Summer fun that doesn't break the budget

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We're going to start today's episode at the top of a hill with Emma Tempest. Back when she was a teacher, she would take her class of four and five year olds to the park for an end of year celebration. And it was at the top of this enormous hill, and every year we'd have a rolling down the hill,

competition, and all the adults would join in, because you just had that permission to have fun. The other part of that celebration was a trip to a minisoo. You'd hear the children saying things like, "All right, when do what that fish is thinking?"

And you'd be like, "What? I've never thought about that before."

That spirit of imagination and wonder, you can take that with you anywhere, and it costs nothing. Emma is now a positive psychology coach who helps people get unstuck through play. We did an episode on play. What it is, why it's good for you, and how to do more of it.

And in the process of reporting that episode, we came up with a whole bunch of ideas for how to play for cheap, because you don't have to spend a lot of money to have fun. Don't let money all time be the thing that decides whether or not you will have fun. You can have fun almost in spite of those things if you really put your mind to it.

On this episode of LifeKit, we're going to share those ideas for how to have fun on a budget.

Think of these as offerings.

Try them out, see what you like, and see if they spark any ideas of your own. [Music] These days, it feels like the news changes every hour. Well, MPR has a podcast that does that, too.

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and we'll break down the zeitgeistie topics that are feeling your feed. Alright, we're breaking this episode up into categories, and since this story started at a park, we'll begin with the outdoors.

“If you want to have cheap fun outside, public parks and beaches are your best friend.”

You can go there and fly a kite, more ride a bike, have a picnic. Lifecare producer Margaret Serino does that a lot in New York. I'll get all my friends and pack up my little hammock and pack up some snacks, like strawberries and fish fruits and crackers, and we'll all lay out our blankets together and make like one giant seating area,

and then just be there for literally hours and just like, we'll snack and we'll be hammicking and we'll be talking and some of us will be crafting and we'll have our little books, and it's all just like very cute and awesome. Or you could get a bunch of friends together for a field day. I'm talking about a three-legged race, I got a spoon, water balloon toss,

use your imagination, which also comes in handy if you want to do some kind of park cleanup, picking up trash or fallen tree branches. It's easy to make that a game. Cote hangers can double as pirate swords and plastic bags can be bandanas. Or you could get to know the creatures and plants that live in the park.

So there's like a lot of free apps out there that allow you to unlock these sciencey hobbies where you're just going on a walk, but you're looking for this specific kind of bug or this bird,

like citizen science, like data while you're doing it.

“By the way, life kit has an episode on birding and another on how to be a community scientist.”

Another tip, a lot of parks will have outdoor work out equipment that you can use for bodyweight exercises. Also, a lot of parks offer free programming. Jazz music, salsa lessons, bingo. If you go to the website of your local park or parks department, they may have an events calendar. Okay, moving beyond parks, another outdoors idea, which is perfect for exploring in neighborhood or a city, is something called a penny date. A penny date really kind of gets you out to

explore things without an objective. This idea comes from Nicole Dow. She's a freelance writer, who wrote a piece about how to have cheap fun for a personal finance website called the penny hoarder. Here's how penny date works. You take a penny, or any other coin really, and pick a direction for heads and tails. heads will be left, tails will be right, or vice versa, and then you flip the coin, see what direction it takes you, and that's where you go. And you stop when you see

something interesting. Maybe you land in front of a building that has really cool architecture, and you do an online search about its history. Another idea from Nicole, go to the farmer's market, make a morning of it. You don't have to buy anything. A lot of times farmer's markets will offer not just vendor selling things, but they'll have local people singing or playing an instrument,

and that's a great form of free entertainment. And there's always free samples from vendors.

Oh, and how about a parade? Any of those going on in your city or town? Could be fun. Lots of merryments. Okay, our next category is arts and crafts. If your idea of play is being creative and making things, the classic move is to get a coloring book and crayons, or a paint by numberset, or you could get a little more elaborate. Our producer Margaret likes to host art nights with friends at her apartment. She'll get some cheap colorful clay at the craft store,

and they'll make mini sculptures or jewelry while watching a movie. Or like a lot of the times will like just get paper and each like have a little canvas and just paint for five minutes and then swap. And that's always really fun because like the art is really wacky and weird. Sometimes they'll give each other prompts they have to stick to. Like a recent one was secrets. And we all had to

“like make our art secret themes or like something you're not supposed to know. Like if you'd”

rather go see or hear some art, look at the events calendars for your local coffee shops and bars and restaurants. They could be hosting open mic nights or poetry slams. Janet Ujangli is a producer on NPR's education desk. And sometimes she goes to mystery movie screenings at this local theater on Wednesday nights. How it works is that you don't know what movie you're going to be watching until you get there. But it's entirely free. So if I wanted to grab a bite or drink

afterwards, like I felt less guilty about it, they turned out to be films she wouldn't have seen otherwise. And if you don't have this option in your city, you can do it with friends at your house. One of you picks the movie and then surprises the rest of the group. Another tip from Janet, a lot of museums are free one day a week. And your local library might also offer free museum passes too. You just have to reserve them ahead of time. Okay, our next category is food.

One idea is to recreate a family recipe, ask your mom for her mom's famous meatloaf recipe or look online for a meal that your ancestors might have eaten. This is a beautiful practice on your own or with a group. And when you're doing this, don't focus on perfection or an exact

recreation. Here's what chef Judy Kala had to say about that at another life kit episode.

"Comparson is like a killer when you compare things to other people. You lose your confidence. Whatever it might be. It's not your mom's or your grandmother's. It's your own. I cook a lot. And I cannot cook my mom's quality food ever. Never because everybody has that own touch."

“Now, if you don't feel like making your food, how about a food challenge or a taste test?”

Life kit producers still be Douglas likes to do those with her partner. And last time we were in Canada, someone told us that Canadian chocolate is much chocolate a year tasting. So we got some kick-cats to do a taste test with. They like the Canadian ones better. You can do this with different brands of vanilla ice cream or you could go to your local bodega and try a bunch of different brands of the same flavor chip.

This guy's limit here. Alright, our last category is all the random stuff that didn't fit in before.

First off, themed hangouts. Margaret likes to do these.

We pick a theme and invite people over. Okay, tonight is the French night. So we'll watch Amelie and make French onion soup and that's our night.

It was a full day event with a rundown and a Photoshop invitation and lots of pizza.

“On the list, my best friends wedding, 10 things I hate about you, and moonstruck, among others.”

You can also make up games with your friends. One of my favorite examples of this is on the show

New Girl. They play this game called True American. It seems like the rules are always changing.

So it's 50% drinking game, 50% life size candy length. Well, I 75 drinking 20 candy land. By the way, the floor is molten. It's actually 90% drinking and it's got a loose candy land like structure to waste. Or you can play those kind of road trip games. You know, the ones you get into on a long car ride or while you're on a hike. Daring woods is a host at the indicator from planet money, and he shared a game his friends like, "I'm going to simplify it slightly."

Basically, the group picks a category. Like, let's say animals. And then you pick an animal in this case and decide how you would rate that particular animal one to 10. Tell me what the animal is, but don't tell me the number and I'll try to guess. Crocodile. You're either scared of crocodiles or find them incredibly cute and impressive. I'm going to guess eight out of ten. Four. Okay. You're slightly averse to them. I'm slightly averse to them.

They scare me, for sure, because obviously, but I do think they're really fierce. You know, so I have to give them some credit, but I would not want to be a round one. So it's going to be, it's going to be, yeah, respect, but that doesn't fit. That makes a lot of sense. Very good. That's the guy. The game here really is, "Do your friends know how you think?" You can also do this with cities, or movies, or songs, or whatever. Some other cheap fun ideas from Nicole Dow, the freelance writer,

do a house or apartment swap with a friend, maybe one who lives in your city, but a different neighborhood. You can get a feel of what they have, if they have a pool, you can take a different their pool, or check out their DVD collection, just kind of enjoy new surroundings. That's a low cost alternative to taking full-flash vacation. Okay. I really need to get some friends with pools. Also, if they happen to have a gorgeous sibling who is stopped by the house on a whim and ends

up being the love of your life, that is a bonus. You could also go to an open house, even if you're not in the market. It's a good chance to see what's going on with the latest home decor. Sometimes they have fresh big cookies. You can say, okay, we're going to make up a backstory about who you are and why you're out here looking for a home. More ideas from our grab bag, you could go to the mall or a vintage store with a friend, try on silly or super formal outfits, do a science experiment

at home. Like, for example, make up baking soda and vinegar volcano. Build a time capsule, write your future self a letter and give it to a friend for safekeeping. And here's one from our colleague Lauren Gonzalez. If you have a coffee shop or a bookstore nearby, especially when that's just starting out, ask them if they'll let you host a book club or a writer's group once

“a week, because sometimes you have to make your own fun. One last thing, would you consider”

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eerily relevant to my thoughts and curiosity. Yes, J.M. Kit 9, that's because I've been reading your mind. Help us spread the word about life kit. Leave us a review in your podcast app right now. This episode of Life Kit was produced by Thomas Liu. Our digital editor is Malika Grebe, and our visuals editor is CJ Rekalan. Megan Kane is our senior supervising editor and Lauren Gonzalez is our executive producer. Our production team also includes Andy Tagle,

Claire Marie Schneider, Margaret Serino, and Sylvie Douglas. Engineering support comes from Jimmy Keely and Seenal Frado. I'm Mary El Sigada. Thanks for listening. Of all the protests in the summer of 2020, for a moment there, it was Utopia. One took a unique turn. Somebody over there saying Seenal is a good. This is the story of how violence came to occupy an anti-violence occupation in Seattle. Listen to we keep us safe, a new true crime series

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