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Due to our busy work schedule during the week, it can be pretty hard to spend any time with the family, hence why every plan is made for the weekend. However, family fun does not always have to be expensive or even require you to leave the house, it can be something as simple as enjoying a family feast together.
There is nothing like quality time with family, but when the budget is tight, it can feel like there is nothing to do. Leave that feeling in the past and learn how to make memories without breaking the bank with these awesome ideas for inexpensive but epic family fun!
The 12 Best Budget-Friendly Family Activities
Check out these budget-friendly family activities to amp up the weekend vibes and spend quality time bonding as well.
1. Take a Nature Walk
Life as a parent can get crazy, and balancing everyone’s busy schedules can cause undue stress. One of the best ways to distress and connect with yourself and your loved ones is in nature.
Unplug and take a hike with your family in your local wilderness. You can give your children a list of items to look for in the wild, like something red, something soft, something alive, etc. The kids will engage with you and the outdoors while getting some healthy fresh air!
2. Make a Family Feast
The kitchen is the heart of the home, so make it the highlight of your family’s weekend. Plan a big cook for your weekend and include the whole family. Make it something everyone loves and include all ages. Even your youngest sous chef can help out with mixing and measuring!
If you’re not sure what to make, try this super fun and family-friendly cooking kit! The Baketivity Cake Pop Kit is an awesome way to teach your kid kitchen basics with a deliciously sweet reward! If cake pops aren’t your thing, don’t worry, Baketivity makes tons of highly-rated cooking and baking kits for the whole family!
3. Build a Blanket Fort
Engage with your inner child by helping the kids build a blanket fort! Nothing brings back nostalgic memories like crafting your secret hideout, and the best part is you can do it without spending a dime! If you have multiple kids, challenge each child to make the sturdiest fort, with the parents as the judges! When the contest is over, cuddle up in the fort and read some books or watch your favorite family movie!
4. Get Lost at the Library
Libraries are one of the all-time best resources for families. They offer their programs and partner with other agencies to provide a wide range of services. Depending on where you live, your library card might even get you discounts or free admission to local attractions.
That’s why whenever you’re looking for family fun on a dime, you should check the library first. Ask at their service desk or look on their site for a list of programs and local partnerships offered by your library.
They might have something fun going on this weekend that is a total hit for your family! Even when they don’t, the library is a blast! Take your kids there to wander through the shelves and wonder at the awesome power of books!
5. Write Letters for a Cause
The power of a kind word can move mountains, and teaching your family the importance of giving back is a free weekend activity with limitless rewards. Choose a local hospital, retirement home, nursery, or veterans organization that matters to your family and write them letters to say hello and thank you. You might even get a penpal!
6. Fly a Kite
When the weather is right, nothing beats flying a kite! Take the fun to new heights with this awesome make-your-own kite kit! Little ones can add their flair to the kite and then watch it soar!
7. Build Something Spectacular
Whether your little one is still working with big blocks or old enough for Lego, building is a great weekend activity. Use whatever age-appropriate blocks you have to have a tower or bridge-building contest.
Block building is a great way to engage with your kids and to get their wheels turning. Building with blocks helps build their minds, and they won’t even notice that it’s educational because they’re having fun!
8. Suit up for Soccer
Soccer is a great budget activity for your family weekend because all you need is a ball! Practice dribbling and passing without a net, or head to your local park to use their goals. Staying physical as a family helps set a healthy precedent for the rest of their lives!
9. Have a Home Spa Day
Throw on some ambient music and get the cucumber water ready, because nothing beats relaxing with a family spa day! Do family masks, hair treatments, or nails. Use products you already have, or look up how to make spa products at home! Whatever treatments you choose, it will feel great to enjoy a little zen with the whole family!
10. Put on a Play
Every family has a theater bug, so let them have the spotlight! Let your little ones write a script or act out your favorite book. Assign everyone in the family a role and use household items to make sets and costumes. It’s fifteen minutes of fame that they will remember forever!
11. Get to Know Your Neighborhood
Even when you think you know a place, there are always new things to discover. Reacquaint yourself and your family with your hometown by challenging the little ones to make a map. Take a family walk and let them take pictures or draw images of what they see. When you get home, put it all together to map out the area where you live. It’s a fun way to help little ones learn to spot and recognize the landmarks around them and their home.
12. Make a Memory Book
All these inexpensive weekend activities will come with pictures and mementos, so why not honor them!? Pick up a blank scrapbook and print out pictures of your best family moments. Don’t forget to include odds and ends, like ticket stubs, feathers collected on hikes, hair ribbons, or anything significant and small enough for a book.
Have fun reminiscing over your good times as the whole family puts the book together. Then the next time you need a cheap or bad weather activity, you can bust the book out and add some more pages of cherished times!
Just Remember…
Don’t get too lost in the planning or budgeting and forget to have fun. Put down the electronics and tune in to your family time, because it’s the little things that matter in life and that doesn’t cost a dime!
