Budget friendly things to do this summer

Ideas on how to have fun this summer without breaking the bank. Go on a "penny date." Throw a movie marathon party. Swap houses with a friend. With a little imagination, you can bring delight and joy — at a low cost — into your sunny days ahead. This episode originally aired August 1st, 2023. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:23Marielle Segarra?

  You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.

• 0:29Marielle Segarra?

  Hey, everybody, it's Marielle. 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.

• 0:41Speaker 02

  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, you had that permission to have fun.

• 0:54Marielle Segarra?

  The other part of that celebration was a trip to a mini zoo.

• 0:58Speaker 02

  You'd hear the children saying things like, "Oh, I wonder what that fish is thinking." And you'd be like, "What? I've never thought about that before."

• 1:06Marielle Segarra?

  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.

• 1:31Speaker 02

  Don't let money or 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.

• 1:42Marielle Segarra?

  On this episode of Life Kit, 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.

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• 2:54Speaker 07

  In the much-talked-about new movie, Wicker, Olivia Colman plays a woman who commissions a husband literally made of wicker. Yes, wicker. We'll tell you why the silly and bawdy new movie is also a nice cozy fall watch. Listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour via the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 3:15Marielle Segarra?

  All right, 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 or ride a bike, have a picnic. Life Kit producer Margaret Serino does that a lot in New York.

• 3:36Speaker 08

  I'll get all my friends and pack up my little hammock and pack up some snacks, like strawberries and fresh fruits and crackers. And we'll all like 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 hammocking 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 wholesome.

• 4:02Marielle Segarra?

  Or you could get a bunch of friends together for a field day. I'm talking about a three-legged race, egg on 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. Coat hangers can double as pirate swords, and plastic bags can be bandannas. Or you could get to know the creatures and plants that live in the park.

• 4:28Speaker 08

  So there's like a lot of free apps out there that like, that allow you to like unlock these sciency hobbies where you're just going on a walk, but you're like looking for this specific kind of bug or this bird. And then you can log it into these apps. It's almost like a game, but it's helping them collect like citizen science like data while you're doing it.

• 4:48Marielle Segarra?

  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 workout equipment that you can use for body weight 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 a neighborhood or a city, is something called a penny date.

• 5:17Speaker 09

  A penny date really kind of gets you out to explore things without an objective.

• 5:24Marielle Segarra?

  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 a penny date works. You take a penny, or any other coin really, and pick a direction for heads and tails.

• 5:38Speaker 09

  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.

• 5:48Marielle Segarra?

  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.

• 6:02Speaker 09

  A lot of times, farmer's markets will offer not just vendors 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 out from vendors.

• 6:18Marielle Segarra?

  Oh, and how about a parade? Any of those going on in your city or town? Could be fun. Lots of merriment. OK, 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-number set. 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.

• 6:49Speaker 08

  Or like, a lot of the times, we'll 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.

• 7:02Marielle Segarra?

  Sometimes they'll give each other prompts they have to stick to, like a recent one was secrets.

• 7:07Speaker 08

  And we all had to like, make our art secret themes or like, something you're not supposed to know, like, shh.

• 7:13Marielle Segarra?

  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 O'Jang Lee is a producer on NPR's Education Desk, and sometimes she goes to mystery movie screenings at this local theater on Wednesday nights.

• 7:31Speaker 10

  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.

• 7:41Marielle Segarra?

  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

• 8:25Marielle Segarra?

  in another Life Kit episode.

• 8:27Speaker 11

  Comparison 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 their own touch.

• 8:49Marielle Segarra?

  Now, if you don't feel like making your food, how about a food challenge or a taste test? Life Kit producer Sylvie Douglas likes to do those with her partner.

• 8:57Speaker 12

  And last time we were in Canada, someone told us that Canadian chocolate is much chocolateier tasting. So we got some Kit Kats to do a taste test with.

• 9:10Marielle Segarra?

  They like the Canadian ones better. You can do this with different brands of vanilla ice cream.

• 9:15Speaker 12

  Or you could go to your local bodega and try a bunch of different brands of the same flavor chip.

• 9:21Marielle Segarra?

  The sky's the limit here. All right, our last category is all the random stuff that didn't fit in before. First off, themed hangouts. Margaret likes to do these. You pick a theme, invite people over.

• 9:34Speaker 08

  Okay, tonight is the French night, so we'll watch Amelie and make French onion soup, and that's our night.

• 9:40Marielle Segarra?

  Our supervising editor, Megan Kane, held a rom-com movie marathon at her house. It was a full-day event with a rundown and a photoshopped invitation and lots of pizza. On the list, My Best Friend's 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.

• 10:06Speaker 13

  So it's 50% drinking game, 50% life-sized Candy Land. Well, it's more like 75 drinking, 20 Candy Land. And by the way, the floor is molten lava.

• 10:13Speaker 14

  It's actually 90% drinking, and then it's got a loose Candy Land-like structure to it.

• 10:17Speaker 13

  But with steaks.

• 10:18Marielle Segarra?

  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. Darian 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, 1 to 10.

• 10:41Speaker 15

  Tell me what the animal is, but don't tell me the number, and I'll try to guess.

• 10:44Marielle Segarra?

  Crocodile.

• 10:45Speaker 15

  Hmm. You're either scared of crocodiles or find them incredibly cute and impressive. I'm going to guess 8 out of 10.

• 10:54Marielle Segarra?

  4.

• 10:55Speaker 15

  Okay. You're slightly averse to them.

• 10:57Marielle Segarra?

  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 around one.

• 11:10Speaker 15

  So respect.

• 11:11Marielle Segarra?

  It's going to be, yeah, respect, but at a distance. Yeah, exactly.

• 11:15Speaker 15

  That makes a lot of sense. Very good. That's the game.

• 11:18Marielle Segarra?

  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.

• 11:36Speaker 09

  You can get a feel of what they have. Like, if they have a pool, you can take a dip in their pool or check out their DVD collection. Just kind of enjoy new surroundings. That's a low-cost alternative to taking a full-fledged vacation.

• 11:52Marielle Segarra?

  Okay, I really need to get some friends with pools. Also, if they happen to have a gorgeous sibling who stops 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.

• 12:07Speaker 09

  It's a good chance to kind of see what's going on with, like, the latest home decor. You know, sometimes they have fresh baked cookies. You can say, okay, we're going to, like, make up the backstory about, you know, who you are and why you're out here looking for a home.

• 12:23Marielle Segarra?

  More ideas from our grab bag. You could go to the mall or a vintage store with a friend and try on silly or super formal outfits. Do a science experiment at home. Like, for example, make a 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 one that's just starting out, ask them if they'll let you host a book club or writers group once a week. Because, you know, sometimes you have to make your own fun.

• 13:02Marielle Segarra?

  For more Life Kit, check out our other episodes. There's one about play and another about the power of fun. You can find those at npr.org/lifekit. And if you love Life Kit and want even more, subscribe to our newsletter at npr.org/lifekitnewsletter. Also, have you signed up for Life Kit Plus yet? Becoming a subscriber to Life Kit Plus means you're supporting the work we do here at NPR. Subscribers also get to listen to the show without any sponsor breaks. To find out more, head over to plus.npr.org/lifekit. And to everyone who's already subscribed, thank you.

• 13:37Marielle Segarra?

  This episode of Life Kit was produced by Thomas Lu. Our visuals editor is Beck Harlan, and our digital editor is Malika Gharib. Megan Cain is our supervising editor, and Beth Donovan is our executive producer. Our production team also includes Andy Tagles, Claire Marie Schneider, Margaret Sorino, and Sylvie Douglas. Engineering support comes from Valentino Rodriguez Sanchez and Josh Newell. I'm Marielle Segarra. Thank you for listening.