Let ASDA know your summer budget tips and have a chance to win £200 to spend at ASDA Groceries NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

ASDA have asked us to find out what Mumsnetters top tips are for saving money while still having lots of fun in the sun this summer.

Here's what ASDA say: "We've just launched #SaveSummer, our answer to keeping the kids entertained this summer, without spending a fortune. Every week for the remainder of the summer we will be releasing a series of ideas and activities online with which you can keep the family entertained on a budget. We would love to hear what your top tips are to enjoying the summer on a budget, whether they be games, trips or arts and crafts!"

So how do you keep the little ones entertained in the summer? What are your top tips for family fun on a budget?

However you and your family enjoy summer whilst keeping costs down, please let us know. Everyone who adds their thoughts, comments and tips to this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one winner will receive £200 to spend at ASDA's online grocery shopping site*.

Please note that any comments posted on this thread may appear in an email Mumsnet will be sending out, and potentially elsewhere.

Thanks,
MNHQ

*The £200 evoucher will be uploaded into the winner's account. This will be in the format of 8x £25 evouchers that can be used within 1 transaction or against multiple, but the evouchers will expire after 3 months. If you are not already registered with Asda Groceries, you will need to register in order to obtain the prize. eVouchers are only redeemable online within the Asda Groceries site.

Cheap crafts - paper plates, pebble painting, making fans, chalk pictures...

Cheap activities - library, Sure start playgroups, beach, parks, wood, free museums, sports centres, paddling pool fun, making puddles, growing veg, baking easy things, dancing, treasure hunt, hide and seek ...

My best money saving activity is to go and visit Granny!
Lunch and snacks/cake are always provided and the garden is the best adventure playground.
And I get to sit on the sun while my mum runs around after them.

We always come away knackered and full of fruit that we've picked off the bushes.

Like local days out pages. There are lots of free and very cheap things out there not always widely advertised.

Have a Pj duvet dvd day.

Organise picnics with friends car share if possible to save parking.

Look at annual/locals passes for attractions. Often worth the additional spend for year round fun.

Baking - kids love helping out... and making a mess of the kitchen! Not only is it a free/ cheap activity, you're also saving money on bought treats/ snacks aswell so it's a double win! We love decorating fairy cakes and gingerbread men, and cutting out animal biscuits.
Then whenever we go out for the day, I always pack some of our home baked treats and it saves on having to buy them treats/ ice creams while we're out.

We're also doing a lot of gardening this summer - watering the plants is the highlight of their day! Especially with the sprinkler... And fingers crossed we should have some veg to pick soon - money-saving all round!

Ensure your freezer is stocked with supermarket lollies so you can cheerfully brush away endless demands for ice cream when out by saying they can have one at home. One pack is usually cheaper than one ice cream.

Bonus: also gets you home without tears when you are utterly fed up of standing in the park.

My top summer saving tips are:

Plan Ahead- if your local paper has a free activities section then make a note on the calendar so you don't forget . Check out the local library as they quite often have free arts and crafts sessions. I took my three boys to a local pet shop last week where they got to meet the animals and learn more about them . Was free and great fun!
If the weather is looking pretty miserable then we do crafts indoors or another favourite of ours is we play a sort of "Come dine with me/Ready Steady Cook " game where we split into two groups and give each other a bag of ingredients . One team does main and another does dessert - we don't need to spend a lot just use your imagination :-)
Also , a lot of leisure centres in Bham have free swimming /classes/gym at certain times of the day , you just need to register.
When you are out for the day , take packed lunches and plenty of drinks . We usually do this and then find somewhere nice to have an ice cream or a cake later :-)

Buy broken necklaces from charity shops (they sometimes have bags of these for very little) and get the kids to make some of their own. Use elastic thread then you don't need a needle to thread them.

Buy some sticks of chalk - they can play hopscotch, draw pics then simply wash away at the end of the day.

Washing the car or cleaning their bikes can be fun for the kids if they don't usually do this.

Buy some card and glue and cut up the pictures from old cards to create 'new' birthday cards or even Christmas cards.

Teach the children to knit or crochet. Get them to do simple squares then sew them together to make cushions or even a blanket. Made two this way myself and I promise it is addictive. Even one square is good for a dolly's blanket. You can generally buy cheap but OK wool in pound shops.

Give them some scraps of material and ribbons and get them to make glamorous dresses for their dolls.

Start a scrapbook

Make collage pics using pics from magazines.

Teach your kids to cook or bake. Useful skills to last their whole lives.

Make a recipe book using recipes from old magazines, recipes from friends and Mum.

Join the library - free!

Use public transport to extend a day out that might otherwise be a bit too short eg to a small local museum. Getting there and back becomes part of the day and is more interesting than hopping in the car for younger children.

Definitely buy some decent drinks bottles and take them everywhere with you. Kids' drinks cost a bomb wherever you go.

Give children a lump sum at the start of the holiday (enough to pay for entry to a couple of places they like), and let them decide if they want to spend it on doing those things. A lot of the desperate need to go somewhere for the umpteenth time disappears when it's their own money at stake! My kids usually put a lot of their holiday money in the bank in September

Dig out the fake Christmas tree, decorate it, wrap inane household objects in newspaper, break out the carols CD and have a practice Christmas in the middle of summer.

If it's nice weather, you could even use the BBQ and go all Australian!

Become Queen of the packed lunch - I always take all our food for a day out, but will buy an ice lolly of ice cream while we are out.

On hot days, freezing some drinks will keep drinks cool into the afternoon and act as ice packs for your lunch too.

Make use of seasonal fruits - my 2 DD's cant get enough of juicy peaches, plums and nectarines at the moment. Watermelon too. Make the most of indulging in summer fruits while they are perfectly sweet and ripe and in season.

We love all the wonderful parks and museums that surround us. DD1 loves to make maps and plan out an adventure - and whatever park we go to, there will be special areas to play in and fire their imagination.

It is lovely just to have a day at home too - let the DC loose with coloured paper, paints, sellotape etc. Their imaginations will take care of the rest.

I reckon I can get a good weeks worth of entertainment out of a large cardboard box for my 5 & 2 yo's before it goes into recycling.

I save money by not shopping at asda, where they deduct double the amount of your shopping from your card.

Local parks, picnics and museums are free!

Join one thing annual and use it ( wheelgate is ours this year!).

Take own food and drinks everywhere!

Garden fun is free too, paddling pool, ice pops, making shady dens.

Check out local offers and activities.

Trips to woods - get books from library about local area/ trees/ birds and go and find them.

Indoor picnic - make a den in lounge, get blankets, put on a DVD and enjoy!

Sports day! use old recycling - get the kids to make a game for the sports day and then play. Things such as skittles using bottles, making 'holes' for minigolf with boxes.

Have a cooking day and make lots of things that can be frozen and taken out daily for trips. We make mini quiches, mini sausage rolls, cakes, biscuits, various pastry items.

Make use of the local 'ranger services' or free play activities. So far this holiday we have been to an open day at the leisure centre where DS used go karts, tried trampolining, rowing, javelin and shot put. We have been to parks where the council playrangers are on hand to entertain. It's also a great place to meet other parents and for DS to make new friends.

Mix it up If I know a day will be very hot and sunny we'll pack a picnic and head to the beach, make sandcastles, swim, walk, fly the kite. If I know the next day is rain we'll collect shells etc on the beach and spend the next day doing art and craft activities.

Don't be afraid to suggest things with others such as a BYO picnic or BBQ. It's cheaper to provide 50-100 sausage rolls (£1ish) a bag than bring a whole picnic, or buy a bag of 20 sausages for a BBQ. We have always split what we bring and the 'host' is only expected to provide the BBQ if it's at a house or if we go somewhere open we use disposable ones. We have BBQ'd with 8 adults and 11 children at a limit of £5 per family for whatever your providing.

Library sessions, many things are free or of a small cost. The children like looking a the books and 'reading' even without a specific activity.

Picnics all round here :)

Lots of visits to places we already have membership of. Boredom for adults may set in though!

Baking and making things. Cardboard boxes are always fun for hideouts etc.

Picnics in the park and playdates with other kids out in the garden are cheap and great fun.
The local library may have free rhymetime sessions, and activities for older kids during the summer holidays. Check the library noticeboard and leaflets for other activities in your area.

Family bike rides - these are some of my fondest memories of childhood.

Local papers may have discount vouchers for local attractions.

Speak to other mums about where they go - I've discovered some great places that I just wouldn't have known about otherwise.

We watch the planes taking off and landing at the local airport. You can sit in the park at the end of the runway and they go right over your head. DS loves it and it's free! You can also get phone apps that tell you where theyre going to/coming from

Look closely to home. My DC always have craft kits and games which they were given for Christmas or birthdays languishing in their rooms - I get them to make a pile and then we choose which one(s) to do. They will even occasionally play a game together without my involvement or prompting .

The other one would be to always, obsessively, take water bottles and snacks with you when you go out. Buying drinks and snacks can easily double the cost of a day out.

-Go on a treasure hunt round a local park or woodland area,if children are old enough try out geocaching
-as above re hunt but make it a pirate theme and bury gold coins in the sand pit.
-cinema night at home
-plant herbs from cheap packets of seeds,once herbs have grown use them to cook and bake things together

We have just discovered that through his teaching union, DH gets loads of really good discounts on things like Legoland, so we might well take advantage of that.

We are going to all the local parks and playgrounds in rotation.

DD1 is doing the Summer Reading Challenge at the local library, completely free.

I am always amazed about the amount of time the DDs can spend in the paddling pool.

DH has taken them to "Classics on the Common" - a whole bunch of classic cars, parked on a (large) local village common. Completely free but surprisingly good fun. Think there are several round the country (or maybe just in Herts).

There are also some scarecrow festivals in local villages near us and the DDs would love walking round a village spotting scarecrows! Again, completely free.

We have a couple of really good free museums near us, so always go to them in the holidays.

Take turns hosting an activity for your children's friends e.g. I made playdough and had friends round.
Join National Trust and then there's always somewhere to go to run around and play and they often run school holiday activities.
Borrow library books about identifying trees or flowers and go on a wildlife scavenger hunt.
Give your children and indoor/garden scavenger hunt e.g. something purple, something you can wear on your head, etc.
At the moment our little one is so young that it doesn't take much to entertain him but it's more about keeping us from being bored doing the same things!

I throw the toddler out in to the garden with the sprinkler. Hours of fun and the lawn/flower beds get watered at the same time

A trampoline picked up from freecycle provides hours of free entertainment for my 3 year old and her pals. They also like to pick daisies and chase butterflies. If its ranting we watch cbeebies but also have discos in the lounge, do baking, drawing, reading.

Wigeon makes a good point about her DH having access to special offers through his union at work.

My DH said the other day that he had realised that he could get free theatre/cinema tickets, discounts from some restaurants etc. through his employer.

Worth checking out

There are a lot of free things to do in the summer like going to the local parks and having picnics, the beach is also free and we like to take the train down so it feels like we are doing more than we are as the kids love to go on the train.

We have a lake/pond not far from where we live so we often go for a walk up there and feed the ducks which is also a nice thing to do.

It can be harder when the weather is bad though and that is why we have lots of arty type activities ready for them, they often get these for birthdays or Christmas and are just put away until now!

We also have an youth club which is £5 for the registration and you can then go for free for the rest of the year so this is where my eldest son and his friends go a lot of the time, he take a couple of pound with his for drinks and sweets but they also do food too so it's a good place for them. They also run trips to various places, some are free some do require payment but it is always kept as low as possible and always under £10 or so.

But picnics are a winner for us and it's nice to just pack up some stuff and head off to a nice park for a few hours.