As a parent finding new activities to keep the family entertained over holiday weekends “Memorial Weekend” is always challenging. If you have dollars to burn it’s a tad easier to plan something fun but what if you don’t want to break the bank on Memorial Weekend! This is an ongoing challenge for any parent as we all want to create that WOW weekend and knock our kid’s socks off with something big.

 

Here’s a fun and frugal way to have an amazing Memorial Picnic with your family and friends.

This is not your everyday picnic it’s time to go above and beyond a basket and a blanket.

 

Bring a tent and fill it with balloons for the kids to play in. The best part about this is if there are younger kids they can nap in the tent.

 

Fill up a tub with water balloons and first play some structured games and then have a water fight.

Toss Game: Guests throw water balloons into containers of various sizes, earning one point for every balloon that makes it in without breaking! Most points wins.

Hoops: Shoot basketball free throws with water balloons! For extra points, teammates stand under the hoop to prevent the balloons from breaking.

Hot Potato: While music plays, gently toss a water balloon from person to person. Whoever is holding the balloon when the music stops — or when the balloon pops — is out! Last one standing wins.

 

Bring some eggs and have an egg toss, who doesn’t love to get messy…

 

Bring an old white sheet and washable paints and let the kids make a giant mural. Let them roll around on it, walk on it and have a blast creating a artistic Memorial memory. When you’re all done and the paint dries you can cut up the sheet and all the kids can keep a piece to take home. Don’t forget to bring some water buckets to wash the kids off after.

 

Bring your music and boom box and play fun songs that kids and parents can enjoy. Music always sets the tone for a good time. You can let the older kids take turns being DJ’s and let them pick the songs to play.

 

Fruit is aplenty this time of year, so have some fun with it!

Fruit Roll Down: Each person tries to roll a sphere-shaped fruit covered in Vaseline (honeydew, grapefruit, orange, lime, watermelon) across the grass. First to the finish line without destroying or picking up the fruit wins!

Seed Spitting Showdown: This game requires little explanation… whoever spits a watermelon seed the farthest wins! The prize: the watermelon!

 

For our family when we picnic we like to BBQ but this can get a little pricey if lots of friends and family are coming. To save on food costs have everyone bring a different BBQ item and each family cooks it. To turn this into a fun game you make it a cook off and everyone votes for their favorite BBQ foods.

 

Nothing is better than some refreshing Sangria on a hot summer day. Sangria is very easy to make and it’s not expensive and the adults will sure enjoy it. Be sure you can drink where you’re having your picnic. Here’s a great Sangria recipe from AllRecipes.com http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sangria-sangria/

 

Sun block contest time, no one really enjoys putting on sun block but if you turned it into a game you just might. Have all the mom’s line up with their kid’s and the mom who does the best job putting sun block on their kids in the shortest amount of time is the winner. You can even get some of that fun color sun block and have a face painting contest with it.

 

Scavenger hunt time, I mean really who doesn’t love a scavenger hunt especially when you’re hunting for things you have to eat… The idea is to hide plastic bags of mashed up food or basically anything that’s healthy and edible but when mashed together looks yucky. Label each bag with a permanent marker and give it a funny name like moms mashed goulash. Encourage team work and have everyone all work together to find the different hidden goodies and the person that finds the bag doesn’t have to eat it but everyone else has to take a big bite, even you mom…

 

If you’re brave enough to let the kids use your digital camera ask them all who wants to be a photographer for the day and then schedule each kid an allotted amount of time to take photos of the festivities. After all is said and done all the parents can share the photos online and create a gallery. Then you and your family can all view the photos together, this makes for great family time after the big picnic day.

 

When the day is done and everyone is tired from the fun make sure everyone pitches in for clean up and pack up. This can also be turned into a game where you setup trash cans and divide the families into teams and the families that collect the most trash win. Or the family that packs their car the fastest wins something special.

 

If you really want to set your family and friends expectations and you have the extra time, create a schedule for the day that announces what time and what activities you’ll be doing. You can even have the kids decorate the schedule and pin it up on a tree and write down the results and winners of the activities.

 

Remember it’s not an everyday picnic, create an amazing structured day and don’t forget to have your friends and family help with the organizing. Who knows maybe it will become an annual tradition…

 

Please post your frugal Memorial Weekend ideas below as our community would appreciate it greatly!

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About Susan
Susan Heid is the mom behind The Confident Mom where she loves inspiring moms to make small changes managing their home and family life giving them more time, less stress and stronger family relationships! She combines her training as a PCI Certified Parent Coach®, Certified Family Manager® Coach, and Screamfree Certified Leader  to help moms create a personalized plan of action. Being confident in your role as a mom is key to your family thriving instead of just surviving.  She enthusiastically wears the hat of mom, step-mom and foster mom to 4 awesome kids – ages 18, 14, 10 and 17 months; is married to her very own prince charming, loves coffee, cloudy days, and does think the bluest skies you’ve ever seen are in Seattle.

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