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Tuesday, September 30, 2008
How much will you spend on family entertainment?
What activities give you most bang for your buck?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In this tight economy, how much money are you willing to spend for a night of family fun? What activities have you been choosing and are you pleased with the cost to fun ratio? (I’m sure that’s the official economic term!)
Our family of five has done a couple of different activities over the last few weeks. This is how the cost broke down for us. (Prices are pretty exact. I’ll note where I’m not completely sure.)
High school football game —$43 total. $28 for admission for four. They didn’t charge us for the baby. $5 for the program. (We were accosted so many times we finally gave in.) Around $10 on two drinks and some candy.
Fair — $82 total. $12 to get in, but then $50 for 60 tickets for the rides. (We had a few too many tickets.) $5 on a pony ride. $1 for the 4-H petting zoo. (Their favorite thing of all!) $14 on two funnel cakes. (They were good but clearly not worth $14.)
Church dinner/dance —$30 total. This was by far the best deal we’ve gotten in the lat few weeks. It was $30 for a nice sit-down dinner and dancing for the parents. That price also included babysitting and pizza for all the kids. The kids had a great time doing crafts, playing on the playground and spray painting each other’s hair. (The baby was in the nursery area also having fun. No spray paint in there.) The church dinner/dance was a lot of fun and a great value.
What activities are you enjoying with your family? What are your favorite free/or close to free activities?
On a side note: A lot of families do pizza and movie nights. I called to order pizza last weekend and the chain didn’t have a deal for the two pizzas I wanted. They wanted $27 plus a delivery fee and tip for two large pan pizzas (one with cheese, one with pepperoni). I told them to keep them, and I threw in two frozen pizzas. We have also gotten a very tasty fresh pizza dough from the Publix bakery. It freezes nicely and the kids had a big time rolling it out. Plus, it was a heck of a lot cheaper than delivery pizza.
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What’s the worst property damage your child has caused?
Ruined carpet, marked up walls, smashed windows -- what’s the worst damage your little angel has caused (even if it was on ‘accident’)?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A while back I noticed a question on the ajcpets that asked “what is the worst damage your pet has ever caused?” I was struck by how easily this question translated to children.
So I ask today: What is the worst damage your little angel has done to your home or vehicle — on accident or on purpose?
I will start the ball rolling with part of my list:
In our last house, we had about a billion pen and pencil marks on the walls. When we tried to clean it, the cheap paint the builder used rubbed off so then the spots looked even worse.
In our new house, my oldest daughter was doing a “chemistry” experiment in my bedroom one afternoon while I was downstairs with the other two children. She was using those plunger-like medicine dispensers to shoot and measure shampoo that had brown hair dye in it. It ended up all over my beige carpet and she didn’t bother to alert me so I could try to clean it. The carpet is completely stained and will not come out.
The two oldest kids like to watch TV in our bedroom. They had been essentially swinging on the bed post while they were watching the TV and have stripped the screw. Now the bed post flops around. The bed is less than a year old. (On the plus side, we can now remove the post when we’re watching TV in bed and the left-side of the bed has a much better view.)
So don’t hold back, tell all the ways your kids have damaged your personal property.
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