While on hikes, Tyler Polan is always on the lookout for new picnic spots for him and his girlfriend to explore.

“I’ll go on hikes with my friends, and I’ll try to find a place that’s close enough that she can walk to, like, little locations throughout the Santa Barbara parks,” Polan told Noozhawk.

While Santa Barbara has no shortage of delectable restaurants and places for romantic dates, some local couples opt for more affordable, unique options to spare their bank accounts.

Ahead of Valentine’s Day, Noozhawk asked readers to talk about their favorite affordable date activities. Couples responded and shared their love for going on picnics, cooking new recipes and playing beloved board games.

Polan said he and his girlfriend of eight years, Nicky Monreal, enjoy going to Parma Park and Franceschi Park. The Dos Pueblos High School sweethearts bring along meats, cheeses or sandwiches. 

“That’s what I like so much about picnics — you can just spend whatever it is, depending on your budget, but it’s all about having time together,” Polan said.

Polan said it’s easier to connect on quiet trails versus loud, crowded restaurants. He said it’s nice that it saves some money, too. 

Andrea Manokian and her boyfriend, Atticus Roddick, also enjoy packing their own picnics with sandwiches and drinks to bring to the Santa Barbara Mission’s Rose Garden. 

“We’ll lay out there for a while, just sit and talk and catch up,” Manokian said. “Often there are a lot of couples out there, and it’s just a nice place to be, and the Mission is really pretty.”

They also enjoy looking for new recipes to try in cookbooks and on Instagram and TikTok before they go shopping for the ingredients together. 

“When we get to the grocery store, we stay together, that’s one thing that I love,” Manokian said. “We’ll go through our list together, as opposed to breaking apart in the store and going our separate ways, and we’ll just pick up all the stuff, grab a snack that we like, come back home, throw on a movie, put on some music, and just cook and chat and try and make it a bit more exciting.”

To reminisce on childhood memories, the couple of 3½ years also enjoy playing board games such as Trouble and Mouse Trap or watching old Disney movies. 

When Manokian and Roddick are in the mood for crafts, they’ll go to Michaels, where Roddick likes to get sketch pads and pens and Manokian enjoys grabbing stickers, ribbons and craft paper for journaling. 

“We’re both very creative at heart, and we like expressing our creativity by doing different activities,” Manokian said. “I think that’s what’s so cool, is even though we’re doing something different, it’s still a creative activity, and we’re still doing something together.”

The two met on a dating app when Manokian was living in Ventura County and Roddick in Santa Barbara. Since living together in Santa Barbara, Manokian said they always try to add some fun into their mundane activities. 

“Atticus and I enjoy a fancy night out just as much as the next person, but we’ve come to realize that sometimes the more easy casual dates end up being the most memorable,” Manokian said. “We sort of make an effort to come up with just casual, affordable date ideas here and there.” 

Kathleen Doherty and her husband of 45 years like to joke that they earned a master’s degree in picnics during the COVID-19 pandemic.

They like to bring already-cooked food, a hot pot for soup on a cold day, along with a camping table and two chairs they bought online that they always keep in the back of the car. 

Sometimes they’ll bring salads, Mexican food, leftover barbecue or a veggie sandwich.

Their favorite spots are Santa Barbara City College‘s East Campus and Franceschi Park. 

“The view is to die for, and it’s free,” Doherty said. “You just park there, and they have a couple of picnic tables. We went up there for an early evening dinner, and when the sun set, it was the most spectacular view to watch all the lights start coming on in the city. I’ve never seen that before from high up. It’s just a magical little park.”

Their picnics started during the pandemic, she said, and they have kept it up ever since. 

“We’re so lucky in Santa Barbara, because we have so many beautiful open areas, so we felt safe,” Doherty said.