Jen Coburn takes on pizzerias, the great outdoors and Taylor Swift in an effort to keep the kids entertained at half-term without breaking the bank
"What, half-term already? But they've only just gone back to school!"
It's the same every time, and as I'm never organised enough to have booked a trip or holiday I inevitably find myself scrambling around for things to do with the kids.
This lack of planning can prove costly. Last half-term I calculated that I spent a staggering £380 on outings and activities to keep the little ones occupied. So, I challenged myself to come up with some decidedly cheaper alternatives – and the results were surprisingly successful!
Here are my top tips for a DIY half-term:
Let’s Dance!
Last half-term, I enrolled my two children in a street-dance workshop, but from what I could tell, it mainly involved kids jumping around to Taylor Swift.
I've been doing a weekly Zumba class long enough to have learned a lot of routines by heart, and I figured this would be enough training to run my own dance class!
So one day I pushed all the heavy furniture to the side of the room – le voila, a dance studio! Then I set the iPod speakers to full volume and lead my 5 year-old and two of her friends through my favourite Zumba routines.
I felt (and no doubt looked) like an idiot but the good thing about 5 year-olds is that they’re not overly critical – they don’t know grapevine from grape juice so you can pretty much just make up dance moves.
Jumping around to pop tunes proved surprisingly good fun, not to mention great exercise – we really worked up a sweat.
Money saved: £64 (£32 per child)
La Casa Pizzeria
A visit to Pizza Express has become an almost standard part of every half-term – but a few weeks ago I got the kids to create their very own pizza restaurant.
I made pizza bases with just flour, yeast, and water (and a bit of olive oil - there are recipes everywhere online), and set out a smorgasbord of toppings. Then, I set them loose!
The kids had a blast, and came up with some very interesting creations – who knew that Nutella pizza would actually be edible?
The only thing to watch out for is that children tend to go overboard with their toppings, as they've yet to grasp the concept that less is more.
You may want to make a few surreptitious ‘adjustments’ to their proud creations before you put them in the oven, or you might end up with an undercooked, inedible mess!
Money saved: £58 (for a family of 4)
Wilderness Adventure
My kids love the great outdoors, but at £42 per child, wilderness adventures aren't cheap!
Unfortunately, trying to replicate what happens at forest school is a bit tricky for someone like me, as I hate the outdoors! I hate fields, mud, and bugs – and I’m not wild about plants, grass or trees either. The only way I enjoy nature is by looking at it from inside a warm room, cup of tea in hand.
So just how could I replicate the joys of forest school, while eliminating all the actual elements of the forest? I decided to do a scavenger hunt around our local neighbourhood.
The children had to answer questions (with a nature theme – my feeble concession to learning about wildlife) and each correct answer would unveil a clue.
The children and I raced between clues hidden under rocks, tied to trees, and stuck to gates, all within a half-mile of our house, until we recovered the treasure – left with a friendly neighbour who I knew would be home.
Luckily we live in a relatively quiet, very family-friendly bit of Southwest London so planting clues was easy. I’m not sure the scavenger hunt would have worked as well if I we had done it in a more urban, busier part of town. Still, the children absolutely loved it, and have been begging for another one – so you might well catch us racing around for clues on a street near you!
Money saved: £84 (£42 per child)
