Hello Mommies and Daddies. Thank you for reading with me today! As I was reflecting on the events of my family’s Halloween weekend, I decided that I wanted to share them with you as a demonstration of how you can have good family fun on a budget.
Halloween is such a special time for children. There is so much fun to be had, whether it be simply dressing up in costume, going trick-or-treating or taking part in local fall festivals. It is the kick-off to the holiday season!
Our Halloween weekend’s events
This year, our family planned a busy Halloween weekend. It kicked off on Friday night with a Bootopia event at a local community park. It was a huge event with candy and popcorn; bounce houses for the kids to play on; and fun to be had for every age group. Tickets for each person were $3. (Admission for children under 3 was free.)
On Saturday morning, a friend of ours invited us to a fall festival that her church was putting on. They generously opened up the festival to all members of the community free of charge. Her church did this as an outreach program for the kids in the community. Again, there were bounce houses, pumpkin-decorating stations, face painting and, again, fun to be had for the entire family.
By the time Saturday night came around, we were exhausted. We rented some Halloween-themed movies from our local library, again free-of-charge (after paying property taxes of course!) and enjoyed some fresh-popped popcorn.
The weekend was topped off on Sunday with us hosting a casual dinner for some friends at our home followed by, of course, trick-or-treating.
Take time to develop special memories!
I wanted to share the events of our Halloween weekend with you for a couple of reasons. First, I wanted to encourage you to take time out of your busy, day-to-day schedules to make these special memories for you and your children. Special events only come around so often. Remember to take the time to enjoy them! There will always be work that you can get caught up on. There will always be rugs that need to be vacuumed or floors that need mopping. There will always be an area of your house that you feel needs home improvement. But make sure to prioritize what is really important!
Your children are only young once and will only be with you for a short period of time before they move on. People used to tell me this when my children were babies. Now my oldest is 10 and my youngest is 5. I see them growing so old before my eyes. Take advantage of this time. Take advantage of every minute! Even if the yard is a mess and your hair doesn’t look exactly how you’d like, enjoy the here and now. It is a gift.
Family fun can be had on a budget
The second reason I wanted to write this post is to encourage you, as parents, to check out local community events that your family can attend. Raising children is expensive! But don’t let that stop you from providing great memories for your children. There are a ton of community-sponsored activities out there that will help you and your family enjoy special times without breaking your budget. Make sure to check out your local park system, your local library, local churches or other community associations. These groups often hold either free-to-attend or very reasonably priced events for you and your family to enjoy.
Thank you for reading with me today. I know you and your children will look back with joy on the memories you created! Please enter your email address below to subscribe to my blog, which will allow my future posts to come directly to your inbox. Write to me at dr.pamela@happyhealthychildren.org with any topics you would like to see me cover in the future. And please share my Gettr account, Facebook page, YouTube videos and Instagram with your friends and family. My goal is to help parents raise happy, healthy children!
