With the current economic recession lots of families are searching for alternatives to their regular, costly forms of entertainment. Staycation is the new buzzword and family game night is once again in vogue. Looking for some inexpensive ways to have family time this summer? Here are a few options for you.
1. Have a movie night.
Taking a family of four to the local cinema can cost $50 these days—and that’s just for your tickets. Throw in some popcorn and drinks and you’ve just spent the better part of a $100 bill. Why not have movie nights at home? Netflix.com, Redbox.com, and the video rental shop on the corner are great money-saving alternatives. Your local library probably has a great selection of movies available as well—for free. Simply make your own popcorn and enjoy.
2. Take a hike.
If you live near a national or state park, walking trail, or other safe place away from traffic, take a family hike. You don’t have to be “hikers” to enjoy the time outdoors. Go with a mission. Look for wildflowers or birds for example. Take a field guide with you. See how many species you can identify.
3. Go bike riding.
In the city where we used to live, the unused railroad lines were converted to recreational trails. According to their website, the “Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., whose mission it is to create a nationwide network of trails from former rail lines and connecting corridors to build healthier places for healthier people.” This project has provided over 20,000 miles of safe trails for folks to walk, blade, or bike safely. To find a trail near you, visit RailstoTrails.org. If you do not have this option in your neighborhood, just choose safe roads, wear your helmets, and enjoy.
4. Float downstream.
Canoeing, kayaking, or tubing are great ways to stay cool in the heat of the summer, spend time together as a family, and enjoy the outdoors. If you do not have your own floating vessels, borrow what you need.
5. Go fishing.
If you cannot borrow the boats you need, just head down to the river or lake with your fishing equipment and enjoy the shore. This is not just cheap entertainment for the family; it’s a great way to bring home a free dinner.
6. Have a game night.
Make one night a week or month Family Game Night. Visit Hasbro.com for lots of cool ideas, hosting tips, game recommendations, and more. Serve snacks you would not otherwise have on hand to make it extra special.
7. Host a “Friend Night.”
Host a monthly Friend Night for the kids. Let them invite their friends and make pizzas together or cook out hot dogs on the grill. This isn’t just a great way to have fun together; but also a way for you, as parents, to get to know your children’s friends.
8. Take field trips.
Just because school’s out for summer doesn’t mean you can’t do something educational. My mom needs her military identification card renewed, so we are planning to make it a field trip for the little boys. At the Air Force base where we go, you can get pretty up-close-and-personal with some impressive military aircraft and the guys in the office are all too happy to make an impression and answer questions from elementary-aged children. What else is on the agenda? A glass blower’s studio and a hike to a forest fire lookout tower. In the past we’ve visited the potato chip factory, a local Civil War museum, a university’s arboretum, and cemeteries in search of ancestor’s gravesites—and all this for free.
With a little imagination I’m sure you can come up with a few more ways to keep costs down on entertainment.
Please share your ideas in the comments! We’re listening!
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Great suggestions! We have been doing “Smores Night” lately and making smores…the kids absolutely love them!
Great idea. And if it’s too hot for a fire or even the grill, try doing them over the stove burner with the A/C on. A S’more is a S’more!
One of the things we do is Geocaching. It is a modern day treasure hunt using GPS co-ords. It’s fun and exciting. we normally have some marbles and toy solders to swop for items in the cache. Most smartphones these days have a app or built in GPS function so there is not much cost to this. You register on geocaching dot com for free! My kids (9 & 7) enjoys going treasure hunting!!
Brenton, geocaching is a ton of fun! I’ve been doing it for 9 or so years. How long have you been involved in it?
Love the ideas. They’re simple but fun.
Thanks Joseph. And the best part…they won’t break the bank.
I don’t have any kids yet, but I think hosting a prayer and praise night would be cool. You don’t have to spend any money and you are giving glory to God. What a great situation lol.
Oh, Steve, I love it when my kids friends come over with their instruments and they just sit around praising the Lord! Thanks for the reminder.
I like that suggestion, too. And we usually do combine it with our get-togethers… it’s so encouraging to hear all the family singing together to the Lord! I’m sure He enjoys it even more!!
I appreciated the focus on “friend night.” If children see their parents serving them and getting to know their friends, it is a huge way to open up the parent/child relationship. This way the parents have the chance to enter into the kids lives in addition to the kids obeying the parents and learning from them.
If your kids are little, this could almost count as lunch out. Thanks, Chase.
Thanks, Carol, for those ideas. Some of our family wanted to go canoeing soon, but the young mothers are a bit hesitant (as I think I would be); and I hadn’t thought of biking, but that would be a fun thing to do on the Creeper Trail!!
I would much rather have my baby on a bike than in a canoe, KathyM. Thanks for sharing.
Great list! We just did a bonfire night with some friends and the kids honestly said they hadn’t had that much fun all summer, even the more expensive activities.
Bonfires are one of my kids favorites, Josh. Kids bring their instruments and they sing, and sing, and sing.
Great list! You can add taking the kids to the beach as number 9. I plan to take my teenage daughters and their friends to the beach tomorrow. Obviously not everyone lives near a beach, but the lake is an alternative.
We spent a day of our Staycation last summer on a lake. It was the most peaceful day we had. Thanks for sharing, Jeff.
These are great ideas! With a little tweaking too, they could work for a couples date night.
Wow, Karen. That was insightful of you. Thanks for the ideas.
Good suggestions Carol. We do 7 of the 8 suggestions and I *might* look into the Host a Friend night. I already have 8 children in the house, so not always keen on inviting others, but we might.
Lots of people will frown on this, but it worked quite well for us. We’ve got council garbage collection going on at the moment, where everyone gets an opportunity to clear out their houses and throw junk on the sidewalk in front of the house. The council (municipality) then comes around and hauls it all away. So our neighborhood’s streets are filled with piles of junk all over the place. Me and the kids took a walk around and looked for things we may like that other people threw away. Our house is filled with perfectly good soccer, football and basketball balls. Found a cellphone (mobile), perfectly good skateboard and who knows what else. Never mind what we found, it was great fun just walking around looking through the junk. Kids enjoyed it so much the first time, when they got back from school yesterday they were all jumping up and down around me to go for another walk. Won’t find cheaper entertainment than that:)