How do people afford to go on dates with nothing but expensive things to do?

Just curious.. if you dont want to go straight home to your date, what on earth do men and women do nowadays that is enjoyable but frugal? I'm a massive home cook and love having date nights in, but just wondering about people's first few dates and how they go about doing what they do for entertainment. Always just have been a dinner and a drink and a walk in the park kind of girl.. if I want to go to a movie, it's always been like $20 per ticket. I just don't understand the cost of things.. if you go out to eat, go to a movie, go to a bar or anywhere, it just seems like so much money thrown around and i find it really hard to understand- the dating world. How can someone afford to go on multiple dates with someone and still pay rent and everything? Is everyone just in so much debt because of dating? Like you could go on one date a week for a year and easily spend $5000 or something?! I just don't get it.