The Steamboat Pilot & Today

Submit ideas or examples of cheap dates. E-mail aplean@steamboatpilot.com or get on the horn and call me at 871-4204.

Allison Plean

Allison Plean's column appears Fridays in the 4 Points arts and entertainment section in the Steamboat Today. Contact her at 871-4204 or e-mail aplean@steamboatpilot.com.

Sometimes it seems as if the only cheap date in Steamboat Springs is going out with a person with a low tolerance for alcohol — and there aren’t too many of those.

It took four years of living in Steamboat before a boy took me to Cottonwood Grill or Café Diva. And I had to pay for dinner the first time a boy took me out anywhere in town (he only had a credit card with him, and Cugino’s didn’t accept plastic in those days).

So although some guys have figured out how to keep a date inexpensive, I am here to help out the rest of us.

I am starting to remodel 4 Points. Last week, I added a list of local happy hour deals, and I began the “Tattoo of the Week” feature. Next week, I will add a feature called “Cheap Date,” in which locals can provide examples of fun cheap dates or suggest inexpensive activities couples can do — even those still trying to figure out whether they want to be a couple.

There is nothing worse than asking your date where he or she would like to go to dinner and getting a response of, “I don’t know, where would you like to go?”

Some possibilities: scratch dinner and go to a cooking class at Colorado Mountain College. Or go sledding, leaf through each other’s photo albums and yearbooks, or start pen-pal relationships with prison inmates (www.prisonpenpals.com).

For those unnerving first dates, break the ice by going ice skating. (Sorry, that was a little cheesy.)

Just because we live in a resort town doesn’t mean we have a vacation budget to spend. There are lots of fun things to do besides dinner and a movie. For instance, volunteer at the Doak Walker Care Center (870-1208) or walk dogs at the animal shelter (879-0621).

Because the holiday season is upon us, you can make gingerbread cookies that are shaped like your friends and give them as gifts. You can also make homemade Christmas cards together or go hiking and pick out your own Christmas tree.

I also think it would be fun to crash another company’s Christmas party and tell everyone you just got back from maternity leave or give some other silly excuse.

And if you are determined to go out to dinner, at least dress up like you are going to an ’80s prom.

Living and dating in Steamboat already has enough challenges — like going skiing and having to worry about your nose running, your hair being a mess (under an unflattering helmet) and getting so nervous that you fall every five minutes. Dating in the mountains requires that you give up vanity for expedition and security for romance. But it doesn’t mean you have to spend your entire paycheck.