How to rock school holidays without breaking the bank!
School holidays are nearly done and with the end of the crazy two weeks comes the bittersweet taste of freedom and longing for your house full of little people 24/7 again!! There are very few things that satisfy in life as much as getting through a day (an enjoyable day at that) where you've spent good, quality time with your kids. Without distractions and trying to 'fit them' into our lives and around our schedules, but making them the main event and hanging out as though we have nothing in the world more important than just being with them.
As wonderful and fulfilling as that sounds, this is not a realistic scenario for everyday. We cannot simply ignore the washing piles mounting up around the house as we lie on the floor and build forts with our kids, more than a day or so. We cannot skip cooking and ditch the kitchen for building sandcastles on the beach every day (although how good would that be)! But we can, we must, make time to push pause on all the things we have filled our day with, just every now and then, and STOP(!!) and smell the roses. Just being in the moment without a million thoughts taking our attention from the little ones DYING to show us their new trick on the trampoline or climb all over us like a climbing frame.
This, was my goal these holidays. I for one sometimes fall in the trap of thinking along the lines of 'what can i do to entertain the kids these holidays'? Instead of planning my days and activities around how can I best connect with and spend time with my kids these holidays? This works well when you're on a budget too because the places that cost us (the movies, the indoor playgrounds etc) are the things that usually take 0 connection or involvement from us. So that was my challenge and man was it fun. Believe it or not, along with the part of us mums who wants to sit on the sidelines with a coffee and a good book is the inner child of you who gets quite a kick out of running around with the kids playing basketball or racing them on the beach. This takes humility, dying to the lazy mum inside us who more than often fights these great, impulsive ideas!
So what did our October, Spring holidays look like?
These holidays I donned a backpack. This may not seem worth mentioning but it changed the way I
went about our day. Usually I head out with my handbag and a few snacks inside for the kids (and myself). These holidays I packed a full on backpack with a change of clothes and full lunchboxes for each child. This meant that when I was headed out to wherever 'base' was that day, I could be flexible and spontaneous because we had everything we needed if we were out longer than planned or the kids got hungry, wet, muddy, or all three! After getting over that I looked like a mum who had gone tramping and lost her way, as I made my way through Takapuna Mall (because their were no carparks at the playground so we parked at the mall), I started to realise that having a plan was good and necessary but having time and nowhere to be was better! We stopped for the free lego party in the mall and the kids had a blast. It turns out that it was a God-send that we parked in the mall and got 'side-tracked' with the lego play because it poured with rain for 30 minutes solid. When we left to head to the playground the clouds had cleared and we continued with such a fun time at the park.
I HAVE to intercept myself here and give a plug for a gorgeous vintage sweet shop in Takapuna. Now I'm probably the last person in the world to visit it and everyone probably knows EXACTLY where it is. I just found us walking past it and stopped to admire the window...then we went inside...just to look...and ended up buying lollies!!! It is so lovely and 'olden-days' feeling with the old till and sweet jars. Even I was excited and I don't particularly like lollies! I initially told the kids we were just looking, anticipating outrageous prices but I was so pleasantly surprised that nearly every big lollypop and bag of lollies were $3 and under, I changed my mind and said they could each choose something. As a mum who reserves my kids rights to lollies for special occasions, they were in HEAVEN and a 1 minute look around, soon became a 30 minute choosing session as they carefully surveyed their choices. Needless to say, an unplanned detour became the highlight of all of our day!
The kids loved the Museum (for the 3rd time this year). I realised that they actually love it every time, just like we did as kids. Every.Single. Holidays. It's free and it's huge and filled with LOAD S of cool stuff and even better with friends! So we invites a bunch of cool people and it immediately changed the dynamic up a bit. Parking was a nightmare and it seems everyone had the same idea to head to the Museum that day. But again, with nowhere to be and no other plans, we were in no rush and it totally didn't make any difference that it took us so long to find a park or that it took us 3 hours to get through the whole Museum. With our very own entourage of mini-me's, a brave group of mums let the kids lead us through a day filled with history, adventure and lots of laughs along the way.
These holidays I also decided that we needed a few home projects. This gets the kids out of the
mentality that holidays are purely for their entertainment and that money grows on trees in endless supplies. These have involved cupboard sorts and a garden weeding afternoon. We have Jed's 3rd birthday party coming up so it has been a good incentive for us all to start tidying up the garden, which has been left to it's own devices for way too long over Winter. I always am amazed how keen the kids are to help with projects like that. They actually enjoy it and seeing the finished product! Plus there is something about dirt and digging in it that attracts kids somehow. Win-win for this mum who kept the kids busy for a few hours and scored a garden make-over in the process. (R.I.P weeds and the odd earthworm that Jed tried to 'rehome')
Another 'project' I enlisted the kids in is a Kids Market! My lovely, clever friend, Josie did this with her boys a while back with great reports! I loved the idea and thought it would be a great activity for my kids who love that type of thing. An email to the organiser later and we now have a spot secured and some very excited kids planning what they're going to sell and make for the market. It's proving to be a great exercise in planning and creativity. The actual experience will be fun and then afterwards they will have some money to practise spending, sowing and saving with money they actually earned which is pretty neat.
One of the highlights of my week was spontaneous adventure time, as a family.
Often times dad misses out on all the holiday fun because work carries on as usual. Gav came home from work one evening and suggested we take the kids out somewhere to make a memory. It took all of five minutes to pack a flask of hot milo and we told the kids to jump into the car with some blankets and jackets. They were hilarious trying to guess where we were going after all they had bathed and were ready for bed in their PJ's. Noah guessed Australia, he has high hopes! We took the kids to one of my favourite places, Devonport. What cost us $0 to pull off, created a memory the kids will have for a long time. Watching the sun set, huddled under blankets overlooking Auckland City. It was just a gorgeous moment that could have easily been traded in for bedtime. Who needs sleep anyways, right?
Here are my top favourite tips for not breaking the bank that I have found helpful these holidays;
1. Pack lunchboxes
I know it's tedious and not what we want to be doing during the holidays BUT it definitely saves money when you are out and about. I find almost my number one cost on day's out are the food purchases. After a coffee and a few fluffies (which are now turning into hot chocolates because of my older 2's age...) and some lunch later in the day, we can easily spend more than intended every day we go out.
The other biggie is coffee, unfortunately. This 'mum treat' can often end up costing quite a bit after a week of outings!One of my best investments was a decent flask. It is amazing how much money you save taking your own coffee with you! I'm all for good coffees but the experience is sometimes wasted on little kids being with you because you can hardly enjoy it when you're running around after them.
2. Find the bargains!
One of our 'treat' things is going to Mc Donalds in the holidays, especially as a rainy day outing. If we go there, I usually time it so that the kids have already eaten and they do a $1 hot chocolate which is a treat for them, they get a quick play and I have a coffee while we there too. Not the most glamorous outing but it's a coffee date with all three kids for under $7 which is pretty good.
The other great place we have stumbled accross is Bunnings Warehouse in Silverdale. They have a little play area (better suited to younger kids) and a really great value menu. Flufflies are all of 50c, coffee's are $2.50 and cabinet food and slices are around$3. It isn't the place I'd meet friends when the kids aren't around but it makes for a great, cheap outing where the kids feel spoilt! They also do free carpentry workshops if you go at the right time. Plus my lot quite enjoy looking at the plants (not quite sure why because we are terrible gardeners) so that is a lovely end to the outing.
Another place we go to if we are out Glenfield way is the Much Moore Ice-Cream Factory Shop on Archers Road in Glenfield. They do such cheap, nice ice-creams and the kids LOVE it (ok and I do too). If you go at specific times, kids cones are only 80c! Otherwise it's just over $1 for a kids cone and a little more for the adults.
3. Make a day out of a spot
One of our mistakes as parents is rushing. We (me included!) rush around, drive everywhere and things that would have once taken a whole afternoon to do, often take us a matter of minutes. One thing I tried to do this holiday is ditch the 'quick stop at the park' to park up and walk all around the area. We did that at Takapuna and discovered another, new park just opposite the mall that we wouldn't have found had we parked at the playground we intended to go to, and left when we were done. We also would have never found the sweet shop and what a shame that would have been!
I also did this at Mairangi Bay Park. We parked up at the beach before, went for a stroll along the beach pathway all the way to Mairangi Bay beach, walked to the park and home again. Usually a trip to Mairangi Bay park would last us 30 minutes, maybe 45. This particular beach adventure lasted a good 2 and a half hours and it was so wonderful getting home feeling sun kissed and having had a day of fresh, salty, sea air.
4. Make it the norm to go to free places
I love that my kids think the library and the Museum are a treat. For them a day out is wonderful and can be made a bit special by something along the way. Whether it be ice-creams or hot chocolates or just something a little extra when you're out and about.
Kids being active is always a winning scenario. Firstly, they're using up their endless energy, which is awesome! Secondly, they are busy so won't be fighting or nagging about anything because they're busy! Auckland has so many great spots for bike riding and scootering and you don't have to look far! Some of our favourites are Onepoto Domain (enroute home to the ice-cream factory shop which is handy), Normanton Reserve in Glenfield (which also has a track that loops around) and Greville Reserve which can work for a lot of things because there's a soccer field for the kids to play on right next door too.
A great idea that I only thought of after I had my second baby was frequenting school playgrounds
while they're deserted in the holidays. Maybe it was the fact that they're mostly fenced, which works well when you have a runner, like I had with Noah. Maybe it is because the playgrounds have tarmac that is great for riding trikes and bikes as well as a playground suited for littlies. But school playgrounds have always served us well and our use for them changes and transforms as the kids grow. I recently met up with a bunch of mums at one of our locals and it was such a great day!
There have been times when school holidays HAD to be a frugal exercise and then there are times now days when it's a good exercise to revisit. Not only to save money but to get back to the essence of quality time with your kids who you have for a good chunk of time whether you're excited about that or not. It's those memories, those relationship strengthening times that go a long way when school is back in full swing and life gets fuller and busier and harder. So often what's important gets drowned out by the noise of life and our purpose as mothers can get watered down. Raising and training our kids has to be built on a foundation of relationship. That relationship takes time and effort and being deliberate.
Happy last few days of holidays!! May they be sunny, fun and full of precious memories :)
As wonderful and fulfilling as that sounds, this is not a realistic scenario for everyday. We cannot simply ignore the washing piles mounting up around the house as we lie on the floor and build forts with our kids, more than a day or so. We cannot skip cooking and ditch the kitchen for building sandcastles on the beach every day (although how good would that be)! But we can, we must, make time to push pause on all the things we have filled our day with, just every now and then, and STOP(!!) and smell the roses. Just being in the moment without a million thoughts taking our attention from the little ones DYING to show us their new trick on the trampoline or climb all over us like a climbing frame.
This, was my goal these holidays. I for one sometimes fall in the trap of thinking along the lines of 'what can i do to entertain the kids these holidays'? Instead of planning my days and activities around how can I best connect with and spend time with my kids these holidays? This works well when you're on a budget too because the places that cost us (the movies, the indoor playgrounds etc) are the things that usually take 0 connection or involvement from us. So that was my challenge and man was it fun. Believe it or not, along with the part of us mums who wants to sit on the sidelines with a coffee and a good book is the inner child of you who gets quite a kick out of running around with the kids playing basketball or racing them on the beach. This takes humility, dying to the lazy mum inside us who more than often fights these great, impulsive ideas!
So what did our October, Spring holidays look like?
These holidays I donned a backpack. This may not seem worth mentioning but it changed the way I
I HAVE to intercept myself here and give a plug for a gorgeous vintage sweet shop in Takapuna. Now I'm probably the last person in the world to visit it and everyone probably knows EXACTLY where it is. I just found us walking past it and stopped to admire the window...then we went inside...just to look...and ended up buying lollies!!! It is so lovely and 'olden-days' feeling with the old till and sweet jars. Even I was excited and I don't particularly like lollies! I initially told the kids we were just looking, anticipating outrageous prices but I was so pleasantly surprised that nearly every big lollypop and bag of lollies were $3 and under, I changed my mind and said they could each choose something. As a mum who reserves my kids rights to lollies for special occasions, they were in HEAVEN and a 1 minute look around, soon became a 30 minute choosing session as they carefully surveyed their choices. Needless to say, an unplanned detour became the highlight of all of our day!
The kids loved the Museum (for the 3rd time this year). I realised that they actually love it every time, just like we did as kids. Every.Single. Holidays. It's free and it's huge and filled with LOAD S of cool stuff and even better with friends! So we invites a bunch of cool people and it immediately changed the dynamic up a bit. Parking was a nightmare and it seems everyone had the same idea to head to the Museum that day. But again, with nowhere to be and no other plans, we were in no rush and it totally didn't make any difference that it took us so long to find a park or that it took us 3 hours to get through the whole Museum. With our very own entourage of mini-me's, a brave group of mums let the kids lead us through a day filled with history, adventure and lots of laughs along the way.
These holidays I also decided that we needed a few home projects. This gets the kids out of the
 |
| Finished product! |
Another 'project' I enlisted the kids in is a Kids Market! My lovely, clever friend, Josie did this with her boys a while back with great reports! I loved the idea and thought it would be a great activity for my kids who love that type of thing. An email to the organiser later and we now have a spot secured and some very excited kids planning what they're going to sell and make for the market. It's proving to be a great exercise in planning and creativity. The actual experience will be fun and then afterwards they will have some money to practise spending, sowing and saving with money they actually earned which is pretty neat.
One of the highlights of my week was spontaneous adventure time, as a family.
Often times dad misses out on all the holiday fun because work carries on as usual. Gav came home from work one evening and suggested we take the kids out somewhere to make a memory. It took all of five minutes to pack a flask of hot milo and we told the kids to jump into the car with some blankets and jackets. They were hilarious trying to guess where we were going after all they had bathed and were ready for bed in their PJ's. Noah guessed Australia, he has high hopes! We took the kids to one of my favourite places, Devonport. What cost us $0 to pull off, created a memory the kids will have for a long time. Watching the sun set, huddled under blankets overlooking Auckland City. It was just a gorgeous moment that could have easily been traded in for bedtime. Who needs sleep anyways, right?
Here are my top favourite tips for not breaking the bank that I have found helpful these holidays;
1. Pack lunchboxes
I know it's tedious and not what we want to be doing during the holidays BUT it definitely saves money when you are out and about. I find almost my number one cost on day's out are the food purchases. After a coffee and a few fluffies (which are now turning into hot chocolates because of my older 2's age...) and some lunch later in the day, we can easily spend more than intended every day we go out.
The other biggie is coffee, unfortunately. This 'mum treat' can often end up costing quite a bit after a week of outings!One of my best investments was a decent flask. It is amazing how much money you save taking your own coffee with you! I'm all for good coffees but the experience is sometimes wasted on little kids being with you because you can hardly enjoy it when you're running around after them.
2. Find the bargains!
One of our 'treat' things is going to Mc Donalds in the holidays, especially as a rainy day outing. If we go there, I usually time it so that the kids have already eaten and they do a $1 hot chocolate which is a treat for them, they get a quick play and I have a coffee while we there too. Not the most glamorous outing but it's a coffee date with all three kids for under $7 which is pretty good.
The other great place we have stumbled accross is Bunnings Warehouse in Silverdale. They have a little play area (better suited to younger kids) and a really great value menu. Flufflies are all of 50c, coffee's are $2.50 and cabinet food and slices are around$3. It isn't the place I'd meet friends when the kids aren't around but it makes for a great, cheap outing where the kids feel spoilt! They also do free carpentry workshops if you go at the right time. Plus my lot quite enjoy looking at the plants (not quite sure why because we are terrible gardeners) so that is a lovely end to the outing.
Another place we go to if we are out Glenfield way is the Much Moore Ice-Cream Factory Shop on Archers Road in Glenfield. They do such cheap, nice ice-creams and the kids LOVE it (ok and I do too). If you go at specific times, kids cones are only 80c! Otherwise it's just over $1 for a kids cone and a little more for the adults.
3. Make a day out of a spot
One of our mistakes as parents is rushing. We (me included!) rush around, drive everywhere and things that would have once taken a whole afternoon to do, often take us a matter of minutes. One thing I tried to do this holiday is ditch the 'quick stop at the park' to park up and walk all around the area. We did that at Takapuna and discovered another, new park just opposite the mall that we wouldn't have found had we parked at the playground we intended to go to, and left when we were done. We also would have never found the sweet shop and what a shame that would have been!
I also did this at Mairangi Bay Park. We parked up at the beach before, went for a stroll along the beach pathway all the way to Mairangi Bay beach, walked to the park and home again. Usually a trip to Mairangi Bay park would last us 30 minutes, maybe 45. This particular beach adventure lasted a good 2 and a half hours and it was so wonderful getting home feeling sun kissed and having had a day of fresh, salty, sea air.
4. Make it the norm to go to free places
I love that my kids think the library and the Museum are a treat. For them a day out is wonderful and can be made a bit special by something along the way. Whether it be ice-creams or hot chocolates or just something a little extra when you're out and about.
Kids being active is always a winning scenario. Firstly, they're using up their endless energy, which is awesome! Secondly, they are busy so won't be fighting or nagging about anything because they're busy! Auckland has so many great spots for bike riding and scootering and you don't have to look far! Some of our favourites are Onepoto Domain (enroute home to the ice-cream factory shop which is handy), Normanton Reserve in Glenfield (which also has a track that loops around) and Greville Reserve which can work for a lot of things because there's a soccer field for the kids to play on right next door too.
A great idea that I only thought of after I had my second baby was frequenting school playgrounds
There have been times when school holidays HAD to be a frugal exercise and then there are times now days when it's a good exercise to revisit. Not only to save money but to get back to the essence of quality time with your kids who you have for a good chunk of time whether you're excited about that or not. It's those memories, those relationship strengthening times that go a long way when school is back in full swing and life gets fuller and busier and harder. So often what's important gets drowned out by the noise of life and our purpose as mothers can get watered down. Raising and training our kids has to be built on a foundation of relationship. That relationship takes time and effort and being deliberate.
Happy last few days of holidays!! May they be sunny, fun and full of precious memories :)
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