Our inexpensive family winter bucket list took us ice skating this week. We love to have fun, but it has to be within a financial budget. Five people are in our family and that gets expensive, not to mention as our children get older the prices increase. Keeping our budget is important. Planning our seasonal bucket list is interesting because finding something we will enjoy but affordable is harder than it sounds. Sometimes that means we bring the activities home. But, in this case I wasn’t will to bring home an ice skating rink.
Ice skating has been a family favorite since my boys’ were young. I have taught each of them to roller skate and to ice skate. It isn’t anything fancy because I taught myself, but just getting on the ice is fun.
Location of Ice Skating Rink
First, as I look into what we will be doing for our inexpensive family bucket list I consider location. If we are driving farther than thirty minutes I keep that in mind. My goal is to keep our activities within fifteen to thirty minutes. More than that turns into an all day outing, lunch and possibly dinner. Three growing boys’ eat a lot. In our are there are two close ice skating rinks inside, and several outside. When planning, I opted for the outside rink this year. We may go again to the inside rink on Valentine’s Day.
Outside rinks do tend to be more expensive because of the ambiance. Luckily though they do not schedule the time longer than 90 minutes because it does get cold even though you are moving. I purchased tickets online and that was helpful. Driving took us about 20 minutes due to some backroads but it was worth it.
Availability of Schedule
Scheduling the inexpensive family activity is a test. Gathering everyone’s availability is tricky. Between skating times available and sports it is hard to get there through the week. That is why we go on the weekends. Unless it is Christmas time and we are on break weekends are all we have open.
Outside rinks have more availability than inside rinks, at least where we live. Most indoor rinks work around hockey schedules, ice skating lessons and other activities. Our best time to go is on a Sunday afternoon. It is usually busy at that time, but we aren’t practicing for anything, fun is our goal.
Family Interest in Activity
Ice skating is fun for our entire family. all of us like to go skating. My ankles get sore after a while, but it is still fun. Using your own skates is a good way to avoid sore ankles. Sometimes the rented ones are too stiff or the opposite they are too loose. In most of my activity adventures I have found the best thing is to have your own equipment. When you are done with it, sell it.
Considering the fact that I have actively ice skated at least 2-3 times per year since I was young shows that I have an interest. My husband likes ice skating and so do all of my boys’. This activity along with sledding is always number two on our inexpensive family bucket list.
Stays in the Planned Budget
One last point I want to bring up about ice skating is the affordability. It is not too expensive to partake in, and not too cheap. Depends on the place but this fun sport stays within our planned budget. So many activities like this costs way too much now, and we have had to take a break. Finding out that ice skating was something our family of five could still do was important.
Staying within our planned budget allows us to do other things like take vacations, so that is why I try really hard to live within our means and do what we can for free or cheap. Exploring a variety of locations to get the best price might take time, but it is worth it in the end. Make sure to get at least four to five different prices to compare.
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