We aren’t a family that gets a lot of “fun money” in our budget. While I know very few parents {I am one of the only two parents among our friends and the other (my children’s godparents) have much younger children (2 and under)}, you do hear about other families lives at work, through neighbourhood conversations or by contact with biological siblings adoptive families. So my understanding is, we do a lot less paid forms of entertainment than most. During the whole of 2012, in terms of paid entertainment we did the following:
- One trip to the movie theatre (a birthday gift for my daughter)
- One evening bowling (a birthday gift for my son)
- One family drumming class (some one:one fun for my daughter and I)
- One trip to see live theatre (a Christmas gift from my mum to the family)
- One visit to a play place (part of a sibling access visit, not somewhere I would have chosen for our family to spend time)
- Visited an art gallery
Whereas in terms of free fun we:
- Gardened in our community garden plot – visiting it each week
- Managed about 50+ hikes in local woods, parks, ravines
- Visited a free city farm 6 x
- Volunteered at an on organic farm 4 x
- Visited the CBC Sounds of The Season Open House
- Attended book signings where they got to meet and interview authors
- Visited and toured a food bank learning about how food is distributed
- Attended a free multi-cultural dance and music event
- Tobogganed at the local park
- Attended a free family chess program
- Visited the library more than 40 x
- Participated in reading programs through the library
- Played hundreds of games and read thousands of books! : )
- Baked and cooked together!
- Visited a different art gallery we had a pass to!
I don’t think January’s money diet will necessarily be easy. No doubt needs will arise which will take careful thinking and planning. But one thing is for sure, we will most certainly not be short of ways for our family to have fun, not only in January, but for the rest of 2013 too!
What are your favourite ways to have frugal fun?
And I can’t let tonight close without saying a very very happy New Year to all the lovely, kind people who visit this space. May love, compassion and gentleness find you in 2013!
Your list shows the best things in life are free. We do a lot of outdoor and free activities as well. The last outing that didn’t include nature was a free bagpipe concert put on at the university. It was lovely to say the least.
Now that is my kind of event. I have a, err, intense love of the bagpipes!!!
Me Too!!!
peace , love and happiness to all in the Ft household. Keep up your wonderful , enriching lifestyle. Money can never buy memories x
ps am looking foward to reading your posts on the january money diet x
I don’t know what the other people’s children have done but I think your children are having a rich cultural life.
Happy 2013! May the new year bless you and your family with lots of fun times, however you make it!
Frugal fun! Isn’t it (usually) the best kind of fun? We are a great family for picnicking, and in the winter we would sometimes change things up by spreading a blanket on the floor and picnicking in the living room. Our DD loved it! We camped on vacations, and every evening we would sit around the campfire and drink cocoa while my DH told a story. We are very fortunate that our local library has passes to several museums, so we took advantage of those on a regular basis. We would also go to a coffee shop in the next town and order cocoa (do you detect a theme?) and play cards for an hour. It seemed like an exotic outing to a small girl. We splurged every year on a membership to a living history museum in our area and went once or twice a month. There was always something different going on as the seasons changed so we definitely got our money’s worth. When our DD became a teen, we changed the membership to an art museum, which she greatly enjoyed. She also got a lot of enjoyment out of making decorations for the various holidays. Unfortunately, she didn’t share my passion for gardening the way your children do, but she was always happy with a walk in a botanical garden. And we never met an agricultural fair that we didn’t love.
One of our favorite “free” family entertainments is taking the dog for a walk. When the kids were growing up, we did this almost every night after dinner. Not only did the kiddos get to burn off some energy, it was also a great time to talk to them about their lives in a “less formal” atmosphere than at the dinner table. In our town, there are also lots of free cultural/learning events during the summer. Perhaps checking your newspaper, or the local Public Radio web site, would provide some additional ideas?
I’ve read your blog for years…we found each other when my daughter was planning on letting someone adopt her baby….Am finding you to be such an encouragement and love to see your lists!!! Can’t wait to see how your story unfolds, especially more details on how you are homeschooling while being a single mom. Happy New Year awesome lady!!!
Stacy…formerly of TexasCzech
What a lovely comment Stacy, thank you. I hope your daughter is happy, well and thriving!
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