The biggest shopping day of the year is about to happen in a few weeks. I’m pretty sure it now rivals and perhaps beats out Boxing Day sales in Canada. Black Friday can be a fantastic time to score great deals on Christmas gifts. It can especially be a great time to shop if you know a few tips and tricks to make your shopping successful.
Here are 9 useful Black Friday shopping tips:
Bookmark my giant Black Friday post
Coming up next week, I will have my annual list (it’s giant!) of Canadian Black Friday deals. Simply peruse the list to find the stores that interest you, click the links, then start shopping from the comfort of your own home!
Buy discounted cards for the stores you will be shopping at.
Go shopping with discounted gift cards instead of cash to save yourself some moolah! There are many stores like Real Canadian Superstore/Loblaws, Rexall and Shoppers Drug Mart that offer discounts on gift cards for stores such as Old Navy and Gap during their weekly sales. You might also want to take a look at CardSwap.ca for discounted gift cards.
Ditch the big shopping cart if you’re shopping in-store.
Just don’t even think about getting one of those large cumbersome shopping carts if you plan on shopping in-store. Grab a basket or bring a large reusable shopping bag (IKEA bag anyone?) to avoid collisions or getting stuck in an aisle when you just want to get in and out of the store as quickly as possible.
Make your shopping list in order of importance.
Is Santa promising to bring a Lego set this year? You better put that first on your shopping list! By making your shopping list in order of importance, you’re really helping yourself to not forget that all important gift.
Sign up for emails for the stores you will be shopping at.
Whether you’re shopping in-store or online it can be extremely valuable to sign up for the email list of the stores you will be shopping at. Almost certainly, they will include coupon codes or coupons you can print/show on your phone for an extra discount. Often times email subscribers can also start shopping the sales earlier online.
Shop online.
The same sales are typically available online too, save for the extreme doorbusters. Save yourself some time and energy by shopping from the comfort of your own home. (This is my preferred method ;))
Join loyalty programs
Might as well join the loyalty programs for the stores you will be shopping at if you haven’t already! Collect points that can translate into free items or even extend certain perks. (I’m thinking the TJX card from Winners.)
Shop online at Amazon.
Because I’m such a fan of online shopping, I usually check Amazonfirst. Black Friday will be no different because I find that they usually have some great one day deals. Another Amazon tip: Use Honeyto track Amazon prices so you can see how today’s Amazon price compares to the last 30 days. You can even use the Droplist feature which allows you to save items you’re interested in and once Honeydetects a lower price, they’ll let you know.
Set a budget and stick to it.
You’re really not getting any deals per say, if you put yourself into debt trying to get the latest and greatest thing. If you’ve created a shopping list, it should be easy to stay within budget because you have an idea of the price of each item. Don’t ruin your holidays worrying about debt! There’s rarely any deal that is worth that amount of stress.
Do you shop on Black Friday? I’d love to hear your Black Friday Shopping tips in the comments below.
Simple ways to celebrate the holidays on a tight budget
For some of us, the holidays always seem to land during a time where everything else hits. This means a tight budget during the holidays is a common issue that most of us will face at some point in our lives. If you find yourself with a tight budget this holiday season don’t let it ruin your fun.
This year, learn how to rock the holidays on a tight budget with these simple but meaningful ideas.
Focus on Meaning
Focus on the meaning of the holidays instead of the frills and trappings. The holidays are about friends and family so focus more on making memories than having a fancy holiday. Make homemade decorations, bake cookies, and spend quality time with the people you love.
Create new traditions
It’s the perfect time to create new traditions that your family will remember for years to come! Here are some ideas that you may enjoy or get you brainstorming:
Go on a Christmas tree hunt: Growing up, my favourite tradition was going into the forest (with our free permit to cut a tree) and searching for the most perfect tree to decorate.
Decorate on December 1st: Another thing we would do is wait until December 1st to decorate the house. December 1st also meant we could crank the Christmas carols!
Make homemade Christmas cards: This would be a super fun afternoon activity for the whole family!
Give to the less fortunate: I know locally, there are several businesses that set up bins to collect toys. Perhaps, you could find something similar and team up with a few friends to help take the focus off of yourself.
Decorate a Gingerbread house: This is always a fun activity for the kids! Or decorating sugar cookies is also fun!
Write letters to Santa: Sit down with the kids and write letters to Santa! Don’t forget to send them off! In Canada, you can send your letters to:Santa Claus North Pole HOH OHO Canada
Read a Christmas book every day in December: Head to your library and pick up a big stack of holiday books to read together.
Have a Christmas movie night: One for the whole family and maybe one just for mom & dad!
Seek out the best Christmas light display: Take a drive one night just to look at all the lights. Vote for your favourite display.
Give Christmas PJ’s on Christmas eve: For the last few years, I have been wrapping up a pair of Christmas pajamas for both girls that I got on sale and giving it to them on Christmas eve. They love to wake up Christmas morning in their new Christmas pajamas!
Make Homemade Gifts
Save money but still enjoy the gifting part of the holidays with Homemade Christmas gifts. Use the things you have on hand to make personalized, meaningful gifts for the people you love. It’s the fact that you thought of them and wanted to do something special that makes gifts so wonderful. Baking homemade gifts is a great way to use items you have on hand to create a great gift someone will appreciate.
Earn Extra Cash
A great way to deal with a tight budget during the holidays is to work on simple ways to earn extra cash. Sell off things you do not need or crafts you have made that others can give as gifts. Cleaning houses and clearing snow are both great ways to earn extra cash as the season wears on. This is the best time of year to pick up a part-time seasonal job for extra money if you have the time to spare.
Make a Holiday Budget
To help you thrive during any time with a tight budget, create and stick to a budget. This is a plan to help your family stay on track financially. Plan all of your regular expenses first so you don’t end up making your situation worse for the sake of the holidays. This will leave you with a clear idea of how much you can really spare and how much you should try to earn instead of going ahead blindly.
Look for Free Activities
Look for free fun activities to do. You can still make the most of Christmas even when you can not afford much. Go for a stroll and check out neighborhood light displays, volunteer to help others down at the soup kitchen or food bank. Find reasons to be grateful for what you do have this season, and you will be well on your way to rocking the holidays on a tight budget!
What are your best tips for making a meaningful but frugal Christmas season?
Are you looking for the best frugal cookbooks to help you save money on food? In this post, I’m sharing some of the best frugal cookbooks to help you cook on a budget!
Best Frugal Cookbooks to Help You Cook on a Budget
Do you have a cookbook that you reach for again and again?
Having a cookbook that you love, is a must-have resource to help you save money on food. It will ensure you can always find a great recipe (or many) everyone loves to eat at home.
In case you need to add a cookbook to your home, I wanted to share the best frugal cookbooks to help you find delicious recipes to make on a budget.
The following cookbooks are all about helping you prepare frugal meals, so you can save money on food and still eat great!
18 Best Frugal Cookbooks:
Click on the image or the link to find out more about each cookbook so you can find the perfect budget cookbook!
The Flat Broke Cookbook: Thrifty Meals & Shopping Tips for Tough Times: The Flat Broke Cookbook is about shopping for food with limited funds and still feeding your family tasty and nutritious meals. It assumes you have a bit of money to spend, but not a lot. At the same time, you might be living off the supplies in your pantry or freezer for similar reasons. These recipes are simple and filling to keep you nourished when times are tough.
Good and Cheap: Eat Well on $4/Day: Created for people who have to watch every dollar—but particularly those living on the U.S. food stamp allotment of $4.00 a day—Good and Cheap is a cookbook filled with delicious, healthful recipes backed by ideas that will make everyone who uses it a better cook. Plus there are tips on shopping smartly and the minimal equipment needed to cook successfully.
Frugal Vegan: Live a healthy vegan lifestyle without breaking the bank with these 99 affordable and delicious plant-based recipes. Frugal Vegan teaches you how to avoid pricey perishables and special ingredients, and still enjoy nutritious, exciting food at every meal. Learn the tips and tricks to creating plant-based cuisine on a budget and fill yourself up with a delicious feast.
A Girl Called Jack: 100 Delicious Budget Recipes: 100 easy and delicious meals on a tight budget with Jack Monroe’s A Girl Called Jack. Jack is a cash-strapped single mum living in Southend. When she found herself with a shopping budget of just £10 a week to feed herself and her young son, she addressed the situation with immense resourcefulness, creativity and by embracing her local supermarket’s ‘basics’ range. She created recipe after recipe of delicious, simple and upbeat meals that were outrageously cheap.
Plant-Based on a Budget: Toni’s guidance doesn’t just help you save money—it helps you save time, too. Every recipe in this book can be ready in around 30 minutes or less. Through her imaginative and incredibly customizable recipes, Toni empowers readers to make their own substitutions based on the ingredients they have on hand, reducing food waste in the process.
The Frugal Paleo Cookbook: Ciarra uses flavorful but less expensive cuts of meat in traditional yet approachable cooking methods and shares her roll-forward technique for creating multiple dishes to maximize your time in the kitchen. You’ll love her keys to budgeting, tips for making items ahead of time, 5-ingredients-or-less seasoning blends and other money-saving pointers.
The 5-Ingredient College Cookbook: College students don’t typically have a ton of time, money, or kitchen space to get fancy with their meals, which means good and cheap is the name of the game. This college cookbook makes it easy for students to prepare fresh, tasty, healthy meals for themselves on a budget, with more than 100 recipes that only take 30 minutes to throw together, and only require 5 main ingredients.
Quick and Easy Family-Friendly Budget Recipes: The diverse and delicious recipes in this cookbook all contain very few ingredients and most recipes can be prepared for ten dollars or less for a family of 4 and in some cases, much less! You also do not have to sacrifice your health to eat economically. Everything here is far healthier than TV dinners and fast food—things you’ll be happy to see your family eating and enjoying.
Real Food on a Budget: Transforming, reusing and economizing to provide plenty—these are the principles behind Real Food on a Budget developed during 30 years of kitchen management by Mom of 7, Lana McAra. She reveals her secret formula for creating 4 nourishing meals from a single chicken, 3 meals from one beef roast and 107 ways to use ground beef—including Mock Filet Mignon and Mock T-Bone Steak—as well as dozens of substitutions.
Frugal Cooking with Your Instant Pot: Your Instant Pot® has been saving you time and energy in the kitchen for years and now, it’ll save you money, too! With this impressive collection of recipes, you’ll learn how to make a ton of incredible, budget-friendly dinners in your Instant Pot® that cost next to nothing― just $3.00 or less per serving!
Budget Cookbook: 103 Delicious & Easy Recipes That Will CUT Your Grocery Bill in Half: Multi-time best selling cookbook writer and influencer, Olivia Rogers, presents the most popular and best selling “family budget dinner cookbook” on Amazon, which includes a compilation of the most delicious budget dinner recipes as voted by Olivia’s 10,000+ readers and fans. You are guaranteed to find a few winners here with your family!
Budget Bytes: Beth’s eagerly awaited cookbook proves cutting back on cost does not mean cutting back on taste. Budget Bytes has more than 100 simple, healthy, and delicious recipes, including Greek Steak Tacos, Coconut Chicken Curry, Chorizo Sweet Potato Enchilada, and Teriyaki Salmon with Sriracha Mayonnaise, to name a few. It also contains expert principles for saving in the kitchen—including how to combine inexpensive ingredients with expensive to ensure that you can still have that steak you’re craving. Whether you’re urban or rural, vegan or paleo, Budget Bytes is guaranteed to delight both the palate and the pocketbook.
Seriously Good Freezer Meals: 150 Easy Recipes to Save Your Time, Money and Sanity: In Seriously Good Freezer Meals, Karrie shares 150 recipes photos that will change the way you think about freezer cooking. You won’t find your mother or grandmother’s freezer meals here (except lasagna, of course). Her recipes include Morning Energy Bars, Empanada Hand Pies, Coconut Cashew Basil Curry Soup, Smoky Grilled Louisiana Turkey Legs, and Layered Chocolate Mousse Cake with tons of vegetarian, gluten-free and vegan options, too. Plus, she adds a bulk-batch chart for ease in making large quantities of each freezer-meal recipe.
Meal Prep on a Budget: Preparing healthy meals in advance is one of the best ways to keep wellness goals on track while saving time and energy. But how do you keep costs down without sacrificing taste or health? Meal Prep on a Budget is a complete resource for creating balanced, delicious meals that are easy to make and easy on the wallet. Discover clear guidance that breaks down exactly what to buy and how to prepare it―for just $40 per week.
Gluten-Free on a Shoestring: Nicole Hunn has been helping home cooks eat well and on the cheap since 2009. Now, she’s updated her beloved Gluten-Free on a Shoestring, the indispensable guide to simple, inexpensive GF cooking. From chicken potpie to banana cream pie, Nicole shares her recipes for tasty family favorites — all gluten-free, all easy on your wallet. With revised and new recipes, pantry-stocking tips, keys to the best GF flour blends — and of course, more top money-saving secrets.
The $7 a Meal Slow Cooker Cookbook: With this cookbook, families will find 301 great recipes that almost cook themselves, including Spicy Turkey Meatballs; Hearty Root Vegetable Soup; Pizza Fondue; Crock-Pot Fajitas; Black Bean Lasagna; and more. This comprehensive, all-purpose cookbook is packed with simple instructions, nutritional information, and the amount of money needed for each recipe and makes preparing delicious, healthy, and cheap meals easier than ever before!
Good Cheap Eats Dinner in 30 Minutes or Less: Good Cheap Eats serves up 65 two-course dinners, consisting of a main dish and a substantial side, salad, or soup, all of which take 30 minutes or less to prepare. And as a mother of six and a busy parent, she shows home cooks how to get dinner on the table quickly and inexpensively without relying on heavily processed shortcuts or artificial ingredients. Great for time-pressed couples, families with picky eaters, or singles that need a quick solution to dinner tonight.
Easy Frugal Cookbook: It’s easier than you think to make hearty meals that are tasty, budget-friendly, and nutritious. Discover an easy cookbook that shows you how, with 100 inexpensive family recipes that use basic ingredients, and can be made in just a few steps. This easy cookbook will help you whip up satisfying dishes like Crispy Coconut Drumsticks or Open-Face Turkey Sandwiches for everyone in the house for just $5. All it takes is the right recipe, a few tricks, and a little planning to make the most of your food budget.
There you have it – 18 of the best frugal cookbooks to help you save money and eat at home more! I hope you found the perfect cookbook for your family!
Frugal Tip: Check out the best frugal cookbooks from your library before you invest. Or, take a look at the prices on the used cookbooks from Amazon to save money!
Looking for more ways to save on food? Check these out:
Skip the store-bought stuff and whip up your own homemade no cook playdough! Easy, with only 5 ingredients and quick with only a little mixing time! You should have all the ingredients on hand for this fun recipe!
The Best Homemade No Cook Playdough
Playdough is the perfect frugal inside activity for kids of all ages. It’s even fun making it together in the kitchen! When you make your own playdough with the best no cook playdough recipe ever, you get way more dough for your money than when you go out and buy individual containers.
INGREDIENTS:
● 1 Cup Flour ● ½ Cup Salt ● ½ Cup Water ● 2 tsp Vegetable Oil ● ½ tsp Food Coloring
DIRECTIONS:
Mix together the salt and flour in a mixing bowl.
Add the food coloring to the water and mix them well. Then add the colored mixture to the flour mixture, along with the oil.
Stir together the ingredients (hands work very well for this). Keep mixing, folding, and kneading the dough until it reaches playdough consistency!
Make a few more colors and enjoy!
TIPS:
If the dough feels a little tacky, just sprinkle on a tsp more flour until the desired consistency is reached.
Mixing the food coloring in the water helps to really even the color out in the dough. It really speeds the process up. If not, kneading time will go up about x4. Makes a more even color tone as well.
A great place to store this dough is in ziplock baggies or containers with airtight lids.
If stored correctly, this playdough lasts a long time.
I noticed after storing it for the first night, it needed a touch more flour as it seemed to get tackier, but was perfect after that.
Many years ago I embarked on my very first no spend challenge. This is when I spent zero dollars for a whole 30 days. That’s right…zero spending for an entire month! (except for bills and a few groceries.)
When I embarked on my first no spend challenge, I just jumped right in without a plan. I will tell you that I was successful in completing the challenge, however, it could have been so much smoother if I had a plan in place!
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail,” quoted by Benjamin Franklin, is excellent advice to put in place when you are embarking on a challenge of not spending a dime for 30 days.
The thought of no spending for a month is downright daunting… but then to face the challenge without any plan in place?! We all know that we can pretty much expect defeat.
That is not what we want.
So, today, I’m going to outline several ways to plan for a successful no spend challenge.
But first…
Why do a No Spend Challenge?
Not spending any extra money for 30 days can sound crazy, I know. However, a No Spend Challenge is a great way to reset our spending habits.
The end goal for me personally, is not to deprive myself, but to reframe how I spend money.
Completing a No Spend Challenge helps me to make more intentional purchases that align more with my true financial goals.
Speaking of goals, a no spend challenge is also a great way to kickstart your financial goals.
Once you reset or reframe your spending habits to serve you, you will be well on your way to completing those goals you never thought possible!
Let’s plan shall we?
If you’re really looking for an in-depth system for a successful no spend challenge, I recommend my No Spend Challenge Planner! It’s 45 pages of instructions, no spend activity ideas, pantry meal ideas, before and after challenge questions, food inventory sheets, gratitude sheets and so much more! Take a look here!
Step 1: Determine the length
The first step is to determine the length that your no spend challenge will last. If this is your first no spend challenge, I suggest starting small. Maybe a weekend, a work week or 7 days. Starting small will pretty much ensure a successful no spend challenge.
As you start to see the fruits of your no spend challenge, you can increase the frequency of your weekend/work week/7 day challenges. Or you can jump into a 30 day challenge to see the greatest increase in your savings account.
Step 2: Look ahead to what’s coming
Grab your calendar and take note of any events, birthdays or vacations you have coming up. You can either pick a period of time that avoids those events, or work around them.
I personally like to work around any events, birthdays, anniversaries, or family vacations we already have planned. This is so we don’t become paralyzed waiting for a perfect month. After all, any month or day is a great day to save money!
I should note that it’s possible to use creativity with planned events. In the past, I have gone on a quick vacation to Vancouver during a no spend month (already planned) and used only gift cards that I had accumulated!
Step 3: Take Inventory
This is a crucial step to having a successful no spend challenge.
Before I embark on a no spend challenge, I take inventory of my fridge, pantry, freezer and anywhere I keep household supplies.
I mark down everything I find. I’m often surprised at what I do find. Lol. Sometimes I have no idea that there are two pork tenderloins frozen in the freezer, for example.
During a typical month, food can be a huge area of the budget. By taking inventory for a no spend challenge, you will greatly reduce the amount of money you need to spend on food because you can use what you already have on hand.
This is a great time to quickly jot down some meals that you can make with the ingredients that you find.
Step 4: Use creativity
One of the hardest parts of a no spend challenge can be figuring out how to use what you have or learning to go without. This is where a bit of creativity can really pay off!
Here are some ideas to get your creativity flowing:
Trade your abundance with friends (have a lot of zucchini but need toiletries?).
Take to Pinterest to be inspired with meal ideas or simple DIY projects to create things with stuff you already have.
Save money by buying just one of something instead of 10.
Shop only where you have gift cards.
Order any groceries you need online so you aren’t tempted to impulse buy.
Borrow a book, audiobook or video from your library.
Take advantage of free community events .
Carpool to work.
Declutter and sell items to make some cash.
Go on a walk with a friends instead of going for coffee.
A no spend challenge can be a real eye opener on how you really spend your money on a normal basis.
During a challenge, this is a great time to assess where you really value spending money. On the other hand, you can also assess what you are wasting money on without even realizing it.
Instead of spending money all the time as a solution, a no spend challenge will help you to work with what you already have. So needs may become wants as you work through creative solutions.
I have no doubt that a successful no spend challenge will teach you lessons that will last a lifetime.
How to do life after your challenge
Immediately after a no spend challenge is an important period.
You don’t want to fall back into any bad spending habitsor go on a shopping spree to make up for days without spending anything.
This is a good time to look at how much money you saved during your no spend period as well.
What do you plan to do with your savings? Are you going to transfer it to your savings account or use the extra money to pay some bills or debt?
After you decide what you’re going to do, take action immediately. Put the money to use right away, or you might be tempted to use it for the wrong thing.
One last thing. Remind yourself constantly of what you really want your money to do for you. Do you want to pay off your mortgage as quickly as possible? Do you want to spend a month traveling Europe? What ever your true financial goals are, write them down and keep them in a visible spot so you’re constantly reminded. Don’t shortchange yourself. You are worth it.
Whether it’s a rainy day or a blistering hot day and you can’t go outside for fun with the kids, consider playing some fun indoor activities to stay entertained and occupied.
If you’re just not sure what to do, the following 50 ideas are fantastic, fun indoor activities worth considering:
1. Hide and Seek
You can’t go wrong with a good game of hide and seek. Find the perfect places to hide, such as in the basement, under the kitchen table, or even behind the couch.
2. Indoor Scavenger Hunt
Create an indoor scavenger hunt. Place items in different spots and see who can come across each of the hidden items first.
3. Tic-Tac-Toe
Grab a sheet of paper, a pen, and some markers and start playing a good old-fashioned game of Tic-Tac-Toe. It’s fun, easy to do without any equipment, and perfect for kids of all ages.
4. Charades
Have fun showing activities without saying what they are while everyone else tries to guess. A good game of charades lasts for hours and leaves the whole room smiling from ear to ear.
5. Simon Says
Why not play a good ol’ game of Simon Says. Let each person in the household take turns being Simon to make things more exciting for everyone.
6. Duck, Duck, Goose
Bring out your inner child with a traditional game of Duck, Duck, Goose. It’s easy for even young children to understand the rules.
7. Connect Four
Connect Four is a great game to play one on one. if you don’t have the gameboard, you can still play a good game of Connect Four with the family. See who can connect four colored dots in a row first.
8. Jenga
Bring out the box of Jenga and start stacking those bricks. It’s a fun and simple game that can keep families occupied for hours.
9. Homemade Obstacle Course
Set up a homemade obstacle course in the house. This is one of our favorite things to do! Of course, make sure it’s a safe one so that the kids can test their skills while having a good time.
10. Dots and Boxes
Play a game of dots and boxes. All you need to play this game is a sheet of paper, some pencils, and markers. It’s that simple.
11. Balloon Toss
Enjoy a game of balloon toss. Blow up a balloon or several balloons and toss them up, but don’t let them hit the floor!
12. Musical Chairs
Do you remember when you were in school and you’d play musical chairs? Now you can do the same thing at home with your kiddos.
13. Twister
Who doesn’t enjoy a good game of Twister? My girls share so many laughs with a game of Twister! If you have it at home, place it on the floor of your living room or dining room and have a fun time with the family.
14. Chess
Play a strategy game with loved ones by partaking in the game of Chess. If you have multiple boards, you can have different people in the household playing together.
15. Checkers
Similar to chess but even easier, checkers is another fun game to play inside on rainy days when you want to keep your children entertained.
16. Pin the Tail on the Donkey
Who says pin the tail on the donkey is only for birthday parties? You can set one up in the house, blindfold everyone, and see who makes it closest to the tail.
17. Laser Tag
If you have kid-friendly laser guns at home, turn off the lights, close the blinds, and enjoy a good game of laser tag.
18. Nerf Gun Battle
Load the nerf guns with bullets and get into the battle of a lifetime. It’s a fun way to spend an hour or more running around with the kids.
19. Mini Basketball
Grab a mini basketball and mini hoop and play in an area in the house, such as the playroom or the garage.
20. Indoor Bowling
Get ready for some indoor bowling. You can use plastic bottles as the bowling pins and use a pair of rolled up socks at the bowling ball.
21. Ring Toss
Keep busy with a good game of ring toss. See who can get the most rings on the bottles to win a small prize.
22. Candyland
Candyland is a top-rated board game for a reason. Children love it! So, if you have it at home, pull it out and get ready to have some fun.
23. Mini Air Hockey Table
Play some air hockey with the kids on a mini air hockey table. Things can get competitive rather quickly!
24. Darts
Enjoy a competition that involves throwing darts on a dartboard to see who can hit the target the most. It’s entertaining!
25. Bean Bag Toss
If you have some mini bean bags at home, set up target areas with tape on the floor and aim your bags to those areas. See how many points each person can get.
26. Hopscotch with Tape
Create a hopscotch using tape instead of chalk. It’s a fun way to keep the kids active, even on a rainy, boring day.
27. Hamper Toss
Put a hamper or laundry basket on one side of the room and see how many shots each person can make using a small ball or rolled up pair of socks.
28. Monopoly
Another great game to play on a rainy day, Monopoly never gets old. You might even have a few different versions of the game that you’d like to play with the family.
29. Clue
Bring the suspense and mystery to your home with Clue. This was one of my favorite games when I was a kid. I remember playing with my cousins!
30. Ping Pong
Enjoy a ping pong battle that tests your speed and endurance. You’ll have the kids tired in no time when they’re playing this game.
31. I Spy
Keep it simple with a quick game of I Spy. See what things you notice and vice versa inside the home.
32. Tag
If you don’t mind running around in the home, tag is a great option. Be sure to let the kid take turns when it comes to who is it and who isn’t.
33. Block Building Competition
Have a block building competition with your loved ones. Find out who can get as creative as possible using the blocks to build something unique.
34. Plastic Horseshoes
Play with plastic horseshoes inside the home. It’s as fun as the original game and safer for children because the horseshoes aren’t so heavy.
35. Red Light, Green Light
Get the kids moving around and laughing with a good game of Red Light, Green Light. Children love this game!
36. Tea Party
Okay, it’s not as much of a game as it is a relaxing thing to do, but having a tea party is a great way to spend a rainy day. It’s fun and can keep your little ones entertained even longer.
37. Cops and Robbers
Did you play cops and robbers as a kid? If so, show your children what it was like. They’ll probably love the game as much as you did.
38. Wrestling Competition
Consider having a wrestling competition if your children love to wrestle. Be sure to set the rules in advance.
39. Ninja Skills
Play games that enhance ninja skills, such as indoor climbing and swinging. With this indoor ninja warrior course, this is sure to become one of the best fun indoor activities.
40. Stuffed Animal Hide & Seek
We have spent many hours hiding stuffed animals around the house for the kids to find! They think it’s the best game every time.
41. Animal Hopping Game
Have your children hop like animals from one side of the room to the next. It’s a great way to get them moving around and having a good time while sharing lots of laughs.
42. Balloon Volleyball
Play volleyball with a balloon, bouncing it from one side to the next. It’s a lot safer to use a balloon when playing volleyball in the house.
43. Indoor Hockey
Use a plastic puck and sticks to play a game of indoor hockey. Instead of skates, you’ll wear socks to glide around the room.
44. Balloon Hockey
Yep, you can even play hockey with a balloon. It’s going to be more of a challenge, but that makes it fun and exciting, too.
45. Floor Is Lava
Kids love playing Floor Is Lava. Make it fun by putting different obstacles around on the floor for them to jump from one spot to the next. This is for sure one of the most memorable, fun indoor activities!
46. Letter Learning Game
Place letters on the floor and have your children jump or do different movements to get to each one. This game is fun for younger children learning to recognize letters.
47. Go Fish
Bring out the cards and play a game of Go Fish. It’s been around for decades for a reason!
48. Speed Card Game
Teach your children how to play Speed, a classic card game. It can keep them entertained for hours.
49. Sensory Bucket Game
Fill a bucket with sand and toys and then have your children dig through the bucket to see what they can find. The sensory bucket is fun and improves fine motor skills.
50. Sock Toss
Don’t forget about the sock toss! Roll your socks up and aim them at a basket or specific spot on the floor.
With fun indoor activities like these, you don’t have to worry about feeling bored on a rainy or blistering hot day with the family!
What is one of your family’s favourite fun indoor activities to do?
