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Thursday, May 7, 2009

Frugal Family Fun - Toy Swap

For the past couple of weeks, I have talked about a Trash to Treasure party over at Happy to be at Home. The party entailed a group of ladies bringing unneeded items in good condition from their home to the host's house in which the other ladies could "shop." We were all able to leave the party with new, free treasures that suited our families. I listed several ideas and variations for the Trash to Treasure party in the articles at Happy to be at Home, but it got me thinking about how this party would tie into the Frugal Family Fun series perfectly.

If you know a few families with children about the same age as yours, consider a toy or book swap. You could invite them over for a BBQ or potluck and have them bring their outgrown or unused toys. This would work best with older children who understand the "trade" concept, though the party could be conducted without children present if toddler toys are involved.

A Toy Swap is a great way to spend time with friends and family while decluttering our homes of unneeded items and acquiring new treasures for free.

A Mommy Secret: If you have younger children, place some of the new toys out of sight for a while. When your children are having "one of those" days and just need a distraction or if you want to have a reward on hand for the unexpected accomplishments, you can pull out one of the "new" free toys.

You can find more frugal or family tips at:
Frugal Friday hosted by Life as Mom
Family Friday by Homemaker Barbie

Labels: Frugal Family Fun Series, frugality, fun with the kids, Mommy Secrets

# posted by Heather@justdoingmybest @ Thursday, May 07, 2009 2 Comments

Friday, April 24, 2009

How to Introduce the Arts for Free

Each week I have been providing potential ideas for frugal family fun. I'm talking about Spring this week at Just Doing My Best and Spring is the perfect time to introduce the arts to your children for free.

Spring is recital season and larger schools often publish the recital schedule in newspapers and online in hopes for a large audience. If you live near a university, the options are endless. I live near one and have seen advertisements for free performances by the various music ensembles at the School of Music, all for free! I remember going to one such recital as a child and it was just a small concert on a small stage, but with the same amount of decorum and talent as one might expect from a professional concert. Remember, these are professionals in training so the quality will be fantastic. I've seen advertisements for string orchestras, brass ensembles, small concert ensembles, and even vocal recitals at the schools.

Other ideas that might be a little closer to home:

It may not be free, but many times, the local high schools put on an end of the year play with a title that even small children would even recognize. Wizard of Oz and Annie are popular ones that schools perform and children would love.

In a nearby town, the small city is funding a professional theatre company to come in to the town's amphitheatre and perform a few plays for the city's residents, all for free. This is a good time of year to scour your town's paper and websites to see if anything similar is happening.

Lastly, this is not free either, but if you think your child might be interested in dance or taking music lessons, many places offer summer lessons and day camps. These are wonderful ways for your children to experience their interest without you having to make a commitment for more than a summer. This is especially great if you or your child are unsure of how long the interest will last or to gain some first-hand experience with the studio before committing. We tried out a dance company this way and found it was a perfect fit for our daughter and then signed up for the following fall.

Do you have any ideas for introducing the arts to children inexpensively or for free?

This post is linked to:
Frugal Friday by Life as Mom

Labels: Frugal Family Fun Series, fun with the kids

# posted by Heather@justdoingmybest @ Friday, April 24, 2009 3 Comments

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Frugal Family Fun - More Than Just Coloring Easter Eggs

This weekend, if you have children, chances are you will be one of many who will have stained fingers from coloring Easter Eggs. As part of the weekly Frugal Family Fun series, I would like to provide you with some ideas to make coloring the eggs even more special and unique than the egg stands and stickers that come in the flat boxes. Having said that, I just purchased the flat-box coloring kit and will be using it with some of the ideas listed here.

Decorating Easter Eggs can be as simple or elaborate as you prefer. Most of the ideas listed will use supplies you probably already have at home. With a quick web search, you will find ideas for the elaborate projects.

Wrap the egg in rubber bands before setting in dye cup. We've tried this one before and it works very well.
Add some vegetable oil to the dye for a shiny effect - This is a new one we will be trying this year.
Use crayons, light or white will look good with darker dyes. You will see the dye will not be absorbed where the crayon was used. This works best when the egg is still warm enough for the wax from the crayon to soften and melt on the egg as you color.
If you are feeling especially creative, pull out some paintbrushes and acrylic paints and let your imagination run wild. (If you will be eating the eggs, please don't forget to ensure that the paints are non-toxic.)
If you are interested in natural methods for dying the eggs, check out Blissfully Domestic's article, Coloring Easter Eggs Naturally.

Does your family dye Easter eggs using another technique?

This post is linked to:

Frugal Friday by Life as Mom.

Labels: Everything Egg, Frugal Family Fun Series, fun with the kids, holiday ideas

# posted by Heather@justdoingmybest @ Thursday, April 09, 2009 2 Comments

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Frugal Family Fun - Family Games

Now that my children are in their pre-teen years, games are becoming even more fun to play. I no longer strategically let the children win, but rather fight to win so I can maintain my mom credibility. If you have competitive sons or daughters, you know what I mean.

Games are one of the most frugal activities for the family. We usually have several in our closets that could be dusted off or can sometimes find gently used ones in used bookstores and consignment shops. Even if you buy a new game, games are relatively inexpensive and can be played over and over.

If you are in the market for a new, high quality, low price game, keep reading because two lucky readers will win one from Out of the Box Publications. My children and I played two of their games- My Word and Easy Come Easy Go - over Spring Break. We loved them! In fact, I'm hoping to add a few more of their games to our collection.

Easy Come Easy Go is for intended for ages 8-adult. The concept reminds me of Yahtzee, except easier to play, especially for younger children. The rules were easy to follow and the time needed to play the game was very reasonable. As busy parents, it's sometimes hard to carve out 1-2 hours for longer games, but this one was only 30 minutes. My daughter thought it was a "fun game and liked the pictures on the prize cards." She also liked the pace and strategy. My son enjoyed it, though he did not have any glowing compliments.

I was most impressed with the quality of the game. The best part of Easy Come Easy Go, was the cushioned cup for the dice. The shaking and rolling of the dice was not loud and annoying. The prize cards are made of a thick cardboard that would ensure years of play. I was surprised to see this game is less than $10.

The next one we reviewed was My Word. This game is intended for ages 7-adult and also took about 30 minutes to play. The dealer lays down letter cards one at a time and all of the players search for words from the cards that the dealer is laying down. The player who sees a word first, shouts it out and keeps those cards. The player with the most cards, wins. This was our unanimous favorite and I will let my children's comments on the game give you an idea about our opinion.

"It makes you think."
"It's educational and you have to look really fast and pay attention."
"You have to have quick reflexes and it's good for spelling."
"It was really, really cool and fun."

My Word has easy to follow rules and is suited well to multi-level players. It comes in a compact tin box that makes it perfect for travel. This is the kind of game I would want on a rainy day, if stuck in a hotel room or camper. I noticed that they even have free printable score sheets for this game on their website. This game is also less than $10.

We enjoyed our time playing games together and Out Of the Box Publications would like you to enjoy family game time also.

If you would like to win either, Easy Come Easy Go or My Word, complete any or all of the options below. Each option will gain you a separate entry.

Go to the Out of the Box Publications site and see which game is your favorite. They offer MANY and some of them are great for educators and homeschoolers. Come back here and leave a comment telling me which you liked the best.

Leave a comment telling me how your family enjoys Frugal Family Fun.

Either follow me on the sidebar or subscribe to the RSS feed (top right corner) and leave a comment telling me that you did.

Blog about this giveaway, linking back to Just Doing My Best. Come back here and leave me a comment that you blogged with your URL, so I can visit you too.

Comments will close at 3 pm on Friday, April 10. Two winners will be chosen by a random number generator. Be sure to leave an email so I can contact you or a new winner will be chosen.

Good luck!

Because of the high quality, high educational value, and low prices, games by Out of the Box Publications are the newest addition to Just My Best Picks.

This post is linked to:

Frugal Fridays by Life As Mom.

Freebies 4 Mom

Labels: Frugal Family Fun Series, fun with the kids, Giveaway, Just My Best Picks - product reviews

# posted by Heather@justdoingmybest @ Thursday, April 02, 2009 23 Comments

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Frugal Family Fun - Holding Down the Fort

With part of the country snowed in, another fraction enduring long bouts of non-stop rain, and yet another starting Spring Break, this seems like the perfect week to stay home for the next idea in the Frugal Family Fun series.

I'm going to offer an old but favorite stand-by for kid fun, including ideas on how to make it even more memorable.

You will need:

Lots of blankets

clothes pins (to hold blankets together)

flash lights

an out of the way area of main room, i.e. corner of the family room, dining room, etc.

a movie and snacks

When we are cooped up inside, my children love to build a fort. It does not happen often, so when it does, it's a no-holds barred, all-consuming construction zone.

We have dining room that we do not use daily, so one day last winter, I cleared off the top of the table, and let the kids rule the room. They enclosed all four sides of the table with blankets and used blanket-covered chairs to create rooms and tunnels reaching clear to the perimeter of the room. They had a mansion complete with bedrooms and dual entrances.

When lunch time came, they understandably did not want to leave their mansion, so they opened a couple of "windows" and ate in their new abode. As the day wound down, and after a full day of building and tweaking their hide-out, they were excited to hear that they could leave it up for the next day...and the next day. They have also been known to have a sleep-over in their fort, with the obligatory movies, snacks, and flashlights.

While the children will enjoy the memories, I heard a friendship forming as they worked together as a team. Priceless lessons and memories for free.

Here's a Mommy Secret: If your children are old enough to not need constant supervision and enjoy this type of play, chances are they will be so consumed with this activity that you can tackle that unread book or home improvement project that has gone undone because little ones are underfoot.

This post is linked to:
Frugal Friday by Life as Mom

Labels: Frugal Family Fun Series, fun with the kids, Mommy Secrets, Ultimate Blog Party

# posted by Heather@justdoingmybest @ Thursday, March 26, 2009 5 Comments

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