What did you decide on?? As for travel you can get some great cruises prices or package deal trips through expedia or travelocity...I saw one to peru for $500 the other day and that included hotels, flight, etc...
I posted about this on the budget travel section but
www.flyi.com has good prices for airlines if you're traveling within the US! Or a roadtrip is good too...
I liked kirsi's idea about a picnic too! Let us know what you decided