AIBU to want a 'fulfilling' weekend? What does your weekend look like?

[DiamondsAreForNever]

I work ft (DH works nearly ft too) and housework is shared 50/50 but I do at least 90% of the organising/thinky stuff at home (that's not likely to change quickly, I know I have a DH problem there but am working on it). The weekend usually goes with DH staring into space not doing a lot on the sofa, DD on a screen of some kind (tablet, laptop, ds) or on the sofa also not doing a lot with DH if I've said no more screen time. Both of them seem incapable of entertaining themselves, DH because he's quite happy doing nothing and DD because she's bored and too lazy to find something to do (she's not generally lazy in terms of school/housework though to be fair). Drives me nuts though, I want to relax and spend time with them as I don't have a lot of free time in the week but it's so achingly dull and pointless.

I'm quite easygoing as far as preferences about what we do, I'm always the last to say 'nah, don't fancy that' even if it's something I wouldn't choose myself, but AIBU to want to spend the weekend relaxing but actually doing something most of the time rather than sat staring at a wall or a screen? I really don't care what it is but just doing something together!

Neither of us drive and we don't have a lot of money so 'trips' out can't be a regular thing and we do housework at weekends but in between is just a mix of tv, computer, the odd board game and a whole lot of nothing.

I really don't want to have to organise the weekend as well as everything else but it seems the only way I'll get it 'spiced up' at all so please can I ask for suggestions - what do you do at the weekend that doesn't involve a lot of going to specific places/spending money? Also things that don't involve me doing a lot of prep or a lot of work would be appreciated!

my DC are not naturally inclined to do sporty stuff, and we don't have much time on weekday evening due to work, so we like to tempt them with active stuff that they do like - swimming, trampolining, roller disco. DH and I get stuck in too, as it's more fun than going for a jog.

more tragically, we all like really board games too, and it's a good way of spending time together.

it is harder if you both work though - despite my best efforts to keep on top of things in the week there's always a few chores DH and I need to get done, during which the DC inevitably watch TV or play on the console.

My dh is the opposite. Will not lie in, will never chill out with the papers or veg on the sofa. a lazy start to the day with a cup of tea is not for him sadly.

We tend to have days out, lots of walks on nature reserves, trips to the beach, bike rides, trips to the park, or have friends or family round.

I always do a roast and go to church on a Sunday which makes me feel fulfilled I appreciate that's not for everyone though.

Oh and we've had many a row in B and Q, Wickes and even tesco

recalling with pleasure the quiet Sundays with a drive to a stately home in the afternoon that I grew up with, compared to what looks like the miserable existence of some families now - dragging unwilling children around a shopping centre

It's horses for course though. I remember endlessly long boring Sunday drives with my parents dragging us unwilling children around stately homes!!

Are you in a town? City? Village?

Dh works most weekends, so all weekend organising lands on me,

When the DC where younger, and lived in a large village/town, I'd do walk to the local park for a play, then a walk down the high street, DC bought sweets, looked in charity shops for small toys, and clothes. Then stop at a coffee shop (Was a lovely independent child friendly one, so one coffee and a couple of milks, cheap as chips) Sundays I would visit family.

When DC were Slightly older in a little village. They'd play out with friends, or we'd do a small picnic and go for a bike ride, to local nature reserve. Visit friends in the village. Or take DC swimming, they had various clubs I found them to do on a Saturday, usually with digging about you can find cheap clubs. At one point DC went to a gym club, that was 2.50 for 3 hours! On a Saturday morning. Five aside football training 2.5 hours £5 . they were pay as you go so if I didn't have the money that week they didn't go.

Kids club cinema depending on which one it's was either a £1 or £2.

I did have a car so would regularly just bung them in and drive, more often then not to a beach, come rain or shine.

Walks along river banks/ canals

Museums.

Garden centres, buying a plant each to plant and grow in pots when we got home.

Baking is always good, my eldest now will just announce he's board and then says, I think I'll bake something. he is currently making a chocolate cake whilst he waits for some new game to download

We also use to do a kind of "come dine with me" "master chef" thing were it was someones turn each weekend to come up with a started, main, pudding, they had to prepare and make it all, (with help when younger)

Also my DC are teens now, but can still be enticed to do craft stuff every now and again, you can buy alsorts of get them interested, build you own kits etc..... Wilkos is good for cheap craft sets.

^They were all my on budget stuff I did, I've probably forgotten a few.

You don't say how old your DD is?

At weekends we -
Go for bike rides
Parks
Swimming
Soft play
Farms
Crazy golf
Cinema
Bowling
Roller skating
Aquarium
Zoo

We spend a fair amount of time at home too doing -
Arts & crafts
Colouring
Baking
Playing with toys
Game nights/afternoons
Movies nights/afternoons

Some weekends we're never home, others we don't even get dressed
But I couldn't watch my kids just stare at an iPad all day either way

If you're feeling caged, I'd just do what you want and then invite the others if they'd like to join you.

If you can't please yourself nobody else will!

Weekends here with 8 and 5 year old aren't particularly "exciting" - but I enjoy a lie in, leisurely breakfast and general mooching.

Geocaching has been brilliant, free local museum, park, library, blackberrying (and then making the crumble!), fruit picking/lamb spotting, charity shop rummaging, car boot browsing, helping out on friends allotment/odd jobs neighbours can't manage.

I bloody love weekends!

We have mixed weekends too.

DP and I both work full time.

Yesterday, we went food shopping first thing, then drove down to the coast, walked along the sea front and enjoyed fish and chips. We came home, DP cut the lawn, I cleaned out one of the gutters and did some gardening and ironing.

Today DP has been busy in the garage. DP is a potterer and is never happier when working on a project. Today he has made two cane wigwams to grow peas up and is busy renovating our outside lights. I've washed our bedding, been to exercise class and have had a Skype chat with DD and DGS. Later on I will go to yoga and in between, I've been knitting and chatting to Dsis.

Other weekends DP is busy working with DS renovating his car, or gardening or we meet family and friends or go to NT properties..

Tricky at the moment as dh is quite unwell. We don't have fixed activities at the w/e now.

We potter a lot but I try to model non screen time, make ds do his chores, hoosh him out of the door to meet friends at the park, make him do bits of cooking for meals (I don't ask, I tell, or often just hand him the bowl and say 'mix that'. He always talks more if I am pottering round batch cooking etc. We do the pets together, he talks more again. He goes to see friends, sometimes brings them back, often a sleepover. We might go swimming or cycling.

Worst comes to the worst I sit next to ds on his screen and get him to show me what he is watching.

We have a toddler we need to tire out so we go for a lot of walks. Nowhere particularly exciting, just wandering around. The. We have lunch out and home for DS's nap. In the afternoon we usually see friends - we all meet as a group at a restaurant or in a home to eat, drink and be merry. Usually repeat on Sunday. Sometimes we swim, go to a local park, children's play area...

My dcs like to sit and watch Netflix and play on Xbox/ laptop. I have to catch up on sleep as I have anxiety. I would like to go out for the day too. We have no money. It is an uphill struggle to get them to go out. We've got a dog to walk so sometimes they have to see the sun.
Make a list of things you'd like to do and book them in on the calendar so everyone knows they're coming.

I tend to just do my own thing now so that at least I enjoy my weekend - today I was up early (I hate lying in) - got the housework out of the way, went to the gym, went swimming and then to church; back home - DS & DH have now gone out to play sport together so I am happy pottering around on my own for the afternoon.

It's great if all of you like doing the same thing but after years of trying to drag a reluctant child around NT properties or similar I have more or less given up - equally I don't want to spend my time watching/playing sports.

DH and I don't have any mutual friends so meeting up with people is out of the question - we sometimes see my side of the family but it's by no means a regular thing - we rarely visit DH's family !!

Actually I often work weekends when I have the option and enjoy my time off in the week, meeting up with my friends or doing voluntary work .

We joined a gym and took out vitality life insurance so most weekends we go to the gym (swim / tennis / gym / spa (free crèche for over 3s), go for a coffee at Starbucks and go to the cinema. For 'free' since it's all included in monthly payments.

We've also got Merlin passes so frequently visit their attractions.

Add in sports commitments (cricket, football and rugby) and work (teacher so planning & marking) and our weekends are fairly packed. :)

Pack a picnic and go to a nice park,or go and sit by the river,a walk in the countryside.Take a camera with you,get some nice pictures of wild flowers,local wildlife.
Go for a bike ride or a ramble.
Kite flying,you can pick a kite up for a £1 now or you could make your own.
Visit a museum,all the one's where we live are free all of them offer drop in sessions as well at different times of the year where you pay a couple of pounds per child or per family and you get to make something at the museum that you can take home.
Go to a Jumble sale,Car boot or fete,you could even have a stall of your own if you've got some bits at home you no longer want,a free day out and some money made to spend on a treaty day out another time
Childrens clubs at the cinema usually between £1-£2.50 per ticket and take your own sweets and drinks in your handbag that makes for a cheap day out.
Have a look and see if there are any animal sanctuarys near you they usually run on a donation for entry rather than a set price for admission.
Have a Garden/Garage sale me and my Mum used to do them about once every 6 weeks and when the sun was shining we could make over £50.
Go and visit family or friends.
If you keep an eye out there's often a sale on coach seats for £1 each and some of them go to the coast.£3 for a trip to the sea side and you could pack a nice picnic and cool bag full of drinks.
Lots of the newspapers have coupons for free entry for so many to theme parks/sea life centers all through the year now and if you could get dates that matched cheap coach travel you could save a fortune on a really special day out.

It's hard when DC become teens, mine aren't interested in doing anything with me anymore. My DP and I tend to cook a meal together Friday evening, gym or a long walk Saturday, DC come home from their dads Sat afternoon and they either go round to friends or play on the Xbox, they rarely sit with us anymore in an evening.

We do housework, washing, ironing, work (teacher stuff) on a Sunday. DP works on a Sunday evening.

We do enjoy a night away in a b & b then walk the next day, or a night in London.

Walks bike rides gardening baking....
Ds is only 2 and gets stir crazy if we don't head out by about 9am to do something.

Just decide what you'd like to do, then ask if they'd like to join you. If not, invite a friend or go on your own. At least you'll can talk about whatever you did with the family when you get back. If you're enthusiastic about it they might join in next time, or be inspired to do something else themselves.

How about asking friends over and get them to bring some food/drink to keep costs down? Involve Dh and dc in ideas to entertain guests eg music playlists, games, quiz, menu, DVDs etc.

Running is very sociable and low cost. There are parkruns at 9 every Saturday all over the place, no one is too old, too slow or too out of shape to do one- they will welcome all comers. It's free to enter.

As a family (mine are teens) we walk the dog, watch films on tv (take turns to choose), eat together (picnic if a nice day), visit relatives, and have people round.

As individuals we run, cycle, paint, draw, play musical instruments, read, play computer games, learn languages on the Internet, see friends, volunteer, play other sports, and of course homework/study.

The visiting family and friends which has been mentioned several times has struck a chord with me.

We don't live near any family so only see any of them on organised trips. We always assume that friends are busy seeing their other halves and kids at the weekend so never bother anyone. No-one contacts us either (maybe everyone thinks everyone else is busy?!) I guess most people we know have clubs etc to ferry kids to and from. DD is an only child and would love a playdate at weekends but everyone we know seems to be staying within their own family units.

Maybe that's why it can become a bit like a pressure-cooker here at times.

At the weekends we go cycling, swimming, out for dinner/lunch, to the beach(we're not in the UK), cinema, date night on Saturday. It would drive me bananas to sit at home all weekend.

We do a mixture of staying in out for cake . This weekend dd has done her club we have been swimming she's played out Iv started reading a book . Next weekend loosely planned a local street party dancing music a few drinks for adults .
She also has school friends party's to attend nearly every weekend for weeks now

My ideal weekend is that hubby takes the kids out for the day (Saturday) and I get to spend the whole day walking in the countryside doing Geocaching. No distractions, no one moaning that it's too far or boring.
Then on Sunday, hubby has the day to do his own thing and I have the kids and do the housework. Perfect!

Tour weekends are hectic.
Ds1. Plays cricket, mountain bikes, goes hiking and often his girlfriend is round
DS2 also goes mountain biking, he has friends over, they go skiing at the chill factor or go climbing at Manchester climbing centre
I go mountain walking in the Lakes, go mountain biking ion local trails,
DH is doing a car up as a project.
Ada family at weekends we often ear out, go to the cinems or go to gigs
Housework is very low on the priority list.

I've been working all hours and I haven't done the weekend thing in ages, but:
As a general rule, Sunday is for family/friends time.

Saturdays I have my eyebrows done/haircut etc. That tends to happen in the mornings. Library is on a Saturday morning too, a top up shop (papers etc). Lunch and then I bake something, we mooch around, have a quick pedal around etc. Saturday evening is always pizza night.

Sunday mornings I go for a run
A small lunch and then most weekends it's an afternoon walk with a group of friends and children. Cake and coffee after the walk, dinner, wind down.

The thing is, I do no food shopping, washing, cleaning at the weekend. At most I might get a paper and a baguette. I iron uniforms etc on a friday generally. Basically, I treat the weekend as if we were going away.

I'm joining this....we are always stuck as to what to do at weekends other than walking round shops which I thinks a bit sad really

I like the idea of treating the weekend as though you were away somewhere, might start doing that!

Some weekends we lay low and chill out at home with the fire lighting and candles and pjs etc. On those weekends dh and I usually spend a couple of hours whizzing about the place cleaning and then I shower and put on comfy house clothes and bask in the luxury of a clean house.

Other weekends we make plans and make the most of the time off work - this weekend I was working late on Friday evening so come home and had dinner & relaxed for the evening with dh once dd went to bed. Yesterday dd had a borthday party in the afternoon so we spent the morning at home. She went off to that and then she had a sleepoever in another friends house in the evening.

Dh and I got dressed up and went out with friends for cocktails and dinner - was a lovely grown up night out. Got home at about 1am dh was driving so wasn't drinking when we were out so he had a whiskey and we stayed up chatting till 2ish.

Had a lie in and some very lovely, leisurely morning sex (very rare these days with dd around!).

dh picked dd up at lunchtime and we lit the fire and tidied up a bit, dh cut the grass and I sorted laundry, school uniforms etc.

dh has gone for some shopping and is bringing back a takeaway for supper now.

Dd will be in bed early (wrecked after her sleepover etc) and dh has some work to do so I will watch an episode of the good wife on netflicks later.

All in all a good weekend!