Summer has arrived, and let’s face it the rising costs of child care is making it hard to keep your kids entertained on a budget. Instead of stressing yourself and your wallet out why not let them go off on their own? They would have to be of age to be left on their own of course! Sometimes it IS OK - for kids to entertain themselves all on their own in ways that aren’t hyper-stimulated and super-regimented.

Encourage your children to read draw or listen to music. You would be surprised on how the hours fly by when they are keeping themselves entertained.

Other cheap kid activities include:

Blowing bubbles. Simply mix a little bit of dish detergent and water (if you run out of solution). Kids can have contests to see who can make the most or the biggest bubble.

Give them an art project, like an “I Love You Card”. Get them to make one for eveybody in the family. Trust us… they’ll love it!

Make paper airplanes. Let the kids make their own, decorate them and then fly them.

Stay tuned for next week’s entry…

Show your “sweet and sensitive” side with a picnic in the park or on the beach. Cooking/preparing your meals at home will definitely save you some cash and you’ll score some points in the romance department. Instead of thinking “what a cheap date” they’ll think “wow he put a lot of effort into this”.

Just remember, this can easily go horribly wrong… Nothing kills a mood more than eating some gross/soggy food in the middle of nowhere
-Don’t just get chips and beer and call it a day

1) If you can’t cook, get someone who can.

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2) Location, location, location!

- Don’t pick a park in a sketchy neighborhood or a polluted beach
- Food, blankets, drink and maybe some lights, so you aren’t eating in the dark

3) Make sure you have all the essentials:

- Don’t just focus on cheap romantic date ideas… you need to focus on cheap and FUN date ideas!

Week 1 … Entertainment Retro Style

Let’s make a trip to on the Cut Living Cost time machine, before the Wii, Xbox 360s, Bratz dolls and MP3 players. What did kids do back then? They went out to the park to play, imaginary friends, arts and crafts. Anything was game back then. Feeling cooped up in the house doing spring break? Take them to the park, to ride their bikes or Heelys. You’d be amazed on how much time will fly when you spend your afternoons outdoors.

Another “cost conscious” idea is to take them to the library on the weekend. There are tons of programs for specific age groups, books that cover a variety of “kid friendly” topics and you can use the internet for FREE! Most – if not all libraries have parental controls, so you don’t have to worry about your child visiting adult sites or viewing adult content.

Games… as in board games are also a really great way to spend quality time with the kids. You can even go the educational route with games such as Scrabble, Cranium or Chutes and Ladders. Here are some more cheap activities for children:

• Make a Puzzle – get your children to draw a picture and cut it into a puzzle shapes
• Learn origami – you can download origami instruction from different websites
• Play catch
• Sidewalk chalk drawings

More to come next week . . .