As a parent, you want to provide your kids with the best and you are looking forward to all family fun opportunities. Sometimes, however, financial limitations stand in the way of having a good time. Having family fun on a budget is possible, as long as you are willing to put some effort into the process and to get creative. Here are several great family fun possibilities that will be almost 100 percent free.
Explore Nature
Instead of going to the cinema or to another local hotspot, start exploring nature with your children and spouse. Children today have been disconnected from nature and as a parent; you can do a lot to correct that.
A family picnic can be a great bonding experience. Pack some sandwiches, soft drinks and your favorite games. Use the day to explore nature, to show your children interesting things about plants and animals and to relax.
Avoid Popular Tourist Attractions
Stay away from the popular tourism attractions. Theme parks and other intensely advertised fun places will usually cost a fortune. At the same time, you will have to deal with a large crowd and very often, getting in will require several hours.
There are so many little known fun places in your city. You can have a city tour using public transportation buses. Show your children historic places and the most popular landmarks. You can have an entertaining history lesson and everybody is going to be having a blast.
DIY Family Fun
When you are trying to come up with something cheap to do as a family, always consider do it yourself projects.
Crafts and arts will encourage your children to fantasize and to explore their creativity. Such activities are inexpensive. Once you buy the basic supplies, you will get to use those several times.
Paint greeting cards together. Buy some clay and work with your little ones on the creation of handmade jewelry or action figures. You can even create your own board game that you will get to enjoy as a family, once it is finished.
Make Family Meals Together
Restaurant food can be of low quality and if you want to ensure healthy and delicious family meals, you will have to spend a lot of money on it. Just do a simple calculation to find out how much you are spending on eating out.
Cooking family meals will save you some money and it will also be the perfect family fun activity. Make cupcakes with your kids. You can organize a cupcake decoration contest or another fun competition that has something to do with food preparation or decorating.
Use these moments to teach kids about healthy food and the preparation of delicious and nutritional meals. Such activities will be both fun and highly educational.
Monitor Expenditure
Monitor expenditure and find out what you have been spending money on. Taking a look at the monthly spending list can provide some useful ideas about cutting down costs and discovering alternative, inexpensive forms of family fun.
Single parents should stick to fiscal discipline, though they would love to pamper their children. If necessary, work with forensic accountants to figure out what is going on in terms of spending. Such professionals like Forths Forensic Accountants will be of great assistance if you are going through a matrimonial dispute, as well.
You can have family fun without spending a fortune on it. We live in a commercial world and brands want you to think that you need to spend money, in order to be happy. Creativity and the desire to find alternatives to typical family activities will give you access to new fun possibilities. Quality family time is all about enjoying each other’s presence and trying to please your children. Being motivated to accomplish the goal will help you do it, even if you have no money to dedicate to family entertainment.
How else do you have fun on a family budget?
KC @ genxfinance says
Nice. If you really want to have fun and bond with your family but don’t want to spend a lot of money, there are ways. You just have to be creative and make most of what you have around you.
Justin says
Great post. As a child, I used to love donating my time with my family. We often took part in events hosted by our church. It was great family time, free, and made you feel good.