How To Do More With Your Weekends as a Family For Less

Now that the school summer holidays are drawing to a close, it can be strange to think that the kids will be going back to school and you will not be having the same amount of quality time together. However, there are still plenty of weekends left where there could well be good weather, and if you put in a little planning you can keep that summer feeling going for a little bit longer by having some cool days out or doing some good activities together on the weekends.

Naturally, this can end up being expensive if you do not think about how to have fun whilst saving money, and so here are some tips for planning fun weekends and day trips with your family and also spending less money doing so.

Check Out Free Attractions

There are actually lots of places that you can visit without spending any money at all. Museums and galleries are often free to attend, and there are also parks and other public spaces where you can have a pleasant time and enjoy each other’s company, without spending any money. You can find a good list of local places. Also, if you are visiting another city in the UK, it is always a good idea to take a look at what free attractions are available, for example, what museums there are that you can visit for free in Edinburgh or in London.

Remember that when planning your day out to a place that is free to visit, you will also save more by packing your own lunch rather than eating out while you are out for the day and looking for good deals on public transport or parking.

Find Out About Local Events

Another way to have entertaining things to do and places to visit is to check out blogs that tell you when there will be local fairs and other similar events on. Schools and clubs often put on these kinds of events in the summer and around Christmas, so you can probably find plenty of interesting things to visit that will not cost a lot of money and will be supporting a good organisation. Even something like a school fair or a car boot sale can be an entertaining day out if you make it that way it by having a good time with your family.

Get Discount Vouchers For Big Days Out

Another thing that you can do is organise stays at major attractions by checking out sites like Voucher Empire that give you discounts on all kinds of things, including visits to theme parks and other big days out. The big entertainment brands that run theme parks and things like aquariums around the UK often have special offers, and you can find these on voucher websites such as this. Keeping on top of what offers there are by subscribing to couponing and voucher websites is a great way to plan your more exciting days out and still make great savings for the whole family.

Take Up A Sport or Hobby Together

If you want to save a lot of money and still spend good times together every weekend, then a great way to do it can be to take up a hobby or sports such as cycling or hiking together. There are lots of things you could consider, and most of them only really require you to spend money on equipment at the start. Once you have your bike or your tennis rackets or whatever else you need for the activity you have chosen to do together, you’ll be able to simply go outdoors and have fun every weekend.

Other hobbies you might consider doing together as a family could include golf, fishing, bird watching, or dancing. You could also consider taking up classes in something such as martial arts or dance lessons and practicing together outside of those classes. This can be a great way to bond as a family and also to fill your time at the weekends with fun activities that you all enjoy doing with each other.

Play Games

Naturally, not every weekend will be good weather, and you may not want to do things outdoors. This doesn’t mean that you cannot spend time together as a family doing something fun. Rather than just doing things separately around the house, it can be fun to get together and play a game whether it is a board game, a card game, or even a video game. Even though you do not have to go outside or spend any money, you will still have a good excuse to enjoy some special time and some laughs together with your children.

You can choose traditional board games or puzzles, learn some card games such as poker together, or you can even invest in something like an Xbox One or a Nintendo Wii and play together using competitive games on one of those. It can be a lot more fun to do these things as a family than to do them on your own, and even if your kids seem reluctant at first to play video games with you they are likely to enjoy it in the end.

With some planning and in some cases some earlier investment, you can actually set yourself up to have a lot of good times together over the weekends when your kids are not at school and you are not at work. Don’t keep good family adventures just for the summer holidays. There is so much you can do just at the weekends and without spending a huge amount of money either.

Simply join some money saving voucher websites, think of some fun hobbies you can do together, and buy some games that you can play as a family. Soon, you will find that your weekends become a lot more full of fun and you will have plenty of chances to hear about what your kids are doing and talk to them.