Minimal spend weekends when you have children

[minimammy]

I'm sure a lot of you are brilliant at this so I'd love your advice. We've recently booked our first holiday in 9 years a bargain apartment in the sun.
We've got cheap flights which we've had help paying for and need to pay back. We should have been absolutely fine to pay it back but then the car wouldn't start and now our heating is on the blink. This is all eating into the money put to one side. I'm determined to not miss out on our break away.
So can you give me advice on how to have a fun and relatively busy weekend without spending to much and the children also feeling the pinch.
Thanks in advance. X

Parks? Museums? Sometimes just a weekend of pottering about indoors can be great.

We are family a lot on weekends as well so tomorrow my ds will just spend a good couple of hours playing with his cousin while I chat with my sister. Sunday we will visit my nan.

It's only a weekend once in a while we actually do something like the cinema which costs money.

We would love that but we don't have any family nearby.
We could definitely do the museums and parks. Thanks

Depending how old they are depends on what you want them to do.
A weekend in with dvd night.
At home playing can be relaxing for you.not having to drag the lo about for the day.. have a friend over for a play day..no fancy tea just a home done pizza etc

Great ideas. X

Family film night, pizza and popcorn in pyjamas in front of a film we all like. The kids love having something like that to look forward to if we have to get a few jobs done during the day.

Board games. Our kids always moan and moan when we suggest it but once the snacks are out and competitiveness starts then they really enjoy it!

Cooking. Get them involved in shopping for and preparing dinner. Or bake.

Depends on ages and where you live.
Look on daysoutwiththekids for free stuff around your area.

We have pokemon go on my phone and just walk about,exploring our area looking for Pokémons. You could also look into geocaching.
At home board games or crafty activities : painting, make your own volcano, paint and make your own pasta necklaces, saltdough decorations.
Or arrange some playdates .

Oh and if you're really lucky, get them involved in house chores. DD loves washing windows and wiping the kitchen floor.

Are you national trust members? They are great for entertaining children. Some places are free to get in the parks (but you pay to get in the house etc) - worth a look to see what's around you.

Depending on the age of your children, some churches have "messy church" on Saturdays/Sundays, which is good for smaller ones.

Museums/art galleries can be good, there are often cheap kids cinema screenings on Saturday mornings £1-2 each) that can kill a morning if the weather is bad, or you could have a movie morning/afternoon with a film and popcorn at home.

Cake making? Den making?

Take them to the library (walk if possible, it will take longer!), let them choose some books and come home and read them together.
Depending on age, get them involved in cooking dinner. Maybe three courses if you can run to that. Get them to write out a menu, and decorate the table with whatever you have.
Board games, or cards.
DVD night with pop corn/ice cream.
If they are of the right age, have a disco.

Parks, baking always goes down well with us, get involved with cooking for dinner such as pizza with added toppings, special film night with popcorn. My DD loves to make cinema tickets and signs so it depends how old your children are for that but it keeps her busy.
The morning cinema is really good and if you go to the supermarket for your treats first then it’s cheaper

I second National Trust. Obviously assuming your car is now running! It's about a tenner a month.

We also do NT. We always take our own food, just maybe buy an ice cream during the summer.

If over about 5
Cooking including the planning and shopping for ingredients.
Country, canal or beach walks - collect bits and pieces to make collages on return home.
Museums with children’s activities.
Parks.
Home cinema night with DVD or Netflix, hot dogs and popcorn.

Depends on the age of your children and what type of place you live. We regularly:

• bake & top pizzas
• bake for and have an ‘afternoon tea’ dinner
• play board games
• go for longish walks, taking picnics or hot drinks
• geocaching
• parks
• drive to park in another (but near-by) village for a change
• National Trust places. Will soon have activities at weekends which are often free (might be worth investing in membership to get lots of free weekends?)
• film afternoons
• craft projects - make a themed display or do various things relating to a topic

Not free, but things like kids cinema are pretty cheap, if you live near the cinema

Leave them to play and see what games they come up with

Geocaching

Bike rides

Explore different playgrounds

Board games

Baking?

Make paper aeroplanes or boats, paper mache models,make pom poms from spare wool or you can get it in a pound shop and have indoor snow ball fights. Make your own slime/ play doh ( recipes online)
Play card games for pennies. Build indoor dens, have a carpet picnic. Lots of simple science activities online “make a cloud in a jar” is a favourite, make a rain gauge out of a soda bottle for the garden and so many more ideas. Press leaves or flowers picked up on a walk. If you have any left over plain wall paper or lining paper at home roll it out draw round the kids and let them colour in a life sized model.
Have competitions who can fit the most number of items in a Tupperware box, who can find the most things in the house within a certain time, so finding things of a certain colour for younger ones and finding things starting with a certain letter of the alphabet for older kids.
If they are old enough they could write and illustrate their own comic or newspaper.
Go to a pound shop give them a pound and let them buy any toy they want.

Things like NT and English Heritage are actually really good value with small kids
as you can happily go back to the same place again and again
and do the running around in the garden bit

when mine were small and I was broke we had season tickets for Paultons Park - and sometimes went three times in a weekend !!

Seaside : even in the winter .... picking up shells and making piles of stones and stuff

Depending where you are in the country, find a Hill Fort and get to know it through the seasons

ditto a bit of local woodland - walk it every week and it will grow on you

@RebelRogue I. An only dream about them helping me with the cleaning.
Fab ideas.

Having a vague plan is going to be the key.
We do love a kids club film.
I don't want them to feel like they are missing out, the things you do!

To add my children are 4&9

Does you area have a facebook page? Often they post free family events.

Walks out with hot chocolate in a flask
Throw stones into a nearby lake
Collect some nice stones and paint them at home
Get some craft ideas from the internet. My kids had fun making helicopters and crocodiles from egg boxes.
Baking biscuits and decorating them
Copy moves from YouTube justdance clips
Board games
Movie nights