Tri-Moms: Summer Fun on a Budget

I'm excited about joining Kristin @ Bits and Pieces From My Life as a Tri-Mom!

Kristin and I are looking for another mom to join us in our blogging triangle. If you are interested in writing for Tri-Moms, send Kristin an e-mail @ two.pogs@gmail.com and she'll send along our brief application for you to fill out.

Today the Tri-Moms are discussing Summer Fun on a Budget. Please chime in with your thoughts and ideas in the comments section.

With my husband, Tim, working long hours and with me being very pregnant with our fourth baby in 5 years, most of our summer fun this year revolves around being at home.

Our kids love to be outside so much of our summer fun happens in the great outdoors, mainly our small yard.

One of the best inexpensive ways we've found to entertain small children during the summer is some type of water toy. For our family we decided that a sprinkler would be better than a kiddie pool at this stage.

The thought of getting all three kids into bathing suits and then making sure that no one tries to drown all while keeping them from being too rough with the pool didn't sound like too much fun for me.

With a sprinkler we can simply run through in our normal play clothes then drip dry in the sun or change if we decide to get really soaked. Also, I don't have to worry about as many potential accidents.

This is what has worked for us so far, although I'm sure with our most recent move to a townhome with no yard we will be revisiting this decision soon.

My parents purchased a oscillating garden sprinkler (similar to these ones) for our kiddos last summer and we have had numerous hours of enjoyment from this less than $20 purchase. Even after the plastic housing was cracked by a poorly placed jump, the sprinkler still works fine. 

I think our next sprinkler will be a homemade PVC pipe one like this.

photo credit: HomeSpun Threads

To go along with our sprinkler, we added these homemade Sponge Bombs to our outdoor play this summer. They can be used very much like water balloons, but you don't have to worry about filling them up or picking up all the pieces of broken balloons that will inevitably be littered around your yard after a water balloon fight.

Our kids love these sponge bombs and ask for them almost every time we go outside! They've also been a big hit with many of the other children (both younger and older) that live near us.

Our final tip for summer fun on a budget would have to be one of our latest DIY projects, Homemade Cooling Necklaces. These make any outdoor time more fun by helping to keep our family a little cooler in the scorching summer heat.

photo credit

So, what tips do you have for Summer Fun on a Budget? We'd love to hear your suggestions, so please leave your comments below.

Be sure to hop over to Kristin's blog, too, to read what she has to say about inexpensive summer fun.   

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Up next: August 16

  Clothing a Bunch

How do you get the most bang for your buck when clothing your family?

Do you purchase clothing at end of the season clearance sales, thrifts stores or yard sales?

How do you store clothing that is passed down from one child to the next?

Please consider linking up!

Coming Soon:

September 6: Lesson Planning/Organizing the School Year

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