It's not cheap to take the family out for a day of geeky fun. The admission to comic book conventions, science museums, and zoos are high. And that doesn't even include the price of food and parking. Around here, it costs more than $120 to bring the family for one day at the children's museum in the big city.My wallet won't even consider opening for that. But I have ways of making the poor thing feel better.
1. National and state parks. We get a park pass every year. It's more than worth it. Take advantage of their nature centers and free programs. We all get to be outside and explore nature. A great opportunity to fill your little geek's head with fairy lore and wilderness survival in case there's a zombie apocalypse.
2. Ask for adventures as gifts instead of items. Every year, my Nana gives my son a yearly pass to our small local children's science museum. We've spent countless hours there having fun learning. They have free programs for people who are members too. Last December, my little geek was on stage with a reindeer. He still talks about it. Zoo and museum memberships usually only cost the price of two or three visits. We go at least twice a month to our local museum.
3. Geo-caching. All you need is a handheld GPS and the determination to find treasure. Another awesome way to have fun outdoors. Go to the geo-caching website and find caches in your area. Punch the coordinates into your GPS and go hunting! Some caches are small like a photo film canister while others are big like old ammo boxes, and they contain items to trade. Old coins, key chains, and toys. Children young and old love the rush of finding treasure.
What budget friendly things do your family like to do together?
Sound like very good ideas for family outings. On the few occasions I go to a movie I wonder how families can afford to go especially in view of the snacks.
ReplyDeleteThe price of snacks at movies these days is horrendous! It's $4 for one candy bar in my town at the theater. Thanks for stopping by today, Jo. :)
DeleteI'd never heard of Geo-caching. My kids would have loved that!
ReplyDeleteWith four kids, we were always doing things on the cheap. We would buy a zoo pass from our local zoo and then take advantage of the reciprocity of other zoos. We could take our kids to Columbus, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh Zoos- all on our local zoo pass. We'd also buy the museum memberships. With four kids, it was often cheaper than buying individual tickets. They usually also have "sister" museums you can visit.
Best time my for my kids? Making "volcanoes" out of dirt mounds. They'd craft the mountain, and I'd supply the baking soda and vinegar. Oh, and video game tournaments. I'm good at being cheap!
Those passes do tons of good! I see video game tournaments in my future too. My little guy and his buddies like to play Minecraft together already. Any tips where to find cheap video games and console accessories?
DeleteMy family gets an annual pass to the state parks every year. It's a well-used item.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love giving adventures as gifts when I can. :)
Awesome! So do I. An incredible adventure will be remembered a lot longer and more fondly than a toy played with once or twice.
DeleteThere's quite a few parks near where we live, including a wildlife preserve. My husband and I aren't much of outdoor lovers, so we tend to stick to the more mundane things. :)
ReplyDeleteYou, mundane? Nope! I've seen you playing with awesome costumes with your daughter. Nothing dull about that!
DeleteWe just like to drive out into the wilderness with a picnic. It's awesome. We don't have much in the way of museums here, but lots of parks and lots of nature.
ReplyDeleteI'd be out every weekend if I lived in Oregon! :) I'm lucky to live near the national forests in Indiana, otherwise, it's just cornfields.
DeleteLove, love camping, visiting state parks, and there's some beauties within an hours drive from our home. In fact, raising 5 kids money was extremely tight, and the parks were our vacation spots!!! And my kids, to this day, say how much they enjoyed them. No traveling to Disney for my crowd, and they tell me they didn't miss a thing. (makes me smile)
ReplyDeleteThat's wonderful! I hope my son feels the same way when he gets older. I grew up camping during the summers too. We went to a different provincial park every time.
DeleteGreat ideas! We recently renewed our zoo memebership... it's right by my house and always great for a mini outing :)
ReplyDeleteThank you. That's awesome! I wish we had a zoo closer to where we live.
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