Let Cadbury know your shared joyful summer moments which cost nothing - £265 voucher and Merlin ticket to be won! NOW CLOSED

[JustineBMumsnet]

The school summer holidays are a great time to share lots of wonderful moments with your children, and though the cost of exciting days out can really add up, they’re not the only way to have fun.

Cadbury Dairy Milk Buttons would like you to share the joyful summer moments you’ve shared with your children which cost nothing.

This could be a water fight in the garden on a hot summer day, a trip to a local museum that you both really enjoyed or an impromptu picnic in the park. Have you found creative ways to have fun without the price tag? Whatever your joyful summer moments that cost nothing, share them with Cadbury below.

All those who post a comment below will be entered into a prize draw where one winner will receive a £265 Love2Shop voucher and a second winner will win a Merlin family ticket worth up to £200.

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

Additional information for Merlin prize: the winner will need to advise on the attraction they would like to visit and they will be sent a set of open dated tickets to use in 2016. The exception is Madame Tussauds in London where it gets very busy. Therefore, the winner will need to advise on three potential dates for their visit and Merlin will book them in in advance for one of those dates.

Going on a Puddle walk when it rained, jumping in as many puddles as possible - lots of laughing and the joy of something you are normally discouraged from doing

Making lolly ices for the freezer using fruit that was past its best and some yoghurt - great fun in making them and even more in eating them!

Today my kids were in the garden making a 'stunt show' video with an old handheld video camera a friend gave us. Nothing too dangerous, mostly hanging upside down from a branch and speaking in a fake american accent. Not sure why...

Anyway, it was the higlight of the holidays so far for me because they managed to do it all afternoon without breaking into a fight, or even so much as a squabble!

I took my 2 children (3year old girl) and (7year old boy) pond dipping. We went to our local nature reserve and did it there. We went in our wellies and had nets and buckets with water in to put what we found in. The children really enjoyed it, we spent ages doing it and they found it fascinating looking at the insects we found. I had printed off some sheets off the internet with pictures and names of insects you might find, so they could identify them. We found a few things; tadpoles, fish, water scorpion, etc. It was a lovely morning spent there, and it was free. We will definitely be doing it again soon

We're cloud gazers: a picnic blanket, a heap of cushions and we take it in turns to spot creatures and shapes, then build stories about them. It's a game that gets better the older they get but we are all nostalgic about how it was when they were toddlers and every cloud was either a sheep or a puddle.

We went went bug spotting in the garden this afternoon. Our favourite finds were a grass hopper and a bee.

We live within walking distance of a country park, we spend days there, treasure hunting in the forest, playing football or rounders in the fields, or just lazing/swimming at the sandy beach and we take a picnic.

We like scavenger hunts with a modern twist. I give them a list and they have to photograph suitable objects like 'something red' or 'the letter Z'. We also visit different play areas, do science experiments, baking and a bit of art & craft

Spent day on beach with picnic and 2yo DD last week. Can't get over how active she was just pottering, collecting shells, paddling, castle making. Can't buy moments like these.

We went on a nature walk with the children's aunt who is a wildlife expert. She had professional recording equipment and helped the children to listen to the sounds around and what to record. They made a beautiful one of the sea lapping on pebbles and learned to identify a few coastal birds and plants. We then had a wonderful picnic with rice salad, bread and cheese followed by fruit and chocolate (I freeze water in bottles and chocolate so they are perfect by the time we are ready)

We live beside the beach so it costs us nothing to go paddling, building sandcastles or taking our lunch down on the sand! We go for walks into the countryside too - which is free and a great day out!

Going to the beach! The weather has been great mostly and they can spend hours playing with sand, shells and paddling!

We have a picnic in the garden everyday if the weather is good.

I truly find that in Summer even going out into my little garden is an out-of-body experience of joy!

It has to be the paddling pool days, when the weather forecast is for a hot sunny day, the blow up padding pool comes out of the shed, the hose pipe comes out and the fun begins.
After a good layer of factor 50 the fun begins.
I get the pop up tent out at half time and put out a picnic of peanut butter sandwiches and cut up apples, then 'mr octopus' the sprinkler makes his appearance for them to jump in and out of. I love these days, taking turns, playing togther, no arguing and two very tired children at bed time - with my fingers crossed for a sunny day for tomorrow - and the cost - zilch, nada, nothing xxx

We are lucky to have forests and beaches not too far away. We also have museums and art galleries which are free.

Stick some sandwiches, fruit and drinks in the picnic bag and off we go.

When they were younger we could make a whole day of it.

First dayof summer kids wanted to get out the swimming pool and have a B-B-Q in the back garden and invite all the family over I think this is my kids favourite thing to do in the summer cause we don't get to see the family much as they don't live by us anymore but it's great because it means they can have fun playing with there cousins and the adults get to relax and it doesn't cost me anything as everyone brings food and drink over so I don't even have to go and buy burgers or sausages as my family pick it all up on the way over so all I have to do is cook it.

A day in the garden tidying and planting - with a water fight at the end. It was great fun.

DD 16months seeing the swings at the park and screaming 'WEEEEEEEEE' over and over then cackling like a manic for 30 minutes on the swings before passing out in the buggy home for 2 hours! Great!

I was lucky enough to win an annual family Merlin Pass so my nephew & great niece had a great time for free

My daughter and I pack a picnic and walk through the woods (which are lovely) to by the river. There are more woods there with hidden gems such as an old bear pit and victorian fountains. It's such a lovely day out.

My two are hosting their own Olympics. So far they have made medals from tin foil, and a torch from cardboard. They will be racing up and down the back garden whilst I sit with my feet up and be the judge!

We went out after it had been raining and stood under all the trees and hedges shaking them so we got soaked. This made us all laugh ...we had a great time. We then made mud pies and laid them out to dry on the path.

Nothing beats a beach trip for us. Find a nice quiet spot on the beach and enjoy the day.