No-spend weekend: can you keep your kids entertained for free?

Could you go for two days without spending any money on your kids? Piper Terrett tries the ‘no-spend weekend’ challenge to find out.

When I announced somewhat hesitantly that I would be doing a no spend weekend, my son’s response was not ideal.

“It’s a nightmare!” declared my six-year-old.

It seems like my hardened consumerist son can’t get through a weekend without feeling the need for us to buy something, especially as a familiar weekend refrain is, “Mum, can we go to the shops?”

I got the idea of the no spend weekend from a list of money-saving tips from a well-known bank and was intrigued to try it out.

We are as guilty as anyone of overspending at the weekends in search of something to do.

When you haven’t got around to doing the shopping, it’s also easy to find yourself out for lunch too.

But week by week, the costs quickly rack up and, with rising inflation and energy bills, it’s becoming even more important to keep tabs on our spending as a family.

What’s more, it’s ‘Buy Nothing Day’ on 25 November in the US – traditionally held the day after Thanksgiving as a movement against the consumerism of Black Friday.

The cost of entertaining the kids

Entertaining children can be expensive.

I recently considered taking my son to the Tower of London or HMS Belfast and was shocked to see that combined, the entry would cost us £45 – before travel or lunch costs were taken into account.

After that, there would be little change out of £100.

Families we know with several children find it particularly difficult. For one family with five children, lunch out at a restaurant or pub costs at least £100 and, if they go on holiday, they have to book two hotel rooms.

My cousin, who has two small children, also admits that the family rarely goes out together, especially to eat.

Some families we know tell us that, during the summer holidays, it sometimes works out cheaper to go away on holiday than it does to organise other activities, such as day trips out.

For our no spend weekend, I considered a trip to the RAF museum in Colindale – about an hour from us. Entry is free and my son is currently fascinated by everything military.

But I decided against it in the end. It was likely we would have to pay for parking and the attractions of the gift shop and café might be too difficult to resist. 

No spend weekend rules

The rules of the no spend weekend meant we wouldn’t actively be spending any money on anything, but this excluded items such as Direct Debits, which would automatically be going through our bank account.

My son also wasn’t allowed to spend any pocket money he earns by feeding the pets, which he said was “unfair.”

Activities would have to be free, and meals would have to be made at home from whatever ingredients were lurking in the fridge and freezer.

I hadn’t completed the weekly grocery shop yet and my son is a fussy eater, so this would make it more challenging.

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Freezer diving for food

Luckily, I found four frozen chicken breasts in the freezer and left them out to defrost - they would do for a couple of meals over the weekend.

I also found some leftover burger buns in the cupboard, which by rights should have gone off but by good luck (or lots of preservatives) were still good to go.

With some mayonnaise and slices of a random avocado and tomato, we soon had ourselves some chicken burgers worthy of a hipster café.

My son was dubious – he believes that burgers can only be made from beef - but after lashings of tomato ketchup, he was suitably convinced.

The following day we had chicken breasts with salad and homemade fries from some sweet potatoes I found in the cupboard.

For a special breakfast on the Sunday, I made American pancakes using store cupboard ingredients, eggs and a couple of rashers of bacon I found in the fridge. This went down well.

Savings on eating lunch out: £25-£30

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Fun Lego session

Usually, at the weekend, my husband takes my son swimming.

But just going to the local pool costs £11.50 for two, plus the money for the locker and sometimes refreshments. A small slushy cost £2.60.

I considered taking my son for a dip at a spot in our local river at Hartham in Hertford, which is popular with wild swimmers.

However, it was a bit chilly, and I wasn’t sure how safe it might be for a new swimmer only able to do a few strokes.

Thankfully, Lego came to the rescue. My son has a huge Lego collection he has acquired over the years and can spend hours on it, which he chose to do over the no spend weekend.

We spent hours both days building a World War I-style trench battlefield complete with soldiers as he is learning about the period at school.

Saving on activities: At least £11.50

Family film night

My son is also currently obsessed with Ghostbusters. He recently purchased a toddler Ghostbusters suit from our local charity shop for £2.50, which he then dressed our dog up in.

I considered asking on our school parents’ Whatsapp group if anyone had a DVD of Ghostbusters we could borrow.

But, as luck would have it, the original Ghostbusters movie was currently included with our Amazon Prime account.

Now rated a 12, liberal use of a cushion was made while watching it with my son. But, besides some typical ‘80s sexism and smoking, the film was mostly harmless and certainly less scary in my opinion than the first three PG-rated Harry Potter movies.

Popcorn was of course, compulsory. Luckily, we could make some for free at home with our popcorn kernels – something my husband introduced me to about 20 years ago.

We used a popcorn maker previously purchased for £20, but you can also cook popcorn kernels simply with a large pan and some sunflower oil, as we did for years.

Saving: £25 on a cinema visit, £7 on buying a movie and popcorn

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‘Spy’ dress-up park visit

We were a bit stuck for something to do on one of the afternoons.

I thought of going to the fancy new play park in Hertford, which is free but then remembered the car park charges. Thankfully my son was hit by inspiration - we would walk to our local park dressed as spies.

For some reason, this involved us both wearing brown coats and sunglasses, while my son also donned a Crocodile Dundee-style hat and carried a pair of child’s binoculars he’d got as a birthday present.

We also took the dog who, for once was the only one not in a costume.

My son then proceeded to spy on another child he’d spotted in the park and realised he knew from summer holiday club, writing down notes in a book. Fortunately, he decided to play with him in person and they had a lot of free fun on the slides and with the dog, while I chatted with his mum.

On our walk home, we discovered a bag of conkers someone had collected and left by the side of the road – another free activity for later. Luckily, the weather was good enough for a walk and a trip to the park, which killed about two hours by the time we’d walked there and back.

Savings compared to an afternoon activity of soft play: £6 plus drinks

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My verdict 

All in all, at the end of the no spend weekend, my son still insisted it had all been “a nightmare.”

However, I think he rather enjoyed playing with Lego and dressing up as spies, as well as watching Ghostbusters.

That said, we felt a bit confined to our quarters because of the cost of travel and parking, as well as the risk that we might find ourselves spending money if we went too far afield.

It might be difficult to spend an entire half term without parting with any cash, but the odd day here and there would certainly make a healthy difference to the family finances.

Our total saving for the weekend was between £49.50 and £67.50 (one of the biggest savings depends on the comparison to a cinema visit or renting a movie). 

Over a month, the savings would certainly add up.