If you're over the age of 22, chances are that you've run out of ideas for dates to take with your significant other. You've had a full year of legal-age drinking dates, and the bar scene is beginning to wear on you and your partner. Maybe you continue to go there because sitting at home watching TV together is super lame and the only other option is to double date with the creepy older couple next door. They keep cornering you when you're walking your dog and stare at the beast while he completes his business. Those guys are weird, and you don't want them in your house.

If this sounds remotely like you, you may need some fresh ideas to spark up your love life. Perhaps you've purused Pinterest to no avail. Those old ladies suggest you get Kid Cuisine and make Playdough figures with each other or swap your favorite bible verses. Although you're creeping into your mid-twenties, you're not quite at that level of desperate yet.

Never fear! I'm here to divulge the top five inexpensive dates that can take place in your home or close to. Rest assured that they have all been quality tested by yours truly.

5. Bring the beach to you

I actually lied when I said these have all been tested by me. This one has definitely never been tried by me or anyone else I know, but all the better reason for you and your special someone to break the mold. If you live in middle Tennessee, you are not surrounded by lush beaches to relax at during your off-days. Most of our bodies of water are smelly ponds occupied by geese and sucker fish. That being said, you don't have to let geography stop love! At my apartment complex, there is a small play ground adjacent to a smaller volleyball court. This court has been filled with sand to give the game an authentic feel. No one ever plays out there though, and I'm sure no one would miss the few million grains of sand you transplant into your living room floor.

Don't let the mess stop you. A living room covered in sand may sound like a bad idea, but I promise it's not, and that's all the reassurance you need. Get some cheap plastic sand castle molds at Dollar Tree and make a palace with your sweetie. For some extra excitement, put sand in the bathroom and start a bath in the tub. Bring in a seashell and hold it to your ear. Authentic! Afterward, argue with your darling over who gets to vacuum up Indoor Daytona.

4. Do lots of mind-bending drugs together

This one has actually been tested by me and a few of my boyfriends. Mind you, when I say "boyfriends," I mean alternately, not simultaneously, because I don't live in Utah and I have a very jealous heart. I've also had mixed results, but overall the experiences were enjoyable, or at the very least, memorable.

In all seriousness, if you and your partner are into this sort of thing or are new to college and ready to try new experiences, this isn't a half bad plan. It brings trust into the relationship, and every once and a while you have a beautiful moment where you are hallucinating the same thing. You have this inexplicable mental and emotional bond that can never be achieved during sobreity. I don't recommend doing heroin or meth, because that stuff is raw and dangerous, but the natural hallucinogens make for a pretty rad couple's experience. Just remember to have something cuddly nearby at all times, lock your doors, and don't make plans for the next couple of days. Trust me.

3. Alter your dog's sense of reality

I did this with my fiancè when we were both hungover on a Sunday morning right before I was scheduled to go into my serving job. Who says you can't have morning dates? Anyway, we decided we would confuse our dogs by calling them different names and dressing them up in strange clothes. I also like to play this game with my best friend's dog, Heidi. The first step is to change the dog's name. For example, I never call Heidi by her given name, but instead refer to her as Meatloaf. She resembles meatloaf, although I doubt she would taste as delicious.

Call your dog by a different name and watch their face twist into anxious confusion. You can also tie a plastic bag around your dog and pretend he is a super hero. My Chihuahua, Bambino Gambino, really enjoys that game. Chris and I will put his arms through a Wal-Mart bag, and he will jump all over the kitchen in an attempt to fly. He loves the noise it makes.

Sophie, our giant yellow Labrador, is always confused, so the game is trickier with her. We pretend there are bugs on the wall and start getting excited while pointing at random blank spots on the wall. She will whine and scratch at the wall, eventually "hunting" it, and then look at us very confused when no bug actually surfaces.

2. Hyper dance to Billboard Top 100 lists

YouTube is the source for a lot of late night fun. If you're really inebriated and incapable of leaving the house, alternate picking years with your significant other. Type in those years on the Billboard Top 100 page on YouTube. They have decades of top music lists organized by genre and year with quick clips from the various music videos that accompanied the chart toppers. It's a lot of fun reminiscing but even more fun to stand on top of the couch or bed and hyper dance to the music videos as they stream on-screen.

This can also easily turn into a drinking game if you require even more alcohol. Make a drinking game for how many times a certain artist makes the list or bet on what song makes number one. Also, for a late night bonus round, there is a Billboard "Top Songs to Strip To" video. Drunk hyper dance stripping for your lovebird sounds like an Olympic Sport I'd like to participate in. Or maybe I'd just spectate.

1. Pick your poison

Speaking from personal experience, in both friendships and relationships, nothing builds a bond between people quite like a mutual distaste or flaming hatred for another person or group of people. Spend time conversing over Pumpkin Spice Lattes and learn which people your honeybun hates. Once you guys both swipe right and match on a hated party, go to your local hardware store and puruse the clearance section for possible murder weapons (the key word here is possible, not actual. Do not cite me as the inspiration for killing your high school prom date). You can also get creative and go to the grocery store, craft store,or any store to pick up amibiguous supplies for the make belief slaughter.

If you ever played The Sims (1, 2, 3, or 4), then you know what fun it was to create a character for your worst enemy in life and have them die by cathartic computer-animated means. This date assumes that role, but is more interactive, and allows for further bonding between you and your mate. Lay out all your weapons on separate tables (don't let your partner see your picks), and put all the options on pieces of paper to be dropped into a hat. Pick a paper from the hat and enact your revenge on the unfortunate soul who wronged the both of you. You can create the avatar out of used chewing gum, A La Helga from Hey Arnold!, buy a pinata and pin a picture of the person's face to it, or really invest in a paper mache dummy. Whatever you choose, give them Hell with your weapon while lovingly gazing into your partner's eyes. Afterward, toast in his or her memory, cuddle up to watch a romantic comedy, and vow to never speak of your night to another soul. Secrets don't make friends -- they make soulmates.