Hey, I'm in my 20s too- and I'm a girl. Qualifications! I live in nyc, land of insane prices, and I've found that often my best dates are cheapo dates. Groupon can help, also, plan a little dine/walk tour. Check out any free/cheap screenings, once a guy took me to see "back to the future" in theatres, another took me to see some movies about space at a science museum (awesome). I like museums a lot for dates. Free lectures at universities are fun if you're into the nerdy type. Playing pool is usually cheap, and it's a great date. Going out for lunch is a million times cheaper than dinner, so you could go to lunch and then go do something else like go for a walk or grab a beer. You can restaurant hop doing appetizers only (appetizer and beer here, walk, appetizer and beer there, walk, etc.) From a lady perspective the most important thing is that you put any amount of thought into it. I've always thought a picnic would be like 1,000,000,000 romantic points, but no guy has ever done that one (you should do it, then you could take the lady out for dessert or something). Oh! Once a kind of outdoorsy type guy took me kayaking, that was pretty cool and I think about $7 each. Anyway, hope that helps!