Family Fun Idea #3

Garage/Rummage Sales

We certainly don't make a habit of this one, but once in a while, it makes for a fun activity without spending a lot of money.

For years, I have enjoyed heading over to the Salvation Army thrift store. You can walk into that place with a couple bucks, and find some incredible stuff. Usually I go in looking for some cool t-shirts, or some old movies. One of my best "picks" was a vintage motorcycle helmet that I picked up for $2.50.  It was in great condition although the paint job was really ugly. A friend at work had a nice can of flat black spray paint and it was good to go. This past January I was in a motorcycle wreck, and that old helmet saved my life. Not bad for $2.50!

There are a number of families in our neighborhood that get together every few months and have a pretty decent size yard sale. We take the boys over, give them each $5 and tell them to see what they can find. They have found some great kids books, baseball cards, posters and even some great board games.

This idea may not seem like much of a family activity on the surface. The thing is that not only is it an exciting adventure to see what treasures they might find, but we have usually found some type of activity that we can go home and do together. From puzzles, to trivia books, to even putting together a desktop baseball/pinball game, we seem to get more than our money's worth in fun as a family.