In preparation for school letting out in a few months I was hoping to get some ideas from people about what their favorite summer family activities are.
There's a catch though.
These activities need to cost $20 or less. Free is even better for our budget now that we're likely going to need to travel to Addis Ababa twice before A* comes home for good. The activities can be anything from kid friendly food recipes, to a game, or a craft idea.
So, I'm having a little contest to help spur on creativity. Whoever leaves a comment with their best fun, CHEAP! activity will be entered into a drawing for my first ever bloggy giveaway. A randomly selected winner will get two free Ethiopia decals.
Entrants need to leave their comment by Sunday March 21st at 9:00 PM. I'll draw the winner Monday the 22nd at 9AM.
Hopefully we'll have a summer's worth of fun things for our families to do that won't break the bank.
I know my children thank you very much for your entries!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Cheap Family Fun Giveaway
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15 comments:
I'll bite!
My favorite summer outing activity is a picnic in the park. Lunch is sandwiches, carrots, celery, hummus and jello jigglers (which is a fun activity in itself!)
You must also bring kites, bubbles and frisbees. All of which can be obtained from the dollar store. Make sure you splurge though, and dont get the 2 for $1 kites. They rarely work and then everyone will be disappointed. Get the ones that you have to pay a whole dollar for. :o)
Jilly- LOVE it! Our kids a huge fans of the character kites. It's been along time since we've flown some though! This is definitely a keeper.
camping out in the back yard :) we have the next door neighbors over, a big fire, roast hot dogs and s'mores, and set up a little tent city for all the neighbor kids.. they are usually asleep before the adults are even ready to come in from the fire :)
Have all your friends and family over and make homemade ice cream!
You could also go camping, hiking, or go to a beach somewhere (in Nebraska that has to be on a lake).
Garth and I also try to have a game night at home once a week that we really enjoy.
Plant stuff. Food & flowers! Food is especially fun because you get to eat what you've grown. Caveat: Weeding isn't fun. Though maybe someone in your family will like it. You can also go the pot route, which requires no weeding (that's what we're doing in our current place.) You can keep it really simple & cheap, too. We always enjoy garden work...and little boys love messing around with dirt.
P.S. Don't enter me in the contest...I already have a decal. ;)
This is cool, Jen! Can't wait to check back for some great ideas for this summer! :) Plus, I want free ET decals! LOL
For just a little quicky to get everyone out of the house and kill almost an hour (sometimes!) take all the kids to the dollar store and let them each pick something out. Only costs as many dollars as you have kids...that's a $4 dollar outing me! woohoo! Good thing we aren't the Duggar family....even the dollar store could get expensive then...amongst other things! bahaha
I'll give you one from Michael's family and one from mine...
My family always used to bike on a bike trail with the promise of ice cream at the end. (Our family were a little more hard-core on the biking part, as you had to bike either 10 miles or 20 miles round trip...but the ice cream was always worth it!)
Michael's family loves to put out grape jelly in dishes for the orioles in May and June. They get such joy out of watching the birds...
My daughter's favorite thing to do in the summer is wash the car. I know it sounds more like a chore than a fun activity but they love it. They put on their swimsuits get the hose, a bucket and some big foam sponges and go to town, spraying everthing! Keep in mind, sometimes the car looks better afterwards and sometimes it is a little streaky but on our gravel road it really doesn't matter....but they always have fun!
Paint(tempra) rocks on the porch!
I am enjoying ALL these suggestions! YOu are fun loving people! Keep 'em coming!
I'm really beginning to get excited about the things we'll do this summer, thanks to all of you!
Have a water day in the backyard! You can get water guns for a dollar at the dollar store, make water ballons, run through the sprinklers, chase each other with the garden hose, set up the slip and slide (or make one out of tarp), and set out the wading pool (if you have one).
We visit the zoo a lot. A year pass here for the whole family is $68. So technically over $20 you can to all the time! We go about once a week. A bonus here is we have 2 zoos that accept the same pass so we even have *options* :)
Another fav for the kids is to chalk the driveway. You can get chalk at the dollar store too.
two of my favs.....for outdoor, a scavenger hunt for things in nature. Can be done in the neighborhood, park, or on a hike and it's totally free!
For inside.....we are loving shrinky dinks around here. My daugther loves to make charm bracelets, so when they are 50% off at Hobby Lobby, I pick up a few for only 50 cents a piece. You'll also need a package of "hoops" to connect them to the bracelets. One pack of plain shrinky dink paper has lasted us for 3 months--don't forget to punch holes in them before baking. The last time I also got some earrings at Hobby Lobby; can't wait to see what stylin' jewelry my girl will make for me now!
It's so stinking hot here in the dessert during the summer so a lot of our family fun is inside... We do games or family movies together. Maybe have everyone help with dinner or a snack that we can enjoy. We also find it fun to go play in the sprinklers at the park or greenbelt near our house... plus, we're not paying for the water :o)
I haven't gotten way into it but I stumbled across this site today with some free resources for teaching our kids to be mission-minded. Maybe some fun stuff for summer.
http://harvestministry.org/category/missions-and-your-family/free
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