Each day we will be posting our readers “Thrifty Tips for Entertaining the kids”. At the end of the month,
one of you will win a $25.00 Gift Card For all the details click here.
Christi
My daughter use to throw a fit if I only gave her half of a sandwich. One day I had a light bulb moment–cookie cutters. So we make all kinds of sandwiches in all sorts of shapes for lunch and it’s in the right portion for her. She LOVES it. I eat all the leftover of her sandwich so we aren’t being wasteful. This works for meat & cheese, grilled cheese, chicken salad, and of course the classic peanut butter and jelly.
We eat outside almost every day during the summer, whether we go to the park for a free lunch or just hang out in our back yard.
I just signed up my kids (ages 3 years & 6 months) for the summer reading program today at the Caldwell Library. Reading is great for EVERYONE and there is nothing wrong with getting a free book while we are at it. We also are planning on going to story time every week just to get out of the house.
I’m hoping to enroll my 3 year old swimming lessons this summer. I think that she will LOVE it.
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So many things – first we are teaching ourselves to make balloon animals; we are recycling and reusing as much as we can by making things that are useless into things that are useful such as cereal boxes into: postcards, notepads, grocery lists, diaries, folders, cardboard mailers, bookmarks etc…; basically – lots of crafts for minimal expense. Oh and we are going to paint the picnic tables since they are dying to learn how to paint and I keep catching them sneaking my spraypaints to “decorate” their stuff. All fun.
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Brittany
We love going to the library. Not only do they have books, but they have games and puzzles… best of all, it’s completely free! Another thing I do to keep my 3 year old entertained is board games. She loves them, but they are so expensive. So I go to the thrift store and find games for around $1.50. It keeps her happy and she always has a new game to play.
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Jennifer Ellis
My 9 year old daughter and I have already made out a list of free or inexpensive things to do this summer such as library events, different parks to go play at and take a picnic lunch. Tuesdays at OPC movies are only $1 per person. We also have made 2 lists….1 list has ideas of things to do to have fun/keep busy. The other list is full of chores. When one of my children says they are bored, I will tell them to choose a list…mine or theirs. Their boredom won’t last long! I’m guessing their list will be chosen over mine!
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Cassandra
A friend of mine has made up a playgroup calendar for our group of friends and our kids for the summer. Each week we have a park day (usually at a park that has water features) and we have an adventure day. We go to places like the library, nature center, beach, children’s museum, etc. And some weeks we add in craft days or swimming days. I find that if you sit down and plan out a calendar, you feel more motivated to do things and the kids look forward to all the activities. On the days we have nothing scheduled we set up water toys in the backyard, have movie days, reading time…we keep pretty busy in the summer!
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Keep your Thrifty Tips coming!!!
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