In this day and age, we all lead very busy lives. We get up in the mornings, rush out the door to work and send our children to daycare or school.. After we get done working for the day, we rush back home to prepare dinner, assist with homework and then it’s bedtime. With all of this going on in our busy lives, it is important to remember to schedule in some quality family time too!

When it comes to spending time with your family, it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. If you don’t have the extra money in your budget, don’t worry….there are plenty of free and low cost things for you to do. Let’s take a look at a few of them today.

1. Family Game Night: The most common activity that most family’s do is to plan a weekly family game night. This night is usually held on the weekend and includes great food, beverages and a variety of board and card games.

2. Family Movie Night: Another popular family activity is to plan a weekly family movie night. This night is usually held on the weekend and includes snack food, beverages and a family-friendly movie that everyone will enjoy.

3. Go For A Nature Walk or Go Hiking: Taking the family outdoors for a nature walk or a hike in the country side, is a great way to spend time together while getting some much needed fresh air and exercise. Pack a brown bag lunch, a camera and a paper bag to collect some ‘nature’ things while you are spending some time outdoors.

4. Family Crafting Afternoon: Another great way to spend some time together is by planning an afternoon craft project to do together. Crafting doesn’t have to be expensive. You can all sit down and make greeting cards, scrapbook, paint, crochet, whatever. You can get a lot of frugal crafting ideas by visiting various online crafting platforms like Ashley Yeo.

5. Family Pizza Party: When you plan this, choose to make homemade pizzas so all of the family members can be involved. Children love to be in the kitchen and teaching them how to cook is a great educational experience for them to enjoy. You can get small individual pizza crusts so the kids can create their own healthy pizza

6. Attend Local Community Events: Here in our city there are a lot of free and low cost activities available for family’s to get out and do. Look for free ‘to attend’ festivals, music concerts, museum family fun days, sporting events, etc.

7. Volunteering: Many charitable organizations need volunteers and will accept groups consisting of your family members. You can check out local animal shelters, homeless shelters, medical and health charities, youth groups, churches, etc. This is a great way to spend time together as a family and give back to your community at the same time.

8. Exercise together: Exercise together by playing outdoor games like touch football, soccer, volleyball, basketball or even just go from a bike ride as a family. It is fun for all and a great way to spend an afternoon.

As you can see from this list of 8 ideas, spending time with your family doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. The most important thing is to schedule in ‘quality’ sessions of family time each and every week.