Family Time Archives - Page 9 of 12

Catherine is a first time momma to a rambunctious toddler. When she isn’t soaking up all that motherhood has to offer, you can find her blogging over at Plunged in Debt where she chronicles her and her husbands journey out of debt. You can also follow her on Twitter.

Being an Engaged Parent

July 2, 2013 | 1 Comment

Being a mom is easily the hardest thing I have ever, and will ever, do in my life. Being responsible for someone else’s well-being is a stressful job. There is no job in the world that gives so much stress and so much reward at the same time. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. Trying to be the best parent I can isn’t always easy. In today’s world of fancy technology and constantly being surrounded by something it’s easy to lose focus.

Lesson From The Dental Office

Today, it’s not uncommon to have both parents working full-time. This isn’t the world that our grandparents grew up in where it was more common to have mom at home tending to all of the family’s needs.

Last week at work I had a young mom bring her son in. As soon as the little boy was sitting in the dental chair, mom was in the corner sitting in a chair frantically typing away on her phone, totally disengaged from her son’s dental appointment. When it became clear to me, evident by the rampant decay in his mouth, that mom was not brushing his teeth as he needed, I alerted mom. I asked her how he was managing with tooth brushing and how often she was doing it for him given that he was only four. She told me, and I quote:

”As you can tell, I’m a very busy woman, I don’t have time to brush his teeth, he’s four, he can do it himself…his sister had soft teeth too, it’s not my fault they’re rotten”

Yup. This is what she actually said to me. This woman’s life is too busy to brush her four-year-old’s teeth. I was so mad at her I couldn’t help myself and I responded:

”If you don’t have time to do something simple like brush his teeth, what do you have time for in his life?”

She was so taken aback by me saying anything she just stared at me, saying nothing.

She put her phone in her purse came over to he son and asked me to show her how to properly brush his teeth. I was so happy she decided to become engaged in his appointment and learn from her mistake.

Engaged Parenting

I see this sort of thing every day. Parents seem to be so far removed from what’s going on in their children’s lives it scares me. As a parent we have a responsibility to be engaged in our child’s life. This means paying attention to them when they need it, playing with them without our faces in our phones and putting effort into understanding what’s going on in their life, everything from Facebook accounts to general hobbies. Though I value a child’s privacy, we as parents should still have a good understanding of everything that’s going on in their lives, while still respecting privacy boundaries.

How do you balance engaged parenting while respecting boundaries?

Summertime Fun on the Cheap!

May 21, 2013 | 1 Comment

Though some areas of the world may have a hard time believing it, summer is just around the corner! Summer is full of temptations to spend money. From new clothes, to summer activities and family outings, the summer season seems to be looking for money everywhere.

Children’s Summertime Wardrobe

With growing children and drastic weather change from winter to summer, children often need new clothes. Before ever buying new clothes, I always check my local thrift stores. At the rate children grow, you can get barely worn or even new clothes at a fraction of the department store prices.

The other thing to check for if buying from a department store is to see if the children’s clothes comes with any guarantee. Some store brands will promise that the clothes last until the child outgrows them offering replacement or money back guarantee. Given how hard kids can be on their clothes, it may be worth the investment!

Summer Sports

I grew up on a soccer field. I know how expensive sporting events can be. Sure soccer isn’t necessarily an expensive summer sport to play, but when you start factoring tournaments and team outings, costs add up fast!

To keep costs down for tournaments, the family would camp for the weekend away rather than spending money on a hotel room. We saved money on food as well since we would eat campground meals rather than restaurants for the weekend. I loved this since it combined camping and soccer in one weekend. My two favorite summer activities. I never felt like it was a ”money saving trip” or that we were doing it because we ”couldn’t” afford the hotel.

Summer Vacation Alternatives

A summer vacation that your kids can’t wait to tell their friends about doesn’t have to include a lavish trip away. Capitalize on your city and all that it has to offer! A staycation can be just as fun. Exploring your city with the mindset of a tourist this summer will open your eyes to many new opportunities. Check out that event/restaurant/museum that you’ve been meaning to get to, but haven’t yet. We often take advantage of places within our hometowns since we live there. Don’t delay anymore and explore! Even checking out a local hotel for a family night away will be cheaper than burning gas or airfare to leave town.

Picnics are another fun summer activity. Have everyone pack their favorite foods and drive to a favorite family spot for the day. Spending time together and eating the foods everyone loves is sure to please. A picnic beach day is always fun too!

If you do travel, remember our tips for travelling with children on vacation.

Summer goes too fast every year. Don’t stress about money, try to enjoy it or it will be over before you know it!

What are your favorite ways to save money while not compromising on summertime fun?

How to Have Family Fun on a Budget

April 16, 2013 | 4 Comments

As a parent, you want to provide your kids with the best and you are looking forward to all family fun opportunities. Sometimes, however, financial limitations stand in the way of having a good time. Having family fun on a budget is possible, as long as you are willing to put some effort into the process and to get creative. Here are several great family fun possibilities that will be almost 100 percent free.

Explore Nature

Instead of going to the cinema or to another local hotspot, start exploring nature with your children and spouse. Children today have been disconnected from nature and as a parent; you can do a lot to correct that.

A family picnic can be a great bonding experience. Pack some sandwiches, soft drinks and your favorite games. Use the day to explore nature, to show your children interesting things about plants and animals and to relax.

Avoid Popular Tourist Attractions

Stay away from the popular tourism attractions. Theme parks and other intensely advertised fun places will usually cost a fortune. At the same time, you will have to deal with a large crowd and very often, getting in will require several hours.

There are so many little known fun places in your city. You can have a city tour using public transportation buses. Show your children historic places and the most popular landmarks. You can have an entertaining history lesson and everybody is going to be having a blast.

DIY Family Fun

When you are trying to come up with something cheap to do as a family, always consider do it yourself projects.

Crafts and arts will encourage your children to fantasize and to explore their creativity. Such activities are inexpensive. Once you buy the basic supplies, you will get to use those several times.

Paint greeting cards together. Buy some clay and work with your little ones on the creation of handmade jewelry or action figures. You can even create your own board game that you will get to enjoy as a family, once it is finished.

Make Family Meals Together

Restaurant food can be of low quality and if you want to ensure healthy and delicious family meals, you will have to spend a lot of money on it. Just do a simple calculation to find out how much you are spending on eating out.

Cooking family meals will save you some money and it will also be the perfect family fun activity. Make cupcakes with your kids. You can organize a cupcake decoration contest or another fun competition that has something to do with food preparation or decorating.

Use these moments to teach kids about healthy food and the preparation of delicious and nutritional meals. Such activities will be both fun and highly educational.

Monitor Expenditure

Monitor expenditure and find out what you have been spending money on. Taking a look at the monthly spending list can provide some useful ideas about cutting down costs and discovering alternative, inexpensive forms of family fun.

Single parents should stick to fiscal discipline, though they would love to pamper their children. If necessary, work with forensic accountants to figure out what is going on in terms of spending. Such professionals like Forths Forensic Accountants will be of great assistance if you are going through a matrimonial dispute, as well.

You can have family fun without spending a fortune on it. We live in a commercial world and brands want you to think that you need to spend money, in order to be happy. Creativity and the desire to find alternatives to typical family activities will give you access to new fun possibilities. Quality family time is all about enjoying each other’s presence and trying to please your children. Being motivated to accomplish the goal will help you do it, even if you have no money to dedicate to family entertainment.

How else do you have fun on a family budget?

Brian is the founder of Kids Ain’t Cheap and is now sharing his journey through parenthood.

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She Only Needs Me For a Short Time

March 26, 2013 | 1 Comment

Source: Real Beautiful — Source: <a href="http://www.realbeautiful.ca/">Real Beautiful </a>

At almost ten months old, my daughter is still not sleeping through the night. She wakes a minimum of twice between 8pm and 7am. Realistically it’s probably closer to four times. When all else fails, it sometimes comes down to me nursing her back to sleep even though I know she isn’t waking due to hunger since she nurses well throughout the day and is now on solid foods. She wakes because she needs something. Reassurance, mom, or just comfort.

After ten months it’s exhausting still waking as much as we do. I expected it in the early days and first few months, but I wasn’t prepared to still not be sleeping through the night at ten months. This is one of those ”not in the brochure” items. I’m not complaining though.

As I sit in her room, holding her in our rocking chair desperately trying to get her back to sleep at 2am, I remind myself she won’t need me for long. That I need to cherish even the difficult moments because in just a few very short years I’ll be begging her for a hug and cuddle.

She will learn to sleep eventually. Though it seems very natural to us as adults, sleep is a learned skill. I can’t look my daughter and ask her to just close her eyes, relax and fall asleep. We all know it isn’t that easy. We’ve tried many different sleep training techniques but they don’t work for us. We always end up back to the family bed where we all sleep better. Not perfect, but better.

Don’t Leave Mommy!

Separation anxiety is another thing we’re now dealing with. My understanding is that if a child goes through this phase it peaks around nine to ten months. Yippie. If she’s tired and mommy isn’t around, all hell will break loose. It can be frustrating to be cooking dinner and have a baby become super clingy, only wanting to be held. To be trying to clean the house and have her decide that she needs to be held instead. Again, in these moments I need to remind myself that she’s a baby and she needs me. Sometimes Dad, Auntie or Nanny won’t do. She needs reassurance and cuddles from mom. I know that in a short time I’ll be missing these very moments, wishing for her to need me again.

It’s easy to let life dictate how you spend your time. The messy kitchen can always wait. My child will only need me for a short time in her life. I need to remember to concentrate my time on addressing her needs, no matter what time of day or what else I may have planned. I need to accept and embrace these short-lived interruptions.

There’s a saying, Good moms have dirty floors, messy kitchens, laundry piles, dirty ovens and happy kids. This will be my new mantra.

Yes, Stay at home moms can get loans

Entertaining Kids During Christmas Break

December 4, 2012 | Leave a Comment

With kids being out of school for a few weeks during the Christmas break, it’s easy to run out of ideas on how to entertain them. Growing up, my mom would send me to the mall with friends, handing me $40.00 to basically entertain myself for the day. While a nice treat once in a while, for most families, especially during the holiday season, this would quickly add up to be a big budget buster.

Here are a few ideas to entertain the kids (young and old) while on their Christmas break:

Host a Gingerbread House Building Party

This is loads of fun for kids of all ages. Have your child invite their friends over, either with a gingerbread house kit in hand, or you can provide the house for them (using an easy recipe and template). Have candy provided in dishes (on your well wrapped table, it will be messy!) and let them have fun creating. Don’t want to do a whole house? Try decorating gingerbread or sugar cookies instead.

Have them Volunteer

While volunteering with your children year round is encouraged, Christmas is usually a time when extra help is needed. Soup kitchens and food banks in particular are often looking for extra help during the season. If your child is under the age of 16, you may either need to grant permission or be present. Check to see if your local mall needs gift wrappers. Many malls offer gift wrapping services, often provided by volunteers, with funds raised going to local charities. Although this should never be the only reason why one does it, volunteer work looks great on university and college applications too.

Host a Christmas Themed Pajama Movie Party/Sleepover

Have a few of your kids friends over for a fun night of watching Christmas movies in their PJ’s (sleepover or not, you have to be comfy!). Provide a few snacks or have them help you make a homemade pizza and you’ve got yourself a budget-friendly party. You could even make use of one of the best vpns for torrenting and download the movies the kids want to watch in advance so that you don’t have to worry about the dreaded buffering sign appearing during the movie and derailing things when everyone is quiet and engaged in the magic of Christmas movies.

Go Outside and Play

Especially in today’s technology driven world, we forget about the simplicity of encouraging outdoor play without an abundance of toys. Encourage them to explore; pick up a stick and use their imagination! Make sure they’re well bundled if you’re fortunate enough to live in a cold winter environment and let them enjoy the fresh air.

Have them Help You Prep Meals for the Holidays.

Most kids like to explore in the kitchen. It’s a great opportunity to have the learn some kitchen skills from you and your family. Yes, it will take longer than if you did it yourself and yes, your kitchen will likely be much messier but the skills that you’ll be able to teach are much more important than some spilled flour.

Check to See if Your Local Theater Offers Christmas Break Discounts

Most movie theater chains will offer discounted tickets during the local school break as a way of encouraging the movie-going experience so check it out!

Crafts

Have your kids make everything from Christmas cards or gift tags to tree ornaments. The possibilities are endless and most require very few supplies. Who wouldn’t love a homemade card from your young one?

Encourage the Inner Entrepreneur

If you have older kids, encourage them to use their time off to make some money during their break. Ideas include: shoveling driveways, offering to get groceries (or run errands) for people who need extra help, or dog walking for people who may be away or just too busy to do it themselves.

Christmas can be stressful enough, you shouldn’t have to worry about what your kids are going to be doing while off from school. With a little creative planning, you can quickly fill their time without breaking the bank!

Costco Legos Are Usually A Great Deal

Here Are The Best Pacman Coloring Pages

Brian is the founder of Kids Ain’t Cheap and is now sharing his journey through parenthood.

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How I Spent My Thanksgiving Weekend

December 1, 2012 | Leave a Comment

I love Thanksgiving weekend because it is a nice break from work, and it’s a nice time to spend some time with family. However, 4 days does tend to drag on, and I don’t know about you, but here is how I spent my Thanksgiving weekend.

Eating

I did a lot of eating! Starting on Thursday, I spent a lot of time eating. In the morning I helped get the turkey ready with my wife, and then we headed over to my aunt’s house for dinner. It was great to see all of the family, and even better to enjoy the food. I love getting together with family because everyone brings such different dishes. I got to have a little bit of everything, and I promise you I filled my plate more than once.

Shopping

I’m not going to lie, but I was one of the millions of shoppers who shopped on Grey Thursday this year. I actually don’t mind going shopping on Thanksgiving night, and I don’t know what all the fuss was about on the news.

Instead of waking up early, I got to eat dinner, and then do some shopping before I went to bed. I found it to be incredibly convenient, and based on what others in line were saying, I think they found it convenient too. My wife wanted to do Black Friday shopping last year, and staying up until like 4am was terrible. This year I was back home and in bed at midnight.

That’s not to say we didn’t go out again on Friday, because we did go shopping that day too!

Bored

But you know what, I did spend a lot of time being bored over the holiday break. It wasn’t a bad thing – it was nice to have a break from work. The trouble is that I found myself wasting time playing on sites like JackpotCity Online Casino, which cost me a few pennies. That’s okay though, because in the end it was worth it!

How did you spend your Thanksgiving?

Brian is the founder of Kids Ain’t Cheap and is now sharing his journey through parenthood.

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Family Business Where Kids Can Help

March 15, 2012 | Leave a Comment

Finding affordable childcare can be a challenge. Because of this, many people are looking for a job that they can do with their kids. While many of these jobs are done from home, there are a few jobs that allow you to bring the kids with you.

The following employment ideas include jobs where you work for another person and business opportunities that the whole family can work on together. In the case of the businesses, it’s recommended that a family try out the idea before the parent or parents make the decision to quit their job.mmFor people who have little money for start-up costs, there are a lot of financing options. Business loans are the most common financing route, but they typically require a person to have a good credit history. A bad credit business loan can be taken out by people who are in this situation.

Education

The majority of day care centers, as well as many private schools allow their workers to bring their kids to work with them. In the case of many day care centers, the employees are offered free care for their children as part of the benefits package. Depending on the center’s rules, the children are allowed to stay in the same room where their parent works.

Many schools allow the children of their teachers and other staff (such as cafeteria workers) to attend classes there. In the case of private schools, this is considered to be one of the main benefits of the job by many of the people who work there. While children are often not allowed to be in the same classroom in which their parent teaches, they are often just a few feet away.

Home Based Businesses

Parents who choose to work from home and/or who own their own business have a lot of flexibility with their schedules and they can often plan to bring their kids to work with them.

For example, there are a lot of home-based craft and baking businesses that are operated out of homes. Start-up costs for most craft businesses typically just consist of the craft materials or ingredients themselves as well as some basic advertising. Depending on their age and ability, young kids can sort materials, attach price tags, and even assemble simple parts.

Older children can help out by photographing the items made and creating listings for them on internet sites such as etsy and craigslist. Kids of all ages can accompany their parent to the flea markets, swap meets, and farmer’s markets where the parents sell their goods. In fact, many parents site these places as a good way to teach their kids about the basics of a retail business. Kids learn good math skills, as well as how to interact with other people and a variety of sales skills.

Brian is the founder of Kids Ain’t Cheap and is now sharing his journey through parenthood.

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How to Have a Healthier Easter

March 1, 2012 | 1 Comment

My son happens to be one of those lucky people who can eat whatever he wants and never gain weight, something he certainly didn’t get from me. Although he constantly reminds me of that fact around Easter each time he grabs another jelly bean, I remind him that not being overweight doesn’t mean you can eat whatever you want.

Candy is fine in moderation, but you have to resist temptation around holidays, especially Easter. Of course, like most kids, whatever I say goes in one ear and out of the other, so I learned that distracting him from the candy using Easter activities was the best bet to avoid a sugar frenzy.

Easter Egg Animals

I’ve personally done chicks and dinosaurs, but you can make nearly any animal out of dyed eggs. Simply dye the eggs according to the color of the animals your kids want to make. Get some modeling clay that dries in the air and non-toxic glue and paint.

Use the modeling clay to make the animal’s feet and other features, such as beaks and ears and attach the pieces to the egg with the glue. Once the glue dries, have your kids paint other parts on the eggs to complete the look, such as eyes or color patterns.

Basket Decorating

Baskets can be decorated using whatever theme your kids chose. My son loves cars, so we went out and bought foam shapes. We painted the shapes and made cars by cutting pieces to sizes we needed and gluing the pieces together. Once the glue dried, we painted each one. After the paint set, we glued the cars all over his basket.

Foam shapes will work for most projects. You can make a princess theme and flowers for girls and dinosaurs and cars for boys using foam shapes. Talk to your kids to get other ideas for basket additions, such as stickers and glitter.

The baskets can be used around the house for holding different things; we keep an especially good one by the front door as a key dump, and there’s another in the bathroom which holds fruity soaps.

You could also decorate an Easter tree, which is another craft variation that is popular in many places, especially Canada.

Easter Savings

A lot of family members give my son money at Easter. Putting change in a plastic Easter egg or at the bottom of the basket in the grass is considered good luck. However, I prefer to use these Easter windfalls to teach my son about saving money.

Get a plain, unfinished piggy bank or other coin bank from a crafts store. Use stickers or glue on foam shapes representing items he wants to buy onto the bank and have your child put all his Easter money into that bank. Talk to him about saving for items he wants instead of spending his money all at once.

Since Easter happens right around the ISA season, it’s a good time to think about opening a junior ISA for your kid and it fits with the saving theme. Even though your child may not understand the reason behind a tax-free savings account, they will understand you’re using a junior ISA to save money for them for the future.

A junior ISA allows you to save money tax-free and invest the money in the stock market if you want to do so, so you can help your child pay for their education and other life necessities later.

What other tips do you have for a healthier Easter?

Brian is the founder of Kids Ain’t Cheap and is now sharing his journey through parenthood.

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Christmas Crafts for Kids

December 7, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Children love to create gifts that they can give to loved ones. This is their heartfelt way of showing those who love them most that they love them back. We must keep in mind that not all crafts our kids create will look perfect but that is what makes them so beautiful!

Here are some fun and creative crafts that will be simple to make and your friends and family will be delighted to receive. I also believe that these crafts are so simple that even an uncrafty mom such as myself, can happily join in the fun.

Handprint Wreath

This is a craft that each of the boys made as at preschool last year and I absolutely cherish it! It can be a little messy but if you are organized about it this (like their fabulous teachers are) it shouldn’t be too difficult to do with preschool age children or older. Of course, you can do this with toddlers if they will cooperate but my experience in getting the boys to make hand prints when they were that age was not great.

What you need:

Fabric — A light colored one like the one pictured above will work best.
Thin dowel
Green and red paint
Sponge paint brush and disposable container
Large bow Stamp
Ribbon

You can make these as small or as large as you would like. It’s totally up to you. So cut the fabric if you need to then either sew – or my favorite is to use fabric tape – to make an opening that the small dowel can slide through.
Put some green paint into a container then take the sponge brush and paint your child’s hand with it.
Instruct your child to spread out their fingers then push their hand gently onto the cloth. Have them lift their hand straight up. You may have to help them with one hand while holding the cloth with the other.
Paint their cute little hand again and repeat Step #3 several times. You’ll want to turn the cloth so you can make a circle of green hand prints. You can overlap a little and remember — it doesn’t have to be perfect!
Let that dry. Then either you or your child can dip your finger in red paint and make round red berries.
Take the bow stamp and dip it into the paint and stamp the top of the wreath with the bow.
After it dries slide the cloth onto the dowel.
Cut a long piece of ribbon and tie it to each end ot the dowel, so this beautiful piece of art can be display each year!

Painted Ornaments

This is a SUPER simple craft. The only thing you’ll have to do it clean up a little. The kiddos do all the hard work and they love every minute of it!

What you’ll need:

Paintable ornaments that can be found at any craft store. (They are very reasonably priced especially if you catch them on sale and don’t forget to check your Sunday paper for good coupons!)
Paint and paint brush– watercolors wouldn’t be great to use but the thicker paints work.
Newspaper

Spread out newspaper all over your child’s work space.
Open the paints, get a small cup of water, a paper towel and let the kids have at it. You may of offer instruction if you wish or you can have a sample painted so they have an idea of that colors they can use.
Not crazy about letting your kids have paint? Markers will work really well too and are less messy. I chose paints though because my boys just get so excited when they can use them.

Bead Wreath

Do you remember making these as a kid? You might even have some of your old ones on your tree or at your parent’s house. This is very simple and not messy at all — unless of course someone spills beads all over the floor 🙂

What you’ll need:

Beads (or buttons if you prefer)– any color you like will work just fine.
floral wire 16-20mm
Ribbon
Wire cutters

Bend the end of the wire.
String the beads onto the floral wire.
After the wreath is the desired size bend the end of the wire into the other end — cut if needed.
Tie a bow on top of wreath to cover wire and attach string or yarn to the top so it can hang on a tree.

The boys and I also shaped these to look like candy canes and hung them on the tree. So cute!!!

For more Christmas crafts check out my post from last year Super Simple Christmas Crafts for Kids.

Do you make holiday crafts with your kids? Any other craft ideas to share?

Brian is the founder of Kids Ain’t Cheap and is now sharing his journey through parenthood.

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Christie’s Favorite Halloween Movies

October 20, 2011 | Leave a Comment

I like Halloween. It’s not my favorite holiday but I do think it’s pretty fun. Between ages 19-33 I could have cared less about it to be honest but now that I’m a Mom I do enjoy it. Plus, there’s candy involved so it’s got to be a good one right?

Brian’s post Best Halloween Movies for Kids got me thinking about the movies I have enjoyed over the years. I thought his list was great! It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, Escape from Witch Mountain and of course any of the Simpson’s Halloween episodes are awesome!

So, today I am going to share some of my other favorite Halloween movies. These may not have a Halloween theme but I like them and most of them are good if you only want to be semi-scared. I usually don’t go for full blown guts, blood and gore but every once in awhile it’s okay. Again these are MY favorites and not family friendly movies. If you have teenagers they might be okay — other than that ,wait until you put the kiddos to bed, pop some popcorn and enjoy! If you dare ~ muahahahahahahaahaha (that was my evil laugh if you were wondering).

Favorite Halloween Movies

The Phantom of the Opera

Available on: Amazon

Price (at time of posting): $7.91 sale — $14.99 Regular

I love The Phantom of the Opera in general. I actually like the newest (2005) release of the movie better than the 1993 release. However, I feel that this particular version is much better for Halloween. I mean really, it stars Robert Englund – aka Freddy Krueger – as the Phantom, so it is going to be scary and have some gore associated with it. If you want to see a handsome phantom and enjoy all of the wonderful music you associate with the Broadway musical — go with the 2005 version. However, if you want to see a terrifying phantom, the 1993 Robert Englund version is the one for you! Of course, if you are like me, you will love watching both!

The Silence of the Lambs

Available: Amazon

Price (at time of posting): $12.91

This is one of my favorite scary movies. I have seen it a million times and it still creeps me out everytime! Jody Foster’s determination and strength almost made me want to be an FBI agent — almost. Anthony Hopkins role as Hannibal Lecter promptly talked me out of it!

Interview with the Vampire

Available: Amazon

Price (at the time of this posting): $6.05 Sale — $19.99 Regular

I so enjoyed this movie but I haven’t seen it in ages. It was scary and surprising. The young Kirsten Dunst played her role brilliantly and Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt were excellent as well. It may not be the scariest movie of all time but it’s certainly one of my favorites and a good one to watch on Halloween.

The Shining

Available: Amazon

I have only seen this movie once and it scared me half to death — so I would be remiss if I didn’t include it. Someday when I am braver I will watch it again. If you haven’t seen this classic horror film you should pick it up this Halloween and watch it! The movie may be old, the special effects are a bit outdated but I am sure it will still give you nightmares — if you like that sort of thing.

Scream

Available: Amazon

Price (as of this posting): $6.49

So apparently all the Halloween type movies I have seen were in the 90’s or later. This move was a little more gory than I like but I was surprised by the ending and terrified while I watched it. I enjoyed it and think it makes a fantastic Halloween movie.

I hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween whatever you decide to do!

So what are your favorite movies? Do you like to be terrified or only a little scared like me 🙂

Brian is the founder of Kids Ain’t Cheap and is now sharing his journey through parenthood.

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8 Fun Fall Activities for the Family

October 17, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Fun fall activities for the family include jumping in the leaves — Copyright Albert Bridge and licensed for reuse under this <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">Creative Commons License</a>

Do you love the fall? Can’t get enough of changing leaves, warm sweaters and the smell of soups and baked goods coming from the kitchen? Me neither! I adore autumn. So, if you’re like me, you’ll want to seize the season before it goes by as fast as summer seemed to. The fall is a wonderful time to get in some good old fashion family bonding time!

8 Fun Fall Activities for the Family

Not sure what to do? Ahhhhhh, well then my dear you’re in luck you have come to the right place! Here is a list of some fun fall activities that I’m sure the whole family will enjoy.

1. Visit a pumpkin patch.

Sure you can get pumpkins at your local grocery store and that’s all fine and dandy but there is something really special and fun about visiting a farm and picking your own pumpkins. After all, it is one of the popular things to do in Downingtown PA and a plethora of other areas during the fall. There are usually hay rides, corn mazes, hot apple cider, animals to pet and/or ride, bags of fresh apples and a ton of opportunities for great photos. My family and I look forward to our visit to the pumpkin patch all year long! It’s one of our favorite fall activities.

2. Make some spooky Halloween or festive harvest treats.

The fall is a great time to get cooking with the kiddos. I actually have Rice Krispie Surprise Pumpkin Treats™ on the agenda for the boys and I next week. Should be fun and easy. Should be.

There are tons of yummy things you can make and kids are almost always eager to help. No matter how small or how great their role is, you can be sure they will be so proud of their creations. Check out FamilyFun.com for some easy fall recipes!

3. Go on a nature walk.

I mentioned this in a previous post and we like to do these a lot. Recently, the boys’ preschool teacher sent them home with a bag they decorated at school. Their homework was to go for a nature walk and put items they found along the way in to their bag. When they took their bag of fall treasures to school the next day, they made a place mat which will be used during their Thanksgiving Feast at school. It was a pretty simple craft and if you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you know that I do love simple crafts!

After the nature walk it’s just 3 easy steps:

The kids chose the color paper they wanted for the base.
Then they emptied out their bag and selected flat items to go on the paper. They arranged them just the way they thought looked best. There were leaves, flowers, grass, pine needles, small twigs, etc.
To finish off the place mat a clear piece of contact paper was laid on top and the kids pushed it down as flat as it would go and…

Voilá! A beautifully unique place mat all their own. Easy peasy!

4. Rake up a pile of leaves and jump in them.

Okay, I’m not into jumping into leaves but my boys are. You can be sure that as soon as our big tree drops her leaves, the boys will be begging me to make a pile for them to jump into and I will do so happily. My grandparents had several big trees in their yard when I was growing up and my brother and I had hours of fun making piles upon piles to jump into. I want my boys to have fun memories like that too!

5. Feed the birds (and squirrels).

It’s time to make sure your bird feeders are full because soon it will be harder for the birdies to find food. Also, you may have noticed that the squirrels are busy collecting food for the winter. They are all over our yard and driving my dog crazy!

My boys and I do another simple (but slightly messy) craft using pine cones, peanut butter and bird seed. You just coat the pine cone in peanut butter and roll it in bird seed. I usually tie a piece of yarn or string to the top and then we hang them in the trees where we can see them. I’m not sure if any birds ate from them but I do know our squirrels LOVED them. It’s a fall activity that even the animals can share in!

6. Splash in some puddles!

Just put on some old clothes and rubber boots and go for it! It’s fun…

7. Play some games.

I didn’t know that their were really any “fall games” other than football but I decided to search anyway. I didn’t have to look far because once again one of my favorite websites FamilyFun.com had just what I was looking for. Some of the outdoor games that I thought looked interesting were:

8. Make some s’mores.

If you have a wood burning fireplace or a fire pit in the backyard, you can still enjoy some yummy s’mores! You can even make them in your microwave but they aren’t quite the same and don’t put them in very long or the marshmallows will explode. Believe me when I say, don’t try it just take my word for it. I’m not trying to be bossy or anything but I just want to save you from having to clean up a super gooey mess.

There are really so many really fun things to do in the fall! What are some of your family’s favorites? Today our family fun activity is yard work. Not my idea of fun but once this is done we can get to the good stuff!!!

What fall family activities do you enjoy?