Staycation ideas cheap

[DisneyNutMic]

We were planning a trip to the beach in about 2 weeks but we moved and that totally blew my vacation budget. So we cancelled our reservations and my son and I will be staying in our new home for a week. We do have a pool so we can do that. We also have a membership to the local Science Center. Are there any other ideas for something inexpensive to do?

 

[DebMcDonald]

In our area we have something called Free Friday's and a different museum, park, Zoo., etc will open their doors on Friday's for free - not sure if you have this in your area too.

 

[mjkacmom]

Where do you live?

 

[npmommie]

We were planning a trip to the beach in about 2 weeks but we moved and that totally blew my vacation budget. So we cancelled our reservations and my son and I will be staying in our new home for a week. We do have a pool so we can do that. We also have a membership to the local Science Center. Are there any other ideas for something inexpensive to do?

I would check out some of the reciprocal science centers with your membership.
we belong to one that is a member of astc.
how about local parks, etc.........we like to explore new swimming spots, parks, etc........
is there any beach close enough to just day trip to? you can pack a lunch to save cash.
check the library for free passes to any other attractions you might want to check out.
and yes that free friday program is great.

 

[DisneyNutMic]

We are in Western NC. No beaches close to us. We do have other centers available to us through our Science Center membership. That's a good idea. Keep them coming.

 

[java]

Staycation to us means EAT OUT! We will go out for ice cream every night. All my food rules go out the window. You want frosted flakes for breakfast you got it. Ice cream and waffles- sure.

A picnic says vacation to my kids so we'll do that.
Do SOMETHING every day. Even a trip to the library can count- check out the library and see if anything special is going on the week of your staycation. Ours always has someone special coming in. Mr. Science is my children's favorite.

Are you near any of this?
http://www.westernncattractions.com/Parks.htm

My kids love hiking- a day of hiking and a picnic is a good day for us.

Happy staycation!

 

[Bren's Mom]

http://kaboom.org/

Use this search engine to find nearby playgrounds that you might not have been aware of previously.

Check out your local town's recreation department website/office. They might have arts and crafts during the day, or a free day camp like program...perhaps day trips.

 

[MissAndrea]

We just did a staycation last week! We've lived in KC for 4 1/2 years but getting ready to move to Branson, so we decided to do some touristy things here that we'd never done. I got online and started looking for free/cheap things to do. I had a few friends that had mentioned some things over the last year that we'd never gotten around to doing. We had a great time!!! Picnic is a must, like others said- check out museums or events at the library. Are there any corporate/manufacturing plants that you can tour? We also did our first Disney family movie night. Our movie was Lilo and Stitch, we did a whole luau theme by getting some cheap stuff at the dollar tree. We all cooked together, ate dinner, then watched the movie. It was a great time! Can't wait to do it again! If you haven't seen the thread on these, go to the Disney for Families section. They have some great ideas!

 

[thebeesknees]

Check your local library for passes to other attractions. Ours has what they call "Culture Passes" that allow us free access to several different museums, the science center, butterfly pavilion, zoo, etc. Also, our library offers free craft classes for the kids once a week. Michael's craft stores offer classes, as well. We have free concerts on the town green once a week, so we pack a picnic and enjoy an evening of music. If the kids get bored with the concert, there is a playground nearby, so we hike over there and let them burn off some energy. Camp out in your backyard one night and do s'mores on the grill. Give the kids a magnifying glass and see how many different kinds of bugs/leaves/plants they can find in the yard at your new house. Do miniature golf or go see a movie together. Plan a meal where you go to one restaurant and get appetizers, another restaurant for the entree and a third for dessert. Or plan a theme night and watch a movie (say, Mulan) and order Chinese takeout. Open your cookbook and pick a recipe no one has ever tried; shop for and make the recipe together, then rate it like those fancy restaurant review people do. Tie-dye T-shirts! We have a local bounce place that has about 20 different bounce structures that my kids LOVE to go to on really hot days (it's indoors). They have at it for a couple of hours and then come home and crash all afternoon and I get some quiet time.

 

[Dizneydaz]

Many movie theaters offer free movies, once or twice a week, during summer.

Regal (Edwards )offers them @ 10:30 on Tues and Wed. Krikorian also offers them at twice a day on Tuesdays (our local one just closed last week)

Check out the theaters near you and see if they offer something similar. The movies aren't first run (most are currently out on DVD) but it's still a nice idea.

For Regal I couldn't find it on their website so I searched Regal and free summer movies and it came up.

Also, Brunswick is offering one free game, per day, for kid's. Check out their website for info (this is a much better deal if you already have kid's bowling shoes.)

I just checked brunswickbowling.com and they have daily specials as well. One interesting one is $1 Mondays. Games/hotdogs/small sodas are $1 after 9 p.m. How fun to go bowling late at night. They also offer cheaper bowling on certain days, like Sunday a.m.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

I happen to be one of the lucky ones do their staycations at Disney & Universal. I live just under 3 hours from Disney & just 3 hours from Universal.. so they are & have been my staycations before that term ever even existed....

 

[mercydisney]

I happen to be one of the lucky ones do their staycations at Disney & Universal. I live just under 3 hours from Disney & just 3 hours from Universal.. so they are & have been my staycations before that term ever even existed....

We are alos lucky to live 1hr from Disney and 1hr 15 min. from Universal. We have Seaworld passes so are staycation this yr is BG and Seaworld.

 

[Duckiedee]

Tent it overnight in the backyard. If you are allowed to have a fire of some sort - make s'mores, roast hotdogs etc.

 

[taylorcpa]

Not sure where you are in western NC (I live in Hickory) but you can drive to the Blue Ridge parkway, pack a picnic lunch, and take a hike. If you go to Price's lake you can rent a canoe and go out on the lake. What about whitewater rafting (not free but would be a special trip)?

 

[counselormom]

We had a "staycation" a few weeks ago and I planned all sorts of theme
days "Luau Day" , "Camping" we went to movies, waterpark etc. But at the end of the week when I ask my kids (11 & 7) what their favorite day was they both said "Pajama Day"!! DH,the Kids and Myself stayed in our Jammies all day, after having a big breakfast, I sat out snack (pizza, cheese dip, chips, fruit plate etc.) and everyone just snacked all day. I cleared a big spot in the living room and layed out lots of blankets and pillows We played board games, sang on our Wii kareoke(sp?), and just layed around and relaxed. In the evening we ate Pizza and Popcorn and watched movies until late and then all fell asleep.
Cheap, Easy and I got to relax too!

 

[DisneyNutMic]

I was talking to him last tonight about our plans. My finance has to work part of the week so he won't be with us the whole time. We just moved (last weekend) to a new condo and have a pool. My son's reply was, "I want to spend one whole day in the pool. We can have lunch at the snack stand and swim until dinner."

taylorcpa, I'm in Caldwell Co. In fact I work in Newton so we are neighbors.

 

[tinkarooni]

We did this a couple of weeks ago. We went to the movies, mid week matinee, splurged on popcorn and slushies..... We went to the local waterpark with the season passes we asked Gramdma to give us for Christmas. We packed our lunch and bought hot greasy french fries to go with it. We stayed up late and caught fire flies and than slept in late until we felt like getting up. Baked cookies and rice krispie treats, grocery shopped for dinner that night where everyone had a couple of dollars and was responsible for a different course, made for a crazy international meal. Watched a different Netflix movie every other day and caught up on some of our family favorites. Bought the kids expensive tennis rackets (about $12.00 each) and took their new rackets, our old rackets and a can of balls out to the local courts in the cool of the evening. We laughed and laughed....none of us are very good but we sure tried.

We camped out in the backyard and cooked pancakes, eggs, bacon, the whole shebang over our fire pit. The kids talked about it for days....imagine, cooking pancakes outside. The very thrill of it....... Have a great Staycation. It will be what you make it.

 

[taylorcpa]

I was talking to him last tonight about our plans. My finance has to work part of the week so he won't be with us the whole time. We just moved (last weekend) to a new condo and have a pool. My son's reply was, "I want to spend one whole day in the pool. We can have lunch at the snack stand and swim until dinner."

taylorcpa, I'm in Caldwell Co. In fact I work in Newton so we are neighbors.

It really is a small world!!

Sounds like your son is easy to please!!!

 

[DisneyNutMic]

I'm very lucky when it comes to my son. He is a home body. Now given the choice between Carowinds and Disney and well, I can't even go there. Let's just say he prefers the local rides.

It is a small world. I met someone on here the other day from Hudson too.