Today I opened a discussion on Facebook about the expense of school holidays and some of the activities that add up quickly.  Here is a list of activities that our members have been doing these holidays.  Although some may not be local to you, there are plenty of good ideas to assist in grasping the creativity to enjoy the school holidays without getting too stressed and overspending.  With a little planning and a touch of creativity, school holidays do not have to be expensive.

Here is a list of all the activities our families have been doing which will give you a rough idea of expenditure required for each activity.  ENJOY!

• $120 [6 kids - $20pp] Ten Pin Bowling at one of the Oz Tenpin Centres, for 6 children including 2 games & lunch (hot dog & fries, or nuggets & fries) it cost  $120 for 2 - 3 hours entertainment.
• FREE PJ day at home, lots of Wii ‘Just Dance’ and board games
• $25 PLUS $7.50pp Queensland Air Museum OPEN Cockpit Day & Caloundra Central Cinemas
• $22 Family Ticket at your local indoor heated pool (check your local pool for prices)
• $100 [for 4 people]  to go to the movies (cheaper alternative - each of the kids can choose a new DVD for $10 each)
• $2 if you have one locally go to the an All Abilities Adventure Playground (sometimes gold coin donation entry), cook up a bag of popcorn for $1 for snack and the day has cost just $2!
• FREE get each of the kids a TOY CATALOGUE from one of the big toy stores and they can cut & paste into their scrapbooks or on recycled paper from old school books.  Will keep them occupied for hours even if it is indulging them with their ‘wants’ (they can dream can’t they!)
• PICNIC LUNCH Museum of Brisbane & Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art [GoMA]
• $59.95  KidPix Deluxe 3D for MAC available at the Apple store keeps the kids occupied for hours on the laptop making movies and pulling lots of funny faces!
• $20 Village Cinemas Coburg Drive-In is offering $20 per carload every Monday night! (Check out your local drive in for some cool deals!)
• FREE  Locals within the shires of Townsville, Charter Towers, Burdekin, & Hinchinbrook enjoy FREE entry at the Museum of Tropical Queensland , then head on down to one of the playgrounds in the shire.
• $6 [$1 pp] Pilot’s Cottage Museum, Kiama
• FREE City Circle Tram
• $15 per family PCYC [Police Citizens Youth Club] NSW , QLD , WA , TAS , NT , ACT , SA ,VIC
• Kids FREE, Adults $8 Immigration Museum School Holiday Program July 2011
• Kids FREE, Adults $8 Melbourne Museum
• FREE State Library of Victoria

 The great outdoors

• camping
• bushwalking
• parks
• playgrounds
• beaches
• bike riding

Handy items to have on hand in an emergency to entertain

• craft stuff (don’t have to purchase, just save stuff around the house)
• science kits
• DVDs
• jigsaw puzzles
• chalk (for outside drawing) & liquid chalk (for drawing on windows)
• dress-ups (kids can practice for a concert that takes all day, then it’s only a short time the parents endure the ‘performance’)
• playdough

Family Value Article: Keeping the children entertained on school holidays without sending you broke!

Do you have any other ideas?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 6th, 2011 at 11:42 pm and is filed under NSW, Large Families, QLD, July Holidays 2011 - VIC, VIC, Melbourne, Entertainment, Outdoor Play, Blog & Website Links, Family Value, Freebies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.