrift and eros.

Is it a sad thing to look for love on sale? No, not really. While it’s easy to show a good time to your spouse, lover or special friend of the night if you’ve got a fistful of big bills, navigating to the intersection of romance and budget requires creativity, always a virtue in an amour. Still, most of us can use a little help in the innovation department.

With our suggestions for cheap dates in eight great American cities, we’re aiming for an ideal of frugal wooing that’s somewhere between the dozen long-stem roses and the lapel carnation that squirts your squeeze in the eye. Has our dollar-wise Don Juan hit the mark? You be the judge.
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Related:

• The art of chocolate 
• 10 hot restaurants near you 
• A cheapskate's guide to 29 cities 
• Slide show: Romantic attractions
• Gayot.com: Great date wines

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Atlanta
For some of us, it’s a whole lot easier to let fun lead to romance, rather than going straight to soulful looks.

But when is there anything funny about an unscripted date? When the headline act is the show at the Whole World Improv Theatre, where the cast brags in a tagline that they’ve been “Making our mothers cry since 1994.” Women get in free if they show up by 7:30 on a Thursday.

Preface the show with an early dinner at Front Page News—the $9.99 shrimp po’boy with creole mayo looks like a good bet.

What if you flop when the show’s over and it’s time to close the deal? You’ll be well-positioned to laugh it off.