I need ideas for a bit of family hot weather fun with a tiny budget.

[Sonoran Silkies]

Do something a bit out of the ordinary for your family. Some ideas...

Have an elegant dinner (take out from a nice restaurant with a nice bottle of wine) outdoors at sundown--tablecloth, fine china and silverware, dress up fancy. Play soft romantic or classical music at least part of the time. Watch the stars come out and the moon rise. Take a moonlight walk.

Go sailing if there is a nearby lake.

Go ice skating if there is an arena nearby (we like to do this when the weather is ****HOT*****)

Go camping at a nearby lake or park; if others are staying there, invite them to join you for a sing-a-long after dark.

Check into a nearby hotel for the weekend, or (often) for lower rates, during the week. A bed & breakfast would be an alternative along the same lines.

Explore local historical sites or go to a museum.

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

watermelon. makes the sprinkler even better. cause you'll get all sticky, and NEED to get in the water! Today after watermelon, my girls filled up an empty feed can (galvanized small trash can) and climbed in. just sat there in the water for a LONG time!

 

[the4heathernsmom]

We are faced with this all the time. We bought the kids a 79.00 small pool with a pump to cool off and splash in.......when watering the garden I put it on the side so they can splash and play while not totally wasting my water. homemade slip n slide with water on low to conserve a bit and either baby oil or dishwashing soap on an old tarp......wet sponges and bucket "war" games.....14.95 mister from walmart doesn't use a lot of water but oh my goodness it cools off areas in heat of the day.....public lakes homemade sandwhich picnic, a few balls, water toys, splish and splash free of charge. Sometimes we just load up in the car in the evenings and go critter searching on old oil top roads just to get out of the house and also puts the kids to sleep lol !!!! Do a google search for cheap fun and easy entertainment on a budget there are hundreds of ideas out there. Hang in there sounds like yall definately need some down time before everyone gets burned out.

 

[HeatherLynn]

I think definitely away from home for at least part of the day. Maybe to a creek. Feeling a bit put out with all the work getting dumped so I just am determined tight budget or not we are doing something other than chores the entire long weekend. We have a pretty big kiddie pool. I've gotten desperate enough to crawl in it a few times. I picked out a cheap family pool but after thinking about it found it would not work. Plastic sides and my sister who lives down the hill from us has super destructive dogs. I was picturing them chewing or scratching at the sides of the pool. There is a creek, sprinkler, marshmellows, and a finger food dinner somewhere in our weekend plans.

This is for hubby and me. a 0,7,2 and 6 month old. Cant go very far. Everyone dumped their animal chores on us for the weekend and its hot. can't leave them for very long.

 

[Spookwriter]

Just passing by for a minute, but will give serious thought to this.

Busy day...no rest. Working is easier.

Parade this morning.
Friends having yard sale in my road-frontage
Bean Dinner.
Run tractor over to my uncles, he needed to borrow it a bit.
Trip to museum for daughter. (next town over)
Grocery shopping for later...watermellons and such for pool party tomorrow.
Street-Dance this evening....(small town, volunteer fire department)

12 chicks due to hatch today.

Would like to find time to at least mow the front yard.

But I'll be back....

 

[HeatherLynn]

So far we took care of all the animals in the cool Am, went to my daughters ballet recital, then off to steak and shake, and the feed store, and target to pick up a squiggly sprinkler and a slip and slide. Came home and watered the geese and misted the teenage chicks and the older flock, refreshed all the waterers with ice water. Set up the water fun for the kiddies, putting the 2 smallest down for a nap and am waiting for them now to both be a bit deeper asleep, then its off to make cool aid, pull out finger food stuff for later, and then I am going out to the garden in my swimsuit to plant beans and then immediately sit in the kiddie pool to cool down. I think we are having finger foods and ice pops for dinner while watching a movie.

I think tomorrow afternoon we might mow the lawn and rip out a wall and ceiling in our basement to do some repairs and then head off to the creek for a bit of cooling down. No clue after that.

 

[chixie]

Quote:
I like this one

 

[wolftracks]

Years ago when my 4 oldest were little we had their 3nd cousin and her kids living with us. Druggy husband, so I picked her uo and brought her to my house.
One day it was live 105 and I was hot and irratated and her kids were BADDD. They were driving me nuts.
I threw a fit and left the house with mouths wide open and eyes popping out behind me.
I shop when I'm made and stop at a store I wanted to check out. They had cheap pools and I bought one and a new ice cream freezer and decided to go home. Then I figured Kmart was right there and went in for squirt guns, but didn't buy any.
They had all kinds of kites for sale for like 25 cent and string for a dime! I bought like 20 of them.
I went home, put up the pool, turned on my ice cream and the kids had a blast. After everyone cooled of including me, I packed them all up in the car. Was getting towards evening, but still lots of light and I took them to a park in the hills. We flew kites till just before dark.
We are still a kite family.
Those kids are all in their early 30s or close to it and they still talk about that day.