Half term tips for frugal fun with the family
Half term is coming and that means one thing for parents: more work! The lovely task of spending time with our little ones and partners nevertheless requires some planning to ensure we can make the best of it and keep everybody happy.
It's fair to say that this is the last thing on our minds for some of us when we get back home from work, but not to worry. We're here to help to make the task of organising your half term excursions a little easier on the mind and the bank account. Not a bad offering at all, really!
So what to do? Inventiveness is the key here. Harnessing the power of the sense of adventure is a great way to keep costs down while making sure your kids keep memories that will stay with them. It's funny to us as adults, but when we look back on our own childhoods it's often the most bizarre and surreal experiences that stick out in our minds. Compared to a simple trip around London with a hotel stay, you'll often find yourself in agreement with others that it was in fact the time you made a pillow fort with mum and dad that you remember most fondly.
So let's get to it right away with some tips from us on how to save that cash and satisfy those kids.
The museum circuit
There are few things better at capturing the imagination of your children than a good museum. Taking a trip into the big city is a fantastic time and you can easily link together a few museums that offer their subjects to the masses.
There's two real reasons as to why this works so well in the modern age. The first is that museums usually offer their services for free, being packed at the end with the desultory gift shop and cafe area. This means you can be as frugal as you like, still saving a large amount of money while allowing your kids to walk away with a fun toy or treat to seal the day off.
The second is that museums have changed! Gone are the days of old with dry exhibitions that are more suited to scholarly adults than the children dragging along behind them. Modern museums have embraced digital in a major way and understand very well that hooking the interest of kids is a sure way to ensure that more people come through their doors on a regular basis. You can expect enthralling digital displays and areas designed specifically to make sure your little ones have a fun time and don't get bored too easily.
The home set-up
We mentioned pillow forts. Do pillow forts. Seriously. Your children will still be thanking you twenty years later! The stay at home magic of pulling the sheets over your sofas and snuggling in with your kids while you read some books or watch a movie or two is something that stays with the fertile mind of a child for their whole life. The suspension of disbelief comes naturally to a child and for almost no money you can spend an evening with your kids in a fun environment that you might guiltily find yourself enjoying more than them!
If you nevertheless want to do something truly special and keep coming up short, give us a call. We'll do what we can to free you financially.
Get savvy with a scavenger hunt
If you can manage to pull your kids away from a screen of some kind (no easy task nowadays!), a well planned scavenger hunt can be a lovely way to spend an evening or even a longer weekend. This one is a great one to consider as your hunt can be as wild or contained as you wish to make it and can incorporate different elements in one neat package.
Consider doing a longer hunt which involves clues in a movie you watch together; you could even link the above points together and have a clue being a line in a film that you watch in your pillow fort! You can put your own spin on this with your kids and even ask one to help create a hunt for another if you have multiple children. It's a lovely way to bring everyone together and is guaranteed to get good “buy in” from those sometimes picky but oh so worth it little devils.