Planning Family Activities for the Year Ahead
by Paul Farrer

Visiting the zoo

Planning the year ahead for your family and their entertainment can help to prevent boredom for the family and it means that you can plan your finances accordingly anywhere up to a year in advance so that you're always doing something different, exciting, fun or interesting.

First step is to buy a calendar. On this calendar, you can put the following ideas spaced out accordingly and you'll never have the kids complain about being bored. If you're single, it still works the same way.

Concerts and Theatre Tickets - Ticket sellers usually have online facilities where you can pay for a membership and in return receive:

Zoo - Zoo memberships are a wonderful idea for every family. For the one yearly price, they can give you a lot more than just cheaper visits to the zoo. They can include such things as:

Museum - Dinosaur bones are incredibly interesting, but you'll find that museums have a lot more to offer families than that. A yearly membership with the museum can get you:

Don't forget that there are a range of museums based on particular themes such as history, flight, technology and science, maritime - all very interesting with things that the kids can enjoy and most have discount memberships available.

Theme Parks - Insurance companies and the like often have programs where you can receive member discounts to many tourist attractions and theme parks. Some parks have their own membership program where you can pay for a yearly membership. These can save you a lot of money and gain you such things as:

Movie discount vouchers - Movie Theatres or cinemas have not gone out of fashion and these days the box office has experience a revamp with more leg room, reclining seats and A grade quality surroundings should you want it.

A book of discount voucher movie tickets ensures that you are not out of pocket when a brand new fabulous movie comes out. You can purchase a book of vouchers that can gain you of course a discount on movies, but in some cases it will also gain you:

Each week many movie theatres offer a session for Mums and Bubs where you can go and relax watching a movie along with other mums. It is often discounted too. You can also purchase family weekend pass from some cinemas where for about 1/3 of the usual cost, 2 adults and 2 children or 1 adult and 3 children can watch any G or PG rated film that is screened during the day on a Saturday or Sunday.

Club Memberships - Check out the local community clubs in your area and what they provide for families. They can supply many things such as cinema movies, fun and game rooms, special events, shows, parties and other enjoyable things for families.

Local Council or Government - Many Local Governments cater to their community with free programs and discounted holiday activities for the children. Many community parties and celebrations are organised with entertainment, face painting, food and drink, rides and activities, prices and gifts and much more.

Business and Church Events - Basically the same as the local government events, church and business groups often hold events for their workers or community members mostly with free or high discounts to help the needy families and others in the community have an enjoyable family day out.

Plan for the season ahead - Plan activities according to the season - You know when each season begins and planning ahead can help to avoid many a bored child or frustrated parent. Check out games that the family can play together. It's been proven that families that play board games together have a closer and more loving relationship then they did beforehand. It's an inexpensive, one-off investment that lasts for years and is readily available when you want it. You could even begin a series of challenges with close friends and have theme nights - lots of fun.

Planning ahead for activities that you need to save for is a good idea too. Grab your calendar and put expensive activities that the family love to do in spaced out slots. Inter-mingling these weekends with cheap, but healthy activities such as backyard cookouts and picnics, ball games, kite making and flying or hikes will keep the family happy and active and save you money.

Some weeks you're happy to rest at home and so are the family so prepare for these weekends whenever the sales are on by purchasing hobby-type activities that you can enjoy such as painting, plaster-casting or cold-candle making. They are fun and the kids love the variety.

In the cooler months, it's great to take advantage of the indoor activities and hobbies that have already been suggested, but if you live in a location where you are snowed in for periods at a time, such activities can run out quickly.

If you like to keep fit during the winter months and don't have enough money for an indoor gymnasium, plan ahead by having some simple alternatives on hand such as boxing gloves and focus mitts so you can have a sparring session with a fellow house-member. It will help to ease cabin-fever and help to keep you fit. Skipping rope is excellent cardio activity and can be done in the garage or a room with plenty of space - otherwise use items from around the home such as books or hand weights with regular callisthenics to keep in shape and keep your brain sharp.

Another alternative to consider for your personal time is learning something new. There are plenty of courses available via correspondence and the internet if you live somewhere that gets snowed in. For other locations, local schools and colleges have holiday courses available. Sometimes you'll find craft clubs and other fun groups of people to get involved with to help relax and repel boredom. Check out what's available so that you can fit the time into your yearly schedule.

So planning ahead will help prevent boredom and save you money - a great combination!

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