Summertime Fun Archives - Kids Ain't Cheap

Now that our kids are teens, they are less satisfied with having a low-spend summer, unfortunately. While we have spent money doing fun things with their friends, we try to even out the spending with activities that cost nothing (or close to nothing). We have a list of free summer activities we’ve enjoyed this year and plan to continue next summer.

7 Free Summer Activities We’ve Enjoyed This Year

We find our free summer activities through Facebook and Google searches. Sometimes friends will also tell us about free events.

Shakespeare in the Park

A local park hosts two different Shakespeare plays. Each play runs for three weeks and is free. Bring your lawn chair or a blanket and enjoy the play. We went to watch Measure for Measure last week, and in a few weeks, we’ll return to watch Romeo and Juliet.

Patrons ranged from young children to retirees. People brought snacks, and one older couple even enjoyed the wine they brought while watching the play.

Kids Bowl Free

Okay, this one isn’t completely free. My kids can bowl for free through the Kids Bowl Free program, but I paid $16 for them to get bowling shoe passes. Our total expenditure was $32, and so far, we’ve bowled six times, with many more bowling days in our future before summer ends.

If we bowl ten times before the end of summer, each trip for two games of bowling for two kids plus shoes for each will cost us $3.20 per visit, which makes this a cheap outing.

Niagara Falls

Since Niagara Falls is in our backyard, we visited the sights. Seeing the Falls was free; we only had to pay $5 for parking.

Park Days

My kids meet with some friends at the park to chat, play, create chalk drawings, etc. We’ve done this at least four times this summer. My kids are happy anytime they can meet their friends to hang out and talk.

Art Gallery

Our local art gallery had a free day when they reopened after significant renovations. We met up with friends and spent a few hours touring the new gallery. I’m not going to lie; we stopped at some paintings, trying to figure out the images! But other paintings were gorgeous, and we saw quite a few by artists like Picasso, Rembrandt, and Kahlo.

Beach Days

We’ve had several beach days with other families with teens. The kids swim, metal detect, and bury themselves in the sand. They enjoy their time at the beach and hanging out with friends. We, parents, love that it’s a free, memorable summer activity.

Home Movie Nights

One family in our group enjoys hosting events. Their favorite activity is having everyone over to watch a movie they project onto their garage. People come a few hours before dusk, talk, hang out, and roast marshmallows. Then, we all watch the movie together at sunset.

Final Thoughts

Entertaining teens is more expensive than entertaining younger children. However, we’ve found many free summer activities to enjoy this summer, which helps offset the price of the expensive activities that the kids want to do.

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Melissa Batai

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in Arizona where she dislikes the summer heat but loves the natural beauty of the area.

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?

Catherine

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.

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