Here's a round-up of what we did at half-term and how much we spent:
Saturday
The weather was awful, so we stayed in and made mini blueberry cupcakes. I chose this recipe because I had already had all of the ingredients at home. I bought the blueberries the day before, so when looking through the recipe book, we chose this recipe because I had some fresh blueberries (and no fresh strawberries or lemons, etc, which were needed for other recipes!)
Amount spent: £0
Sunday
A relaxing day spent at home, doing crafts, watching movies and enjoying roast Sunday lunch of gammon, roast potatoes, roasted carrots and gravy.
Amount spent: £0
Monday
My son (aged 7) wanted to go swimming, so we went to family fun session at the leisure centre.
My daughter (aged 12) went into town with her friends to buy things to make Halloween outfits. She had lunch in town.
Amount spent: £16.40 (£6.40 for one adult and one child to go swimming and £10 spending money for my daughter which included lunch).
Tuesday
I took my son to the local museum. It didn't cost us anything to get in as I bought an annual ticket last time we went. I treated us to a drink and cake in Morrison's supermarket cafe afterwards.
My daughter stayed at home, tidied her room, and started making her Halloween costume.
Amount spent: £5 for 2 drinks and cake.
Wednesday
My son enjoyed indoor soft play, including a bouncy castle, at the local leisure centre (which was a special activity for half-term).
I made an apple pie at home with my daughter. It tasted delicious served warm with custard and ice cream!
Amount spent: £2.50 for the soft play session (I also spent about £4 on extra ingredients for the apple pie but this came out of our weekly food budget).
Thursday
I went to a Halloween craft class with my son. He painted a Halloween canvas, designed his own jigsaw and sewed a hand puppet. We both enjoyed being creative.
We treated ourselves to a milkshake (him), slice of chocolate cake (him but I had a few bites!) and cup of tea (me) afterwards.
My daughter went to an auction with her uncle and came back with a new headboard!
Amount spent: £13.50 (£7.50 for the 2-hour craft class and £6 for the drinks and cakes in a nice independent cafe).
Friday
We went grocery shopping and picked up a canvas wardrobe I had bought for my son's bedroom. I was pleased to see that the wardrobe was reduced in price. I also had a £10 voucher so I only paid £7.99 for the wardrobe.
When we got home, we re-arranged some things in his room to make way for the wardrobe. We also sorted out some books that he has grown out of and no longer reads and put them aside, ready to donate to the charity shop. We then assembled the wardrobe and hung up his clothes in it.
My daughter did her homework and finished her Halloween costume.
Amount spent: £7.99 on the wardrobe.
Saturday
My daughter's friends came round in the afternoon and they all prepared for trick-or-treating. After a quick tea of pizza and garlic bread, they went out trick-or-treating. They came back with a huge haul!
I went out trick-or-treating with my son for about half-an-hour and we stayed in and handed out sweets for the rest of the evening until he went to bed.
Amount spent: 0 (although I did spend £2 on sweets which came out of my grocery budget)
Sunday
We went out for a nice autumn walk after Sunday lunch. We crunched through leaves, my son jumped in puddles (good job he was wearing wellies!) and we enjoyed looking at the changing colours of nature. We picked up some small branches with lovely red leaves and I displayed them in jam jars of water when we got home.
Amount spent: 0
So, the total cost of half-term fun was £45.40 which I'm really pleased about as I wanted to keep our spending under £50 for the week.
What fun things did you do at half-term?
Showing posts with label Autumn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Autumn. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Saturday, October 24, 2015
5 Free Things to During the October Half-Term Holiday
If you're on a tight budget, it's a good idea to look for free things to do with your children during the half-term holiday. Here is a selection.
Visit the Library
You can visit your local library just to browse and borrow books, DVDs, and CDs, etc. If your child would like to read a particular book, half-term is a good time to borrow it from the library. You can also find lots of books with ideas and instructions for activities for children, such as craft projects.
In addition, most libraries organize a variety of activities for children at half-term. The majority of these are free with some having a small cost. At our local library, for example, there are five different activities, ranging from a drawing workshop to a local history day.
Start a Project
Think of a theme for a project that your children could do at home (and/or outdoors) during half-term. For example, the theme would be 'autumn' (fall). Ask your children what they'd like to do within this theme. Taking the autumn theme as an example, they could:
Go for an Autumn Walk
Put on warm clothes and wellies and go for an autumn walk. Rustle through piles of leaves. See how many colours of leaves you can spot. Collect leaves, branches, pine cones and other interesting natural objects that have fallen to the ground. Talk about how the natural environment changes during the autumn.
When you return home, warm up with a hot chocolate and, if you wish, make a wreath or collage with the leaves and other objects you've collected. Alternatively, put small branches with colourful leaves attached in vases of water. Make an autumn display of pine cones and acorns in a wooden or glass bowl.
Bake or Cook
Look for ingredients you already have in your cupboards and fridge and see what you can bake with your children. If you don't have all the ingredients you need, there's no need to rush to the shops. Be creative and substitute other ingredients and see what you come up with! For example, you can use milk instead of eggs when making biscuits.
My children love baking carrot cake, chocolate chip cookies and gingerbread men.
Your children could also help you to cook a simple meal such as pasta carbonara, sausage sandwiches or chicken fajitas.
Tidy and Re-Organize Bedrooms
Half-term is the ideal time for your children to give their bedrooms a good tidy and sort out things they no longer need or want, such as clothes they've grown out of or toys they're no longer interested in. Take these to a charity shop with your children, or if you wish, let your children help you to sell them on eBay or at a car boot sale.
Once the bedrooms have been de-cluttered, re-arrange the furniture to give your children's bedrooms a new look in time for the new school half-term.
Half-term doesn't have to be expensive. You can keep your children busy without spending any money at all!
Visit the Library
You can visit your local library just to browse and borrow books, DVDs, and CDs, etc. If your child would like to read a particular book, half-term is a good time to borrow it from the library. You can also find lots of books with ideas and instructions for activities for children, such as craft projects.
In addition, most libraries organize a variety of activities for children at half-term. The majority of these are free with some having a small cost. At our local library, for example, there are five different activities, ranging from a drawing workshop to a local history day.
Start a Project
Think of a theme for a project that your children could do at home (and/or outdoors) during half-term. For example, the theme would be 'autumn' (fall). Ask your children what they'd like to do within this theme. Taking the autumn theme as an example, they could:
- Write a list of what they like and don't like about autumn.
- Collect as many objects as they can find around the home with autumn colours.
- Cut out autumn pictures from old magazines, advertising brochures, etc, and make a collage.
- Write a poem about autumn.
- Find autumn-themed books either at home or in the library and read them together.
- Collect natural objects, such as autumn leaves, pine cones and acorns, and make an autumn-themed display at home.
Go for an Autumn Walk
Put on warm clothes and wellies and go for an autumn walk. Rustle through piles of leaves. See how many colours of leaves you can spot. Collect leaves, branches, pine cones and other interesting natural objects that have fallen to the ground. Talk about how the natural environment changes during the autumn.
When you return home, warm up with a hot chocolate and, if you wish, make a wreath or collage with the leaves and other objects you've collected. Alternatively, put small branches with colourful leaves attached in vases of water. Make an autumn display of pine cones and acorns in a wooden or glass bowl.
Bake or Cook
Look for ingredients you already have in your cupboards and fridge and see what you can bake with your children. If you don't have all the ingredients you need, there's no need to rush to the shops. Be creative and substitute other ingredients and see what you come up with! For example, you can use milk instead of eggs when making biscuits.
My children love baking carrot cake, chocolate chip cookies and gingerbread men.
Your children could also help you to cook a simple meal such as pasta carbonara, sausage sandwiches or chicken fajitas.
Tidy and Re-Organize Bedrooms
Half-term is the ideal time for your children to give their bedrooms a good tidy and sort out things they no longer need or want, such as clothes they've grown out of or toys they're no longer interested in. Take these to a charity shop with your children, or if you wish, let your children help you to sell them on eBay or at a car boot sale.
Once the bedrooms have been de-cluttered, re-arrange the furniture to give your children's bedrooms a new look in time for the new school half-term.
Half-term doesn't have to be expensive. You can keep your children busy without spending any money at all!
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