I heard on the radio that today marks the first day of spring. With the nice weather coming our way I have been thinking about some of the fun and frugal family activities that we did last year and plan on doing again.
- Backyard BBQ with a Twist! - We have a lot of fun as a family eating and cooking outside. Recently I have been adding another fun twist and cooking s’mores with the kids and using the BBQ to roast our marshmallows. They have a blast. Not the best thing for my waistline though!
- Bike Rides - We take advantage of the numerous bike trails in our area. Typically, we pack a lunch and make an afternoon out of it. My six year old can now ride without training wheels so he keeps up with my wife and I quite well. I have a bike trailer for the girls that I pull behind me. A worthwhile investment, plus it gives me a great workout!
- High School Baseball Games - With my son currently playing T-ball, he wants me to take him to a couple “big kid” games this spring. The cool thing about high school games is you are so close to the action and the the most expensive part of the trip is the gas to get there!
- Visit the Public Library - The public library in our town has a weekly ’story time’ where a volunteer reads a story to the children and then does an activity with them. Typically, they do some sort of an arts & crafts activity that relates to the story. My wife has already taken our 3 year old daughter a couple times in the past month and she loves it!
- Golfer In The Family? - Last weekend my son and I went to a local golf course and just putted around and chipped on the practice facility. It was great and totally free. They even had a sand-trap he could hit out of. Sure beat paying $7 each to play a miniature golf course. I actually think he enjoyed it more because we were on a “real” golf course.
Now I want to hear from you! What are some of your favorite frugal family activities? FFFA’s for short!
Photo Credit: axiepics
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4 responses so far ↓
1 Carrie // Mar 20, 2008 at 9:43 pm
We like to take advantage of the FREE movies at the theatres. Although they aren’t the latest releases, my small kids don’t care or know. They just know we are at a theater watching a movie. They just had a great Easter movie this last month. Watch my blog, I will be posting on it this Saturday ( hopefully ).
Also, we are lucky enough to live by an amusement park, great Children’s Museums, Zoos and Aquariums.
We watch for the deals on family passes and stock up.
We spend about 3 days a week at the amusement park in the spring and fall and in the summer we are at the water park side almost every other day. We spend about $80 for our family passes ( including parking ) and make our money back after 2 trips ( and as you can see…we are there ALOT more than 2 times ).
The park also opens early for pass holders ( so we get in next month ) before the general public. And, it opens again in October for Halloween activities. It is the BEST FFFA!
2 Kyle // Mar 21, 2008 at 7:26 am
Great tips Carrie. Yeah it is hard to beat free movies! That is cool, so do they have like 1 free movie a month or something?
And $80 for the season pass is a great deal if you use it frequently like you guys do. We have a small water slide park in our town and that is about it unfortunately.
3 LJ // Mar 21, 2008 at 7:41 am
Frugal fun is one of my specialties, so here are a few faves for spring time.
Hiking-we go out into the woods to “explore” we find “pet rocks”, pinecones, etc. and look for birds and little animals.
The park-we go there just about every week when the weather permits and the kids love it. We do a picnic and the whole shebang.
Crafts-we make kites, clay models, etc. lots of fun with homemade stuff and things gathered around the house.
Spring training games-we have a spring training facility so we can go there for a game and it costs just a few dollars for me and all 4 kids (2 and under are free) and they love it. There are no rules about snacks, so I bring our own stuff from home , including the requisite peanuts and cracker jacks of course
Take care
LJ
4 Kyle // Mar 21, 2008 at 10:03 am
Solid FFFA’s LJ!
I am sooo jealous that you live by a spring training facility….although it is probably a good thing as I would spend way to much time there!!
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