Last-minute Valentine's Day date ideas in Tampa and St. Pete

🍿 Load the car with pillows and blankets, then head to the Joy-Lan Drive-In Theatre in Dade City for a showing of "Captain America: Brave New World." It's nostalgic, intimate and inexpensive.

• Tickets go for around $8.

🏖️ Head to the beach! We're partial to Sunset Beach, but Pass-a-Grille is also lovely and home to the beachside Paradise Grille, which recently reopened after a three-month closure due to the hurricanes.

• You can also go the classic Floridian route and grab a pub sub (and perhaps some flowers) on the way.

🌹 Elope at the Florida Botanical Gardens. Love should be simple, but planning a wedding rarely is.

• So skip the elaborate ceremonies, save the elaborate sums and get hitched at the annual Valentine's Day Wedding Ceremony hosted by the Pinellas County Clerk of the Court's office.
• A standard marriage license costs $30. Reserve a spot here.

And finally: Sometimes a chain restaurant just hits the spot. Don't sleep on Olive Garden and its unlimited breadsticks. And nothing says "I love you" like Chilli's Nashville Hot Mozzarella sticks.

The bottom line: You can have a fun, romantic night with minimal planning and without breaking the bank.