Stay somewhere cheap but clean. If staying on the strip we always have had good cheap rooms at the Monte Carlo. If you are getting a rental car then stay at an off strip hotel and just park for the day at one of the many free casino parking garages on the strip and do your walking thing. After the first couple times we now just goto a few of our favorite casinos that have a players club car linked together and do our gambling there.
Pick out a couple shows you want to see, they are expensive but some are worth it. If your women is into the phantom of the opera, take her there. It was actually a pretty good show.
We have rented cars and other times just taken a cab to our hotel and then gotten a deuce pass (double decker public bus) for 24 hours at a time and just rode the bus all over the strip and it even goes to freemont street which is the old vegas section with casinos like golden nugget, four queens ....etc