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After living through multiple months of cold weather and rain, sweet sweet summer has finally arrived in the Great Midwest!
The excitement of summer really starts to resonate in our community as the kids get out for summer break, all the summer day camps start-up and the tourist begins to arrive. This means that many families have the opportunity for more downtime, playtime and family time.
However, there are many families who still have to work full time and live on a budget at that. We are totally that family! Nonetheless, even with our time and budget restrictions, there is still a multitude of low-cost activities that we plan to enjoy this summer.
Below you will find our ultimate budget-friendly summer bucket list. We can not wait to incorporate all of these family-oriented and budget-friendly activities into our summertime lifestyle.
We invite you and your family to enjoy completing these Summertime activities. At the end of the season, we would love to hear more about your families favorite activity!
Ultimate Summer Bucket List
- Get Outside and Appreciate Nature – Spend a day adventuring out to your favorite hiking trail or try a new state park. We have a few local trails and state parks that have many different paths. Each time we go we take a new path and gain new experiences and memories. Also, check out your local Nature Centers and Botanical Gardens. Many tend to offer a free admission day here and there. Do not forget to pack the sunscreen and bug spray!
- Attend An Art Festival – There are many towns that offer free public art exhibits, shows or festivals that are free for anyone to admire. Our local art show even offers a kid’s craft tent on a donation basis. Are you interested in attending a local Art Fair? Check out this site that provides you a list of any upcoming art and craft fair practically anywhere in North America.
- Enjoy a Picnic At The Park – Grab a blanket and pack lunch for the whole family. You can visit your favorite park or try out a new park. This activity may seem simple but boy it sure makes a delightful impact on the kids!
- Take on a new Outdoor Recreational Activity – There are so many outdoor activities that can be enjoyed by the whole family. Our family loves to take evening bike rides around our town. Additionally, we live close to the beach and love a good game of beach volleyball or badminton. A new activity we hope to try this summer is Frisbee Golf. Do not let not knowing how to play properly get in the way of experiencing something new.
- Plant A Garden – Spend a day planting a flower garden, vegetable garden or even making a rock garden. Throughout the whole summer, you can spend a day or two tending to the garden as a family.
- Splash Around – The possibilities are endless when choosing to play in the water. Enjoy your time out in the sun tubing down a lazy river, setting up a sprinkler in your backyard or opting in for a beach day. In the midst of all the fun, do not forget to reapply your sunscreen throughout the day!
- Make Summertime Treats – It seems that summer brings many opportunities to enjoy time with family and friends. Along with holidays, there are graduations and birthday cookouts galore! These are some of our favorites to cool down on a hot day or make memories with others. They can be simple, low-cost and delicious to make!
- Attend a Baseball Game – Whether it’s high school, college, minors or major league the whole family can expect to have fun. There are many websites that you can purchase tickets from. Set up to receive alerts when ticket prices decrease to score them under your budget. Some stadiums will even allow you to bring in your own cooler and that in itself brings loads of savings!
- Watch Fireworks – There is just something great about ending Independence day with explosions! Whether you put on your own backyard show or visit your local towns Fireworks display, this low-cost or free activity can be enjoyed by the whole family.
- Visit A Farmer’s Market – This is a great way to find new favorites, network and support local businesses. You are bound to find something for everyone in the family to enjoy without breaking the budget. At the end of the day, you can go to the market and not spend a dime but gain a day of memories.
- Attend a Music Festival – There are ample opportunities to enjoy a music festival almost every weekend in the summer. Locally we have free concerts that are put on by local artists and our radio stations are always giving away free tickets to various concert venues. No matter the type of music you enjoy, we are certain you can find a low-cost or free music festival to attend with the family.
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- Visit a U-Pick Farm – We live in a farming community so every few miles we have a u-pick farm for blueberries, strawberries, apples, peaches, and cherries. Picking our own fruit has been educational and a great bonding experience for our family. Many times picking your own fruit or vegetables helps you save money in the long run while also supporting local farmers.
- Host a Budget-Friendly Summer Cookout – This is a great low-cost way to get everyone together and enjoy a meal together. There are many things you can do to help lower the cost and still invite everyone out. We love hosting and attending many cookouts throughout the summer. Over time we have found these six ways to help keep summer cookouts budget-friendly!
- Watch Summer Movies – We love movie nights and with nice weather, we have the opportunities to view movies outdoors.
- One of our favorite activities in the summer months is to visit our local drive-in theatres. This low-budget option typically has a flat fee under $20.00 per car. You can save your money and let the whole family get to experience two movie features.
- Additionally, we have many cities and businesses in our area that offer movies in the park for FREE! You just need to come in comfy clothes and bring blankets, chairs, and pillows. This is also one great way to set up your own backyard movie theatre.
- We have heard of some theatres offering free matinee family movies. In our area, a Children’s Film Festival takes place at local theatres that allow you to attend a special feature for free. However, this is not held during the summer months. This doesn’t mean that your local theatre isn’t hosting free movies this summer. Definitely take a moment to check out the websites of your local theatres to find out what they have to offer.
- Make Summertime Crafts – During the summer months, we love making various outdoor crafts especially on rainy days. Also, we love taking our craft-making skills outdoors on sunny days. Thanks to Pinterest, there are so many ideas available to keep yourself and the kids busy during the rainy and sunny days. We are sharing some of our favorite, budget-friendly crafts designed to make with the whole family with a summer twist.
- Read Summer Themed Books – Incorporating story time into your daily routine can bring many benefits into your life. It is a low-cost activity, it promotes academic achievement, sparks creativity, and imagination and creates bonding memories. Since school is out for summer, we want to stay up on our summer reading. The plans to use storytime during quiet time and bedtime each day. We like to find books being read-aloud on Youtube to help change things up. Especially after we have read most of the books on our shelves and the Library is quite open at bedtime. Below are some of our favorites to listen to during this summer season!
- Enjoy Summer’s Nighttime – My fondest memories of childhood were the nights filled with watching sunsets, catching fireflies and stargazing. We would sit around the fire, camp out in the backyard and play flashlight tag. Even though, these summers were truly simple in nature but left magical impressions on how I view life. Every summer my hope is to give my daughters similar experiences.
Does your family have a summer bucket list? Is your budget limiting your summer activities? What is one thing that you are looking most forward to this Summer? Share your answers below!
