Guest post by Jenny
In an effort to rein in spending, we have been spending a lot of nights home lately.
Our family is accustomed to going out, so becoming homebodies has been a bit of a rude awakening. After a week of staring at each other blankly, getting into arguments, and withstanding the chorus of “I’m boreds” enough was enough. Being at home doesn’t have to be boring, but building in activities and structure becomes key in preventing the kind of doldrums that lead to tantrums and bad behavior.
Family Meals
Each member of the family is now responsible for planning one a meal a week. We sit down as a family before we hit the grocery store and plan meals. Then each of us gets a turn playing “Head Chef” for the night. We even bought an adorable tall chef hat to wear. The rest of the kitchen crew must call the evening’s leader “Chef” in the kitchen. All of us play our roles, either helping to set the table, to cut vegetables, or to do the dishes.
The kids get so into it. They even hand write menus for us! The kids love the opportunity to take ownership over the cooking–even if it just means preheating the oven for a frozen pizza.
Family meal time is much more enjoyable when all of us have contributed. It also ensures that each kid (and us parents) have one day a week with a dish that’s a favorite. We talk so much more now that I feel much more hooked into what’s going on in the kid’s school lives.
Craft Nights
Recalling my youthful exploits with pipe cleaners, puff balls, and glitter we designate at least one craft night a week where we make decorations for our bedrooms or presents for friends with upcoming birthdays. We find unique supplies cheaply with a coupon code for Etsy to create unusual necklaces for my daughter’s friends or create adorable cardboard robot costumes for my son’s friends to play in when they come over.
Another great option is to get your kids to creatively redesign their rooms. Start them off with some cool new furniture with Pottery Barn Kids coupon codes and see what they can come up with. Full disclosure: this is really just a tricky way of getting them to clean their rooms.
Game Night
I’ve dusted off some oldies but goodies from the basement. The kids especially love Sorry! and Masterpiece. All it takes is a little directed competition to keep us laughing and engaged for hours.
The kids have even blended Craft Night and Game Night.
They created their own board game, painting out the squares and creating unique game pieces. It’s all about our family and a road trip we took last year–with game squares labelled things like “Moldy Pizza” and “Seeing the Ocean.”
Book Night
We’ve established Mondays and Thursdays as reading days. We don’t even turn on the television! Kids and parents may read whatever they like: comic books, novels, or magazines–but they must read in the evening. We check books out at the library and exchange books with our neighbors.
Reading nights quiet the house down, and also give us interesting subjects to talk about. My son checked out a book about reptiles at the school library and has been reciting facts about frogs ever since.
Get Active
We’ve started taking family walks. It’s so refreshing to step outside and get fresh air as a family. We get to get out of the house and get a fresh look around the neighborhood, all without spending a cent!
Ultimately staying home is saving us money ánd brought us closer as a family. A little creativity and planning keeps us entertained and happy.
Sometimes cutting spending corners adds up to something a lot more valuable!
