We just love to experience all the family fun our city has to offer! Museums, parks, bounce houses, sporting events—we’re always looking for inexpensive activities to do with our girls.

One of our go-to favorites is bowling. You just can’t go wrong! Silly shoes, scoring computers, a turkey dance—bowling provides plenty of fun and giggles for the whole family.

Here are 5 ways to make it more affordable:

• Daily Deals: Some of my favorite daily deal sites have offered deep discounts at local bowling alleys. In fact, Eversave is currently offering a Royal Pin deal for two, here in Indianapolis. That’s 3 games of bowling each plus shoe rental for only $15!
• On-Site Specials: Check with bowling alleys in your area for regular specials. Our favorite center has a standing weekend special. From noon to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday, two games and a pair of shoes is $7.99 per person. Check with locations in your area for similar deals and special events.
• Mailer Coupons: Watch that junk mail! I have found coupons for discount games or free shoe rental in the packets that regularly arrive in the mailbox.
• Kids Bowl Free: This is my favorite summer program for kids. In just a few months, the new program will begin, featuring two free games of bowling per kid every day!
• Buy Your Own Shoes: If bowling becomes a regular family activity for you, consider buying your own shoes. They aren’t very expensive and will save you $2-3 every time. I don’t know that it would be worth it for growing kids, but definitely look into adult shoes! In fact, they’ll be going on clearance soon as the end of “bowling season” arrives. Personally, I see bowling as the perfect year-round activity (keeping you out of the cold, rain and summer heat), but I’m all for a deal anyway!

These tricks can help you save money on a family favorite, but you can’t get better than free. That’s why I’m excited to work with Eversave to give away a Royal Pin voucher to one of our readers! Simply leave a comment here, and let me know your favorite frugal activity for family fun. You can earn additional entries by:

• Subscribing to our site by email or RSS
• Following Inexpensively on Twitter
• Following @EversaveIND on Twitter
• Liking Inexpensively on Facebook
• Writing about this giveaway (blog, forum, public Facebook note)
• Tweeting about this giveaway: Win a Royal Pin experience from @Inexpensively and @EversaveIND! http://bit.ly/GICvAX

Get tips for bowling with kids and another chance to win on Family Fun in the City!

For your extra entries to be counted, be sure to leave an additional comment directing us to your entry. Only one additional entry per method (i.e. While multiple tweets are appreciated it, only one will count as a drawing entry.) The contest runs until March 25th at 4:00pm est. One winner will be notified by email on March 26th and receive a Royal Pin Save voucher. Winner will have 48 hours to complete the claim form or a new winner will be chosen.

I was provided with a Royal Pin voucher from Eversave to facilitate this post, but all opinions are 100% mine.

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My girls love the snow—they love to see it, and they love to play in it. They even love to shovel it. Which is lucky for our family, because I? Am not a fan of the outdoors. Especially when it’s cold and wet.

Every year, I swear it will be different. This winter, I’ll help them build a real snowman. I’m so determined to get out of my comfort zone, and out in the snow, that I actually put it on my 40×40 list. Yet, each time they play in the snow, I wait inside with the hot cocoa or hide behind my camera, snapping pictures of their adorably pitiful attempts at Frosty.

Yesterday, my girls were thrilled to wake up to a snow day. Yet, I once again avoided the cold & wet. We spent the afternoon at the Eiteljorg—taking advantage of 12 Free Days of Indy Christmas to see the Jingle Rails exhibit I’ve heard so much about. The trains & landmark replicas are amazing, but I’m left feeling a little guilty about skipping the snowman.

So, we’ll build snowmen later this week—and I’ll still never have to leave the warm house. We build snowmen out of styrofoam balls. We decorate marshmallow snowmen. I’ve even made a snowmen cheese ball. Our favorites are the edible ones, of course—I think we’ll try Renae’s snow globe treats next.

All of these snowmen are a lot of fun to create, and instead of waiting for your hard work to melt in the sun, you get to eat yummy treats!

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Movie marathons are not strictly a holiday event around here. It’s a great treat for the girls to hear we’re having a family movie night. They like to guess what we’re watching and love knowing the popcorn is coming out. We even have several popcorn tubs, from the Target dollar section.

Our holiday movie marathon is planned for a weekday this year, which means we’ll start the day with cartoons & their favorites. We love to share my childhood favorites with the girls, so those will come out when the hubby gets home. If I have my way, the marathon will continue straight through their bedtime, when we can watch movies that might not be child appropriate.

Scrooged tops that list—what are your holiday favorites?

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Originally posted on November Sunflower.

It’s that time of year again, everyone! The 17th Annual Parade of Boats on Patchogue River. On Sunday, November 21st you can head to Sandspit Park at the Davis Park Ferry Terminal on Brightwood Street. The park opens at 4pm and the parade begins at 6pm (ish). Totally free for the whole family. The theme for this year is “A Christmas Past” and Santa will be arriving on the last boat in the parade.

For more information click here –> Patchogue Boat Parade

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It can be very difficult to entertain five rambunctious kids on a limited budget, especially if you don’t want to keep them plugged in all day with a DVD or a video game. Keeping them busy without electricity isn’t too difficult with a little planning and creativity. Here is our Top 10 List of Unplugged Ways to Entertain the Kids:

10) Nature Walks

When the weather permits we love to take all of the kids for a walk after supper. We live in the woods so we look for different animal tracks, bugs and flowers for the kids to identify on our walks, but city dwellers could look for other things like birds or signs, or even play games while you walk like those you would play on a car trip (think “punch bug”).

9) Library & Book Stores

Every Wednesday morning is story time at our local library and the kids really enjoy hearing the story and then creating a themed craft afterward. You can also find children’s book readings at local bookstores likes Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million.

8 ) Kids Events at Retail Stores

Local retail stores such as Home Depot will often hold free workshops for children that teach them how to use tools and build things while their parents shop. Check out more than just the national chains though, there are a couple of local art studios here that hold similar workshops for kids and the only fee is for the materials used to create their artwork or pottery.

7) Free Movies

Although this one doesn’t necessarily qualify as unplugged, it does count as frugal and makes for a nice change of pace for the kids. There are a few of different local movie theater chains that run free children’s movies a couple days each week during the summer and school holidays. Search online for the name of your local theater and ‘free movie schedule’.

6) Mini Road Trips

We have a family tradition where we load everybody up in the car (at least a couple of times) and drive around for an hour or so after dark looking at Christmas lights and decorations. We play holiday music and listen to the kids argue about whose side of the street has prettier lights.

5) Museums

Many people don’t realize that there may be quite a few smaller museums that house collections of local or regional importance. Our kids love going to the National Aviation Museum (pictured above) because there is so much to see and do, but they also enjoy going to a number of other much smaller facilities like the Foley Train Museum that is located in the old train depot and the T.T. Wentworth Museum, which has a children’s floor and is located in a 100+ year old building in Historic Pensacola Village. Check your phonebook and do a search online to find museums close to you.

4) Barter or Volunteer

My kids absolutely adore going to the local bouncy house but admission for all five is too expensive to do often. Instead, my aunt has spent the past year or so volunteering as additional help for Saturday birthday parties in exchange for membership and birthday parties for the kids. The business got reliable, flexible assistance without having to do any official paperwork, and our kids got free admission a couple days each week in return. Think about the things your kids like to do and brainstorm ways to make it happen cheaper. For example, you could volunteer to clean the skating rink once a month in return for weekly admission for your children.

3) Local Hot Spots

Every city or county has areas of local interest that you can explore with the children. We’re lucky in our area to be near the beach, but the kids also enjoy local bird watching trails, parks and nature areas. We try to find different ones and rotate them so the kids don’t lose interest and they’re always excited to go.

2) Arts & Crafts Festivals

There are numerous arts and crafts festivals in our area each year and no matter the theme, they all make sure to have entertainment for the children so we like to take advantage of those free events. Don’t get me wrong, we almost always end up spending some money, but its usually for games or rides for the kids or for a themed snack like a sausage sandwich at the Beulah Sausage Festival or strawberry shortcake at the Loxley Strawberry Festival. Contact your local Chamber of Commerce for help finding festivals near you.

1) Indoor Activity Box

For those rainy days or times that we just don’t feel like going anywhere, we keep an indoor activity box. We accumulate all sorts of things like stickers and labels that come in the mail, scissors and glue, clearance and dollar store activity items, water paints, empty toilet paper rolls, colored pencils, beads and scraps of lace and fabric then we pull out the box and let the kids rummage through it to pick their own activity.

What kind of unplugged activities do you enjoy with your kids?

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