With prices going up, up, up and budgets getting tighter, a lot of families are staying home and creating their own fun family nights. While it may be fun to still go out to a restaurant once in awhile, or go catch a movie, there are a lot of fun things that can be done at home. So whether it’s with your family, or a group of friends, here are some ideas that don’t cost a lot of money.
Game Night. Plan a weekly or monthly game night. Chances are you own several games. If not, borrow a couple of games from a friend. Have each family member choose a game for the family to play. Pop some popcorn and you’re good to go!
Scavenger Hunt. Scavenger hunts are fun for kids, teens and adults of all ages. Create a list of items or clues that people need to find. For little kids, you might need to provide pictures of the items. Afterwards, enjoy a special treat–banana splits for instance.
Movie Night. Sign-out a movie from your public library, rent movies when the movie rental store has a great deal, or borrow a movie from a friend. Have everyone wear their comfy PJs. If you have young and older children, show a fun cartoon first and then a family-oriented movie next. Be sure to have popcorn and soda, water, etc.
Silly Night. Plan a fun meal. For example, build a volcano meatloaf with mashed potatoes oozing out of the center of it. Make little animals using celery, raisins and cream cheese. For dessert, have cupcakes with funny faces on them. When you’re through eating, put on a talent show! Have each family member provide some sort of talent. The talent can be a serious one or a silly one.
Play Outside. Kids want to spend time with their parents and the outdoors offers so many free activities! During the summer, go swimming, biking, have a cook out, play tag, roll down the hill, go to a park…the list is endless. During the winter, build a snowman, have a snowball fight or make angels.
Growing up, our parents took the four of us kids to Ontario, Canada for two weeks during the summer time. Two of my favorite memories were: 1.) spending hours in the lake with my mother, and 2.) dad cooking breakfast for us. It wasn’t until years later that I found out that we spent a lot of time in the lake because there wasn’t much money for other activities. My parents saved and saved so we could go on vacation. I also found out that dad cooked breakfast to save on expenses as well. For us kids though, it was a thrill to see daddy cooking. We thought just mom knew how to cook! He would make a big production out of cracking the eggs and flipping the pancakes. We loved it!!!
So whatever your financial situation may be, take time to have fun with your family and friends. Be creative–it doesn’t need to be expensive.
Listen to your heart…
Tags: budget, family, inexpensive fun
We like having game nights as well. We play some of the oldies…Monopoly, Game of Life, and some newer ones…Sequence and Moods. We have great fun!
Camping in the backyard is fun!
Taylor (13-5) fought his way to the finals of season seven of The Ultimate Fighter, but was removed from the finale after an allegedly violent drunken episode in public. He cleaned up his act and was allowed a second shot in the Octagon, but was released after losing to C.B. Dollaway in July of 2008.