Spring "Break" Under $100

Ok, so my daughter took Spring Break literally and on day one (it looked fine and she didn't complain about it until day two) broke her pinky finger on the growth plate (the new puppy jumped up on the back step going into the house and knocked her over and she landed on her hand).  Welcome to the family, Josie!

We were off on the wrong foot...or finger, BUT, the week ended up going better and we ended up having a full week of fun despite the hand being in a half cast. Spring Break ended up costing us $96.99 and here is what we did:

$40.00 - Day One: Family Fun Night at a local Indoor Golf facility which included 1/2 an hour in the bounce room, one twelve inch pizza, four pops and a round of miniature golf for the entire family.

FREE - Day Two: First we headed to my aunts house in the "country" (two acres here in Illinois is considered country...trust me on this one!) to enjoy her company and have lunch then we spent two hours in Urgent Care getting a half cast for my daughter who had a broken pinky finger. This was free because I had credit at the doctors office from when my son broke his hand last year at recess. BONUS! (insert sarcasm)

$4.43 - Day Three:  Lunch at Lone Star with Grandpa (Kids Eat Free on Tuesdays and Grandpa bought us lunch). We then had dessert at Culvers and each kid had a FREE coin for a cone or cup of yummy! My cup of yummy cost me $2.43. Then we had some retail therapy. My daughter had her birthday money, my son had money saved up and I had gift cards leftover from my birthday. Four DSi games, one Wii game, one doll styling chair, one Zhu Zhu Pet, one Zhu Zhu Pet outfit, one Uno game, two new pairs of sunglasses, one pair of capris, two shirts, one packet of Squinkies, one wave hula hoop, one monster truck and one soccer ball later we headed home without paying a cent for any of it! We did pay for Silly Bands that were on sale at Walgreens for $.25 a packet for a total of $2.00 (yes, my kids STILL like Silly Bands).

$12.00 - Day Four: Bowling! The kids and I went bowling and it was dollar game night. The three of  us bowled two games each, paid for shoes (@$2.00 a pair) and had two hours of FUN despite feeling my age and pulling a muscle in my leg (how sad is THAT!), but I won a game...for the record!

$13.00 - Day Five: Lions and Tigers and Bears...OH MY! We headed to zoo with our zoo membership in hand. This is something we get as a present every year and it is much appreciated! We also enjoyed the dolphin show FREE as part of our membership. The kids each rode the carousel and with our membership the cost was $1.50 each. We enjoyed our packed lunch sitting right next to the wolves. They each brought home two Mold-O-Ramas (my kids love these...I haven't figured out why, but I am not going to argue the cheap souvenirs) for a total cost of $8.00. Oh wait, we can't forget that my daughter lost her tooth during the dolphin show. $2.00 was added to today's total for Tooth Fairy duties.

$27.56 - Day Six: Lunch and a Movie! We headed to Pizza Hut to use the kids BOOK IT Certificates that they earned from school for reading! That was worth two free buffets (I didn't say we ate good this week!). So, I just had to pay for one adult buffet. We then headed off to the movie theater to see, "HOP."  Cost was $7.00 per person, but of course, I had $7.00 left on my gift card (that I received for my birthday), so I only ended up paying $14.00. We packed snacks since we had just come from lunch. Not too bad.  My son also had his cousin over for the night which is always FREE fun!

FREE - Day Seven: Two sleep-overs and two FREE Blizzards from Dairy Queen. How did we get FREE Blizzards from Dairy Queen you ask? Well, the kiddos got them in their bags from the library when they completed the Winter Reading Program. WE LOVE OUR LIBRARY!

Now, in all fairness I didn't add the price of gas into this fun-filled week for under $100 (because that is just depressing), but even with adding that in we are still at $150 for the week. My kids told me everyday how much fun they were having and they thanked me regularly for everything. They just wanted my time and attention and that doesn't cost anything....Remember, it's all about Spending Moments, Not Money.