Summer is coming – like you didn’t know – and it might be hard to find ways to save money on family fun this year. Gas prices and unemployment are crunching family budgets like crazy. It can make you feel guilty if you don’t have the money to continually rent video games, take them to costly kid-friendly places, and shell out big bucks for full fare activities.

Even during the school year, it’s important to be able to get out of the house with the kids and do something that won’t break the bank. This is where season passes come in handy. If you live in or near a big city, you can pay once for full, year-round access to a wide variety of entertainment hot spots.

Lets look at ways to save money on family fun around town

The zoo is a great place to save money with a season pass. A season pass to a zoo not only gets you in the door without paying again all year, but you usually get free parking, too.

Zoo membership allows you to access certain events that other pay-per-visit patrons don’t get to attend. And if you have to spend any money at the zoo on things like food, drinks, or gift shop items, you usually get a member’s discount price. Our local Sedgwick County Zoo has live bands, ice cream socials, trick or treating, and firefighters bring the trucks out to hose off the kids during the hot summer months.

Another season pass that will save money on family fun is one for a local water park. Water parks can be horribly expensive, costing approximately $50 per person per visit in major cities. A season pass is about $20-30 more, and you and your kids can visit as many times as you want throughout the open season.

Again, your family will likely save on food, drinks, and gift shop items, but they also have member only days and free perks like rent-free rafts for patrons who prefer to pay for a year at a time.

save money on family fun

Aside from water parks, other entertainment parks like Six Flags offer season passes to families who are on a tight budget. A season pass is the only smart way to go to one of these parks, because you can’t possibly enjoy everything in a single day!

Just two visits to a park would likely pay for a season pass, so if you plan to go more than once, or just want a place that you, your spouse and kids can have fun on a year-round basis, then consider upgrading to a membership that helps you save money on family fun.

Sporting events are another place where you and your clan can sock away money by investing in season tickets. The more games you buy ahead of time, the more you usually save – and you’ll never have to hear the kids complaining that you never take them anywhere!

Season passes and memberships ensure your family will get the fun they deserve while helping you save money at the same time. And in many cases, like with the zoo or an art museum, you’re contributing to the maintenance of the exhibits, too!

So, how do you choose which season pass to pick if you are on a really low budget?

1. How much can you afford to pay upfront?

2. Which place or pass will give the most visits for the family per season?

3. How long is each season pass good for?

Once you weed through those criteria, you’ll find the best choice for your budget and your family to save money on family fun this summer.

Do you have passes? Tell me about it in the comments below. 

We had to buy a semi formal dress last year for her first singing competition. She was so brave and did a rock solid job with it, but finding an appropriate dress that didn’t make her look old beyond her years and her chest size, was difficult, to say the least.

So, while we could begin searching the local malls, I’d like to know more about good places to find fun, pretty, and age appropriate dresses for this year’s formal dance and any other performances that I don’t know about yet.

Any suggestions? leave a comment below 

Trash art. Recycling. Upcycling. Reinventing.

It’s all the same thing, mostly.Finding new and inventive ways for reusing or repurposing  those things you normally throw away.

Trash? Art? Something useful still? Art is absolutely in the eye of the beholder, but reusing things can at least be fun to do, and sometimes quite fun to use or look at and enjoy.

Trash art comes and goes, but it’s been around for many years. It seems like the more eccentric artists are viewed as “real” when working with trash. Why can’t the average person be considered an artist when they turn trash to treasure? I think this is changing slowly, but it’s also hard to distinguish between what’s crafty and what is considered art.

Maybe it’s because we all have our own idea of what art is.

What’s your idea of art? Is repurposing something Art? I’d love to see your thoughts, leave me a comment.

This post is part of series designed to make you think on crafts – recycling and finding new uses for old items.

So I’m thinking that a fun thing you could do with the kids would be to make your own bubbles & even their very own bubble blower using things you have around your home.

You can find many recipes to make your own bubbles at this facebook page!
Something else I ran across that I thought might be fun to make & especially fun for the kids is something called Flubber. Now I haven’t tried this one yet, but as soon as I can get the one ingredient we happen to be missing, I think I will try this with my youngest because it just sounds so interesting & I guess I have this picture in my head of that goo from the movie “Flubber” bouncing all over the place. I think it would be a great way to get some giggles!

FLUBBER Recipe:
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 cups white school glue
1 1/3 cups warm water
3 teaspoons Borax
Food coloring
Mix 1 1/2 cups warm water, glue, and food coloring together. In a separate bowl, mix 1 1/3
cups warm water and Borax together. Pour the glue mixture into the Borax mixture and
take out of bowl to knead until flubber is soft and consistent in form. Store in a zip-lock
bag or tightly sealed container. This stuff is really fun! Enjoy!

One last fun thing to make would be something that has been around forever it seems & we all love or have loved it at some point in our lives… Playdough! I know my daughter absolutely loves this stuff, she has created some of the neatest things using playdough.

Playdough recipe:
Mix together two cups of flour, one cup of salt, one cup of water, one tablespoon of oil and
a few drops of food colouring for an easy to make dough that will keep for about three
weeks if you wrap it in polythene and keep it in the fridge.

All you have to do is knead the mixture well. Divide the mixture up first if you have more than one colour available.
Now as much fun these would be making with your kids, you could also make some up yourself ahead of time to add to their Easter baskets or maybe even as little party favors if you have an upcoming party.

If you need/want ideas for fun activities, gifts for the kids, ideas for birthday parties, projects, etc. check out Creative Kids at Home facebook page, I did! I signed up for their newsletter & got a free ebook full of fun things to do & their site is loaded with tons to keep the kiddos happy & Mama too I bet

As always we welcome your comments & thank you so much for reading I do want to apologize for not having posted the past couple weeks but do hope you have some fun with this weeks tips. Have an amazing day!

That being said, I love the looks of these unique, hand made cigar box purses.

Horror classic movie poster cigar purse

Sacchetto – This purse is made from a classic horror poster “disembodied” shes a witch doctor! this purse has been hand painted and the poster art applied on front, it measure 8.5″wide by 5″ high and 3.5 inches thick. Born in the jungles of borneo this bag is carefully appointed with a hand placed mirror inside and jewels affixed to the mirror edge, the handle has been bolted on for durability!this bag is one of a kind and is signed and numbered.

VICTORIAN LADIES cigar box Purse

Besameart -Photos of women from a bygone era sit on blue handmade paper, which have then been decoupaged onto the exterior of this unique cigar box. The interior includes a dainty round mirror surrounded by more pearls. A plush blue velvet lining will surround your valuables in luxury. 4 ½” wide x 3 ¼” deep x 6 ¼” long + 8” handle

Charlotte's Web Covered Cigar Box Purse

Purselibrary – he classic cover of E.B. White’s “Charlotte’s Web” is the exterior top of this 8″ X 5″ X 2″ cigar box purse. Charlotte’s spider webs are on the exterior bottom and side. Inside the purse Charlotte’s special web messages that saved Wilbur’s life are highlighted: “Some Pig” and “Terrific”. The barnyard theme of the book inspired the metal handle decorations of farm animals, as well as another spider web.