Canwest News Service - Times Colonist
Family fun on a shoestring
Cheap thrills for children that won't break an adult's piggy bank
By RACHEL NAUD, Canwest News Service - Times Colonist
When a recession hits, one of the first things families sacrifice is their entertainment budget. This means pulling the curtain on movie nights, dropping big-ticket sports events and scrapping dinners out. And while this saves money, it also means the loss of a lot of valuable family fun.
"It's very important for families to continue having fun together during tough economic times," says Michelle Jones, founder of betterbudgeting.com. "It helps keep families' spirits up and come through the challenging time together stronger than ever."
Keeping fun in the family budget is also a way to avoid overspending later. When people go without, they start to feel deprived and find themselves giving in to costly temptations.
"A lot of people when they start cutting back think they're going to eliminate all the fun out of their lives and just put their nose to the grindstone," says Gail Vaz-Oxlade, host of the Slice Network's Til Debt Do Us Part. "The problem is that it's like wearing a harness that's too tight. Eventually you want to take the harness off, and then you go nuts."
Instead, learn to have family fun within a budget. It doesn't have to cost a lot to spend quality time together. Sometimes it requires not much more than an investment in time and imagination.
Family game nights, for instance, are all about testing your skill and competitive spirit, not about who has the most expensive gaming system. For the price of a deck of cards, families can gather around the kitchen table for a spirited match of rummy, Uno, bridge and even poker.
More than that, it gives family members the opportunity to share laughs, stories - and make memories.
Photograph by: Peter Cade, Getty Images
Board games are another inexpensive pastime. And in tough economic times when purchasing a video system is out of the question, investing in a board game or two is a great way to have fun for less.
"During an economic downturn, as in many sectors of the economy, consumers are looking for ways that each dollar will go further," says Harold Chizick, spokesperson for the Canadian Toy Association. "Historically, the toy industry has shown to be more resilient than other consumer products and usually sees growth in categories that promote family-together play. Categories like construction, games and puzzles, where parent and caregivers can be engaged and spend quality time with children, do very well."
Traditional board games such as Monopoly and Candy Land are still popular today. "All of the classics are still around as many of them have cross-generational appeal," Chizick says. "They stand the test of time and sell millions of units around the world every year."
There are also games on the market that put a fresh spin on the classics, such as Trivial Pursuit Digital Choice and Monopoly: Here & Now.
Trivial Pursuit: Digital Choice Edition comes with an electronic game pod that plugs directly into a computer and allows players to customize categories so a new game can be played each time. The game pod comes pre-loaded with six 100-question categories and can be loaded with thousands more questions from www.trivialpursuit.com. The game also comes with a credit for 1,800 additional questions. Players can download questions that best match their interests and manage the question categories on their home computer. For an additional personalized twist, players will have the opportunity to create their own categories based on their lives, families or anything else they know all about.
Monopoly Here & Now Electronic Banking Edition allows families to wheel and deal their way to a fortune even faster using debit cards instead of cash. All it takes is a card swipe for money to change hands so now families can collect rent, buy properties and pay fines - with the touch of a button. It's a new way to play the family classic that's been brought up to date with modernized tokens and a new electronic banking unit, which stores each of the players' financial data from their VISA-branded cards, making the role of the banker easier than ever before.
Although dinners out can be pricey, there are ways families can enjoy the occasional restaurant meal without guilt. Jones advises parents to check local newspapers for money-saving coupons and for kids-eat-free establishments. She also suggests hosting a dinner swap or pot luck with friends and neighbours as a fun alternative to eating out.
During the spring and summer months, there are endless ways of getting out and having fun with your children - and many of them are free.
Local playgrounds and parks are great places to spend a sunny afternoon; pack a picnic and save a bundle on food.
Scouring local papers and community guides for activities such as nature walks is another way to get out and learn new things together.
"It's about getting down to children's levels and looking through their eyes and looking at the world with their sense of wonder," Vaz-Oxlade says. "Take a child on a guided nature walk and someone can point out to them, 'That is deer poop, that is raccoon poop, that's squirrel poop.' All of a sudden they're becoming the masters of science because you put it all in the context of poop - and children love talking about poop."
Sporting events are also fun to attend - and they don't have to be big-ticket games. Get out of the house and take in community soccer and baseball games with your children for some fresh air and fun.
Fast tips for free family fun
- Explore museums and zoos on free family days
- Inquire about local swimming pools that offer free family swims
- Watch for notices about free community theatre in the parks
- Attend local powwows to introduce kids to First Nations culture
- Go to your local libraries to participate in reading circles, check out books or rent movies