OMG! It’s summer and you didn’t get around to or couldn’t afford to put the rugrats in Summer Camps. Yes, we all love our children but I know sometimes we feel like my friend Anjana, who calls her 4 and 6 year old “thing one and thing two.” But we’re here to help with some great info we’ve created and found on the web to keep the kids from sitting in front of the TV until their eyes bleed.
Birds of a Feather Go on a Hike Together – Part scientist, part detective this fun idea provides you and your kids with fresh air and a lot of exercise.
–Supplies Needed: * 1 Notebook (Journal); * Pencil or pen; * Binoculars
–Objective: Find 3 – 5 different kinds of birds in your neighborhood, park, or woods.
Click here to get the link to read about the rest of this activity at mommydaycamp.com.
Mall Scavenger Hunt – Take your older kids to the mall with a fun list of things that they need to find. They can even come up with the list themselves and make it silly like “pink underwear” (sure to get a laugh from the 10 and under crowd), “anything with Bart Simpson on it,” a “red tennis racquet” or “leopard print shoes.” The most it should cost is an Aunt Annie’s pretzel or Hot Dog on a Stick to keep their energy up. Have fun!
Patriotic Decorations for the House – Get the kids crafting with these low-cost 4th of July themed crafts from Kaboose.com. Choose a garland, a star-studded door hanger or a patriotic star wand to wave on the 4th.
Bread Baking with Kids – There are a lot of resources for this activity on the web. The one I liked best talked gives great hints to setting up your baking and emphasizing the science behind how the bread rises. Here’s the link from Disney’s Family Fun. For the bread recipe, we found a great one called Simple Bread from a website in New England. Enjoy!!
We’ll be back with some more ideas to keep you and your kids going in a few weeks.
Are you getting ready to celebrate a college grad, special birthday or engagement? We have some tips for fabulous champagne cocktails that will help save money when you’re entertaining a crowd. These ideas came from Colleen Graham, writing at about.com and the “Fifty Best” website.
The Blushing Bride – Champagne, peach schnapps and grenadine
The Flirtini – Champagne, vodka, Cointreau, pineapple juice, fresh pineapple
strong>The French Pear Martini – Champagne, St. Germaine, pear vodka
Arise My Love – Put one teaspoon of crème de menthe in a champagne glass, then fill with champagne or sparkling wine.
The Blue Train Cocktail – 1/2 pineapple juice, 1/2 champagne and a floater of brandy on the top.
As an adult, I can’t say that I have fond memories of childhood camping. One summer, I was running barefoot at a beach campsite, cut my foot on a pop-top, and proceeded to get a horrible infection (and a tetanus shot). Another time at a Girl Scout camping trip, one of the mean girls put peanut butter in my hair while I was sleeping which stayed there for 2 days until we got to a proper shower. Camping in MY family, though, IS going to be fun for everyone, I hope. We’ve collected some resources for you from the internet that will help you plan and organize your frugal vacation.
Check them out:
GoCampingAmerica.com is a useful source for information on private parks and campgrounds nationwide, so whether you’re looking for the perfect park, traveler’s tips or things to do when you get there, they’re ready to help. They have a national map, photo gallery and insightful campsite reviews.
ReserveAmerica is the largest provider of campsite reservations in North America facilitating over 4 million transactions per year. More than 17 million campers use ReserveAmerica to research and plan trips. ReserveAmerica manages the largest catalog of outdoor recreation destinations – over 4,000 parks with more than 300,000 campsites, cabins and other rental options available. They have an awesome tool called “find your perfect camping spot”. You can start by simply selecting a state, or add more options to find exactly the kind of camping spot you need. Choose your dates and the site will sort your results by what is available.
Camping-field-guide.com If you’re just starting out, you’ll find helpful ideas and tips throughout this site. It’s loaded with lessons-learned from boy scout trips, family camping weekends, as well as survival and first aid skills accumulated over years of military field-exercises. It has a camping blog, camping checklist, camping tips and other links to many other useful camping websites.
Hosting a slumber party or a post-game teenage get-together at your house? Set up this frugal, fast and easy Pasta Bar Night. The pre-made sauces can be found at any market and you should be able to find some grocery coupons to save money on the ingredients.
Tortellini or Ravioli (Meat, Vegetable or Cheese)
Spaghetti
Marinara Sauce
Pesto Sauce
Alfredo Sauce
Parmesan Cheese
Garlic Bread
Caesar Salad Bag(s)
Send mail!
Cook pastas according to package instructions. Toss them in olive oil to keep them from sticking and ease serving. Warm pasta sauces according to package directions and place in bowls or serve right out of the saucepans. Toss bagged salad(s) and put in large bowl. Place all the food on a large table and let the kids serve themselves.
Many of us haven’t seen all the movies yet, but it’s still fun to watch the stars come out and see who wins. Make it more fun by inviting a group of girlfriends, couples or neighbors that are movie lovers. As always, we have some ideas for keeping the party fun and staying within your frugal living plan.
Refreshments – Ask your guests to bring either a bottle of inexpensive champagne or an appetizer. We found a website called thatsthespirit.com that has fabulous cocktail recipes using champagne. Here’s one that will be great for your party:
RED CARPET FIZZ (from thatsthespirit.com)
1/3 oz. Orange liqueur (Cointreau, Triple Sec, Grand Marnier)
1/2 oz. pomegranate juice
1 750-ml. bottle champagne
fresh raspberries
Mix Pomegranate Juice and Orange Liqueur with plenty of ice in a cocktail shaker and strain into a chilled cocktail or champagne glass. Top with 4 ounces of Champagne and a raspberry.
Attire – If you’re hosting only women, ask them to wear the most outrageous earrings they can find. I won this contest one time with a pair of $2.00 Goodwill earrings. If you’re hosting couples, ask the men to wear an Oscar-worthy hat or tie. Give small prizes to the best dressed attendees.
Fun – Have everyone put three dollars in a hat and do a “pool” for Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Film. Have a little voting sheet that they fill out when they come in the door. Divvy up the money at the end of the night or as you go along.
Hosting doesn’t have to cost a lot, you just need to make a little effort to get your house tidy. Don’t hold yourself to Martha’s standards and you’ll have a relaxing evening with your friends. Have fun at the Oscars!
Going to the mall for a shopping outing isn’t the best thing to do when you’re on a budget and a trip to the movie theater for 4 can set you back $60 dollars these days. But the weather isn’t great at this time of year for the cheap outside activities like hiking and biking. So what activities can you do this winter that will provide cheap family fun on the weekend? We’ve put together some money saving tips for you that will appeal to all ages of kids.
Go visiting. – Visiting has become a thing of the past but most friends and family would love to have a visit with you. The key? Don’t show up empty handed. Bring a dish of food and some drinks and even a game or two.
Take in a local high school basketball game. – It’s fun to route for your home school and you’ll probably see some friends you know.
Go on a local architecture tour. – Wikipedia is a great source for exploring your city’s architecture. Enter the name of your city with the word “architecture” in their search engine and you’ll be surprised by the great tour information you’ll get.
Warm your hands and tummy with this sweet, creamy holiday drink for adults and kids. Enjoy it in the evening by the fireplace or after some outdoor winter fun. If you want to warm your spirits, as well, add some peppermint schnapps.
Hot Peppermint Chocolate
Serves 4
3 cups hot nonfat milk
6-8 York Peppermint Patties
A dash of salt
1 cup half and half
Heat 1 cup of the nonfat milk with the peppermint patties until combined and thoroughly melted. Add the rest of the milk and the salt. Heat to simmering and add the half and half and heat gently without boiling. Serve in tall, clear mugs and top with whipped cream if you feel extra decadent. Yum!
Whether you’re snowed in, or just stuck in the house due to lack of funding, our Book Club Ladies have once again come through for Ms. Nickel with a list of the family board games that they recommend. If you don’t have some of them, why not try a board game swap with your neighbors or friends? Perhaps you have a game that someone else has grown tired of. In addition, Walmart (yes, I said it) is having some truly good sales on toys and games this year so you might be able to find one of the old standards for a steal of a price.
Apples to Apples – Our Book Club reviewers gave this game the highest rating. Here are some of their reviews: “We play “Apples to Apples” which is lots of fun. There’s also an expansion pack of additional cards that can be bought separately.”, “We like Apples to Apples for all that can read (or team w/ someone who whispers well and can read).”, “We love Apples to Apples, Jr, regular and Jewish editions. It is fun for all ages.”, and “We love to play Apples to Apples”.
Blokus – Once again, a Book Club family favorite. Our reviewers recommend “Blokus, regular and trigon editions”. They call it “fun for all ages (with modified rules for 3 year olds)” and many of them simply said “we love Blokus”.
New books are so 90s. With hardcover novels approaching the $30 mark, it is ridiculous not to take a look at the used book section on Amazon and give they guys in your life a classic that they can keep forever, re-read and loan to their buddies.This December, get your hubby, brother or male co-worker a classic used book and save a little cash while you’re at it. You won’t regret it and it’s the ultimate in Eco-thrifty to buy used books.
We’ve compiled this list with the help of a cheeky website called the Art of Manliness and we’ve researched the used prices at Amazon.com. We hope you enjoy our picks!
If you have a good, used, local bookstore, even better and you’ll save the shipping charges!
Good luck shopping!
Darcy Ratner
Co-founder, Rubbingnickels.com
It’s certainly been a while since my family has traveled and we are starting to miss it. Unfortunately, our days of visiting the Westin Maui and sipping $15 cocktails by the pool waterfall have temporarily been put on hold. We’d still LOVE to get away during the holidays so I started digging around on the internet for cheap holiday getaways and was encouraged by some of the resources I found.
Road Trip – Re-think your classic road trip this holiday. Visit somewhere off the beaten path where you can have a nice, simple, small town holiday. I’m sure you’ll still find good food, nice lodging and the people will probably be friendlier. While you’re there, find somewhere to go sledding or hiking and visit to the town’s local historical spots. Hotels.com has a section when you can also get screaming deals on next day hotel rooms. I saw $39 in Vegas, $59 in Denver and $79 in San Francisco, and all were at well-known chain hotels, but you’ll almost always pay less for a room in a small town as opposed to a city.
Home Swaps – It takes a leap of faith to open your home to a stranger but if you’re willing, Budget Travel magazine suggests that the best sites for vacation home swapping are homeexchange.com, homelink.org and intervac.com. HomeExchange.com claims that “In 14 years and tens of thousands of exchanges, (they’ve) never had a report of a theft, malicious vandalism, or a case of someone getting to their exchange home and finding a vacant lot.” Homelink.org recommends the House Swap because “since their travelers don’t’ pay for lodging, they can afford to take more or longer holidays, or even pay for indulgences that turn good holidays into great ones.” Intervac.com is another great site that offers destinations like Dublin, Lisbon and Oslo right on their home page.
Last Minute Travel Deals – There aren’t a lot of deals on air travel this year but Travelocity has a section called Last Minute Packages. If you’re ready to get up and go with a few days notice, you can save BIG on your hotel bill and save a little on the airfare as well. Hotwire.com has a fantastic section tabbed “deals” and that sight claims to be able to get you the best airfare online.
a friend
– Once again, a Book Club family favorite. Our reviewers recommend “Blokus, regular and trigon editions”. They call it “fun for all ages (with modified rules for 3 year olds)” and many of them simply said “we love Blokus”.
