The kids may be back at school, but that doesn't mean that you can’t plan some fun family days out. With Christmas approaching, most people are living on a budget right now to make sure that they can afford all of the goodies from the festive season - even though Christmas is four months away! When you have to consider a family, you need to budget a lot more than folks who don't have to think of kids running around, but you don't want to tighten the budget so hard that you can’t at least have some fun.
If you’re living in a city and you’re on a tight budget, it’s harder to have good days out. Harder, but not impossible. With the right budgeting skills, you can ensure that you and your children have some fantastic times in the lead up to Christmas - including within all of the back to school events and Halloween coming up, too! We’ve got twelve ways you can do it, so let’s check it out!
Look Local
One of the best ways to have a great time on a budget is to look to your local council websites. You will find all listed events - both free and paid for - and you can start marking down the date of those events in your social calendar. From free movie nights to art festivals, you’ll find street parties and community fairs, and you’ll often find that these are typically free if you have kids. Local events are going to give you something to do with the kids on weekends, and they’re going to enable you all to have excellent bonding time together. The fun can last for hours and you won’t have to spend much more than the cost of a burger in most events!
Hunt For Deals
Whether you are looking for local restaurant deals or you scope out the event deals on NetVoucherCodes.co.uk, there is always something around for you to enjoy. Restaurant deals crop up often in the local areas, especially if you have children with you. Kids eat free at certain times of the day in a lot of places, and you can have a night out without breaking the bank - which is the goal! When you hunt for good meal deals, you don't have to worry too much about the rest of the event costs - with a family, food often costs the most!
Split The Costs
Bring another family along with you to have fun and you can split the costs. Often, families can find discounts and vouchers for having more people in a group, as group discounts are so popular with many event spaces. When you bring a group of friends or another family along with you, you’ll split the costs and save some cash!
Check Out The Free Stuff
Nature is often free, and when you look for nature parks and wildlife walks, you can save some cash as you won't spend a thing enjoying the space. Pack a picnic and go hunting for conkers and acorns. After all, Autumn is rolling in, and you need to be able to find the fun in nature. Children being back in school means you need fresh air and fun - so go and find a field and bring a football. Hours of fun without spending a thing.
Host Movie Days
There are so many community movie nights and free cinema tickets on offer when you hunt them out. If you don't want to spend anything, host a movie night at home with the kids and pop your own popcorn. You can make movie snacks together and watch movies the cheap way. To have even more fun, print out or cut out your own tickets and make the room dark to recreate the movies!
Take In Some Culture
All you need to do is open the newspaper to jump onto the cultural events that are hosted in the local area. From museums and country manors to gardens and art centers, you will find so many different places will hold free days out for families. If you are a member of your local community group, you will be able to sign up to notifications of free events in a cultural location. History events and art events are always available to attend, and you can have so much fun with the kids learning about different pieces of our history!
Join Your Community Center
Almost every area has a community center and each community center often has night classes, family events and cooking classes. Children can often find discos and parties available, sports clubs and even libraries. By joining a local community center, you can ensure that you and your family have a ton of fun together without much effort. There are tons of online communities, of course, but these are nowhere near as available as the community centers you can attend locally to you.
Sign Up With Netflix
If you’re paying for Sky or other cable services, you can save some money by signing up to Netflix or other online streaming services. With the money you save, you can afford to take the kids out to a theme park or a bowling day out with a meal afterwards. Grab a voucher to take the edge off the cost, and you can save even further. Online shows and cartoons are going to save you money and give you the same chances to watch great things at home. If you don't want to pay for a streaming service, it’s time to look at your DVD collection!
Host Games Night
Grab some other friends and family and get together for a games night. You can choose to involve the kids and host family games, team up for sports games outside in the yard and even have fun with games like charades. Games night can be traded off, too, with your family hosting one weekend and others the next. No fees, but get everyone to bring a dish and have a potluck dinner together.
Indulge In Hobbies
Kids need to enjoy themselves, and they can get involved in those hobbies with you. Gardening will teach them to grow their own flowers and vegetables. Cooking will teach them basic life skills and they get some delicious cakes at the end of it, too. You can even consider taking any of your hobbies and turning them into a job - earning more money to help stretch that budget of yours.
Go Camping
You don't have to go to a camping park for this one. Pitch a tent in the back garden and enjoy all the trappings of camping with a running toilet and shower nearby. If it gets too cold, you can all head indoors and enjoy some warmth. It won’t cost you anything to camp in your own backyard, and you can bring the whole family outside! You can even make food over the fire and toast some marshmallows!
Volunteer
If you want a free way to show your children that there is more to life than taking, give back. Volunteer at a soup kitchen and take the children to the local parks and beaches with trash bags to pick up rubbish together. No matter what the volunteering is, it’ll be a fantastic way to teach your children how to spend their time and have fun.
These twelve suggestions are going to give you all something fun and cheap to do while you’re spending Christmas and back to school fun!
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