Is it really possible to feed a family of six and have fun, all for fifteen dollars? I dare you to find out!
We found many benefits of trying to pack as much fun in with the least amount of money:
* Not only did Family Fun Night give us an opportunity to spend time together, it forced out kids to plan, budget, and take other people’s likes and dislikes into consideration.
*We found that when giving the kids the chance to plan and prepare, it helped them to enjoy the event a whole lot better.
* Having a limited budget has a special magical quality. There was no resorting to dinner out followed by a favorite movie at the theater. We found that we had to be creative.
And here are a few of those creative ideas:
Dollar Date Night – Have Costco hot dogs and then head to your town’s local dollar theater.
Karaoke Night – Borrow a karaoke machine or use your Wii, and make it an American Idol style night (but with only adoring fans – No Simon Cowell slams). Pair it with a Sushi dinner. For those less adventurous, their sushi can be made from cooked chicken, ham, or cheese on top of rice.
Airplane Food – Have a paper airplane competition. Set up a finish line and see whose plane gets the farthest. For dinner, have little packages of food ( cheese and crackers, carrots and ranch dressing as “airplane food.”
I know there are creative ladies (and men) out there. What is a cheap, but creative thing you do to spend time with your kids?
Hello, after reading this amazing post i am too happy to share my know-how here with
mates.
We do a make your own pizza night with a twist. Each person gets to wait on someone else in the family. They pretend to take their order in a “fancy” restaurant and then be the chef and create the pizza that was ordered. Mama takes care of the oven and all the waiters go on “break” to eat with everyone else. The kids think it’s a hoot and for at least a few minutes they are doing their best for their family members. Even the 3 year old gets in on the fun!
One of our favorite family fun is to walk to our local Cold Stone. We get some exercise in before and after. Plus both kids and Dad get their favorite ice cream with no fighting. But the do have to share some with mom.
We plan a big movie night. I get the big box popcorn (the ones that you can buy in the store, or movie rental places. Looks like the big boxes you would get at the movies, take it home and pop it in the microwave.) a bottle of the kids favorite pop, and a pretty good selection of candy to choose from.
Before all the goodies to come, we fix pizza, or nacho’s , or my husbands favorite Taco bar 🙂
Everyone has fun, and get to spend time together…
When my boys were little, we were so broke we could not afford to run air conditioning in the summer — and we live in Florida! Gas was cheaper back then (about 19 years ago), so we put them in our mini van and drove to the paper mill and sat in the air conditioned van, watching all the happenings at the mill — trains coming and going, logs being loaded and unloaded, the pulp piles, etc.. The boys loved it and we literally spent hours there! Very inexpensive (and cool)!