What says fall family bucket list fun better than hot apple cider? Nothing that I know of. My family loves hot apple cider. We do add in a few other ingredients, but this is one of our family favorites to make. Lately, our family bucket list agenda has to be affordable. With a family of five that isn’t always easy. But, we find ways’ to accomplish the goal and stay on our frugal home budget.
Each season we make a list of things we like to do as a family. For fall hot apple cider drinks made the cut. Not all places have this drink on sale and it can be a bit pricey, so my advice is to shop around. A few days’ ago at the grocery store I found two half gallon cheaper than the gallon.
Here is how I set up the fall family bucket list activity.
Prepare The Activity
As we begin to work through our fall bucket list I prepare ahead for the activities. for instance when we did the watermelon seed spitting contest I had to have seeds. Watermelon’s have seeds and therefore I needed a watermelon to be cut up, and some of the seeds saved. The next time that we found a watermelon on sale I bought it, we cut it up, and ate it. Therefore we had seeds for our contest.
Preparing ahead or having a plan means not having to run out and pay full price for something. Know ahead of time what you will need for the activity. For example, I knew we would we would be needed apple cider, but the apple orchard would be very expensive. So, I added it to the grocery list the week before I needed to buy it.
Goals for the Family Activity
Maybe not everyone has a goal, but I do. I want us to not just go through the motions and do stuff. Memories are important to me. More important than any material item. Whenever someone mentions hot apple cider I want my kids to reminisce of the conversation or laughter that we had as we sat around drinking this delicious beverage.
I do have a few table games that help us to have good conversation with the boys’. This game helps us to stay focused on important conversation and not nonsense. Usually the conversation cards helps us spiral into a memory that was super funny or the boys’ get giggly. Which is what I want of course and that is why those games will be laid out for our activity.
One other part of our activity will be the cups and table setting. Decorations that resemble fall set the ambiance, but most importantly I intend to use our best coffee cups. I have several that have been given to us over the years’. We use them for our special drinks like hot apple cider in October, Wassail on Thanksgiving, and Christmas Tea in December.
Schedule the Fall Family Bucket List Activity
Next after everything is bought, planned and a table design written out is scheduling the activity. For us weekends are better. It is important to pick a night that you will be home with nothing else planned. After sitting around and marking off the family bucket list item maybe play a game or watch a movie.
Apple pie goes great with hot apple cider or even a bonfire with s’mores. Have fun but set the date and let everyone know to be there. Let them know what you will be doing, and of course if your like me ask them to dress up because I take pictures.
Make Memories and Take Pictures
Lastly, take a lot of pictures. Add in video and make sure to get everyone in the video. Many year’s from now everyone will enjoy seeing this moment you took the time to plan. Enjoy this time with your family all under one roof. The days’ are long, but the years’ are short. I can’t believe how fast time flies now.
When I get together at Christmas or other times with my extended family we love to look at pictures. They hold so much value. Take the time to print out the pictures and place into a labeled album. If you do this for each season, or year your children will thank you when they are grown.
For more fun ideas on how to save money but still have great family fun sign up for my newsletter! You can also find me on Instagram @momsarefrugal. My Facebook is: Momsarefrugal.
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