The question is, “Are you ready for the kids to be home?” Will you let them hang out in front of the television all day complaining about boredom? Of course you won’t! With a little prep work ahead of time, you can have plenty of entertainment options ready and waiting for the kids to enjoy.

Baking Day – What kid doesn’t love making a mess in the kitchen and creating a few special treats? You can combine some of your holiday meal preparation and entertaining the kids by enlisting them in your baking projects. You can make sweet cookies, tasty breads, or even a fresh pie. The kids will be proud of their creations, and you’ll get some much-needed help.

Board Game Tournament – Whether your family likes traditional board games like Monopoly or card games like Uno, they’re certain to enjoy a tournament based on their favorite game. Play several games until a winner can be declared. You may even name the winner King (or Queen) of the Day, and let him wear a crown for the rest of the day.

Holiday Movie – Although I am not a big fan of making the television the center of our day, I do enjoy a good movie now and then. Kick off the holiday season with the kids by settling down to watch one of your favorite movies. Young kids might like The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (either version). Older kids might prefer something like a classic like Miracle on 34th Street. A Christmas Story is, of course, a favorite for all ages.

Wreath Project – Get the kids involved in your holiday decorating by having each of them create a holiday wreath with construction paper. Allow them to color the wreath and make any sort of embellishment they like. Then, let each youngster hang his wreath on a door in the house. They’ll love to show off their creation when your Thanksgiving guests arrive.

Content provided by Not Made Of Money: Keeping the Kids Entertained on Thanksgiving Break

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There are plenty of opportunities to start your kids’ financial education in their everyday lives. You can teach the basics of deciding how to spend their money by using tips like these:

Require them to save a set portion of their allowances. Teaching kids to save for long-term goals is paramount to teaching them to handle their money. Choose a use for their savings account and talk about it often. For instance, if your kids are putting away money to save for their college educations, begin talking about college. You don’t have to have definite plans now; just work the idea of going to college into regular conversations. You’ll build anticipation for their goals and help them look forward to their regular savings contributions.

Give kids something tangible to measure expenses by. The idea of money can be a hard concept to grasp. However, there are other ways to teach kids to value their money. You might explain to little Sam, for instance, that the new game he wants will require him to save his allowance for ten weeks. That kind of perspective can make it much easier for kids to grasp the concept of value.

Go shopping with your little ones. As they see items they’re interested in, inspect the price tags and explain to them why (or why not) that item is a good buy. You’ll get to explain to them about sales, shopping around, and discounts. My kids know to look for the red clearance tag at Target. Even the youngest one knows how to scan an item to check for the price!

Discuss the ads your kids see on television with them. In order to help the kids make savvy choices with their money they need to understand the ploys that ad agencies use. Point out the small print on sales offers. Talk about the unexpected costs that come with different purchases. The goal here is to teach your children to analyze each facet of their shopping decisions.

Content provided by Not Made Of Money: Teaching Kids to Spend Their Money Smartly

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1. I have them check prices in the store. They like to look for sale signs, buy one get one free stickers, and especially the red target clearance stickers. I let them know what’s on the shopping list and they help to find the item and to compare the prices.

2. I talk about prices during shopping outings. If they see an item they like, I mention how much it costs and then compare it to something than can relate to (i.e. you would have to save all the money you get for your birthday to buy this!).

3. Playing board games that involve exchanges of money. Monopoly gives the kids a feel for buying and selling and in managing their money, even if it is only for play.

4. We let them in on our money conversations. The kids know that mom and dad take turns every week paying the bills. They hear our conversations about planned purchases. They see us give money to our Church and to other charity organizations.

Content provided by Not Made Of Money: How We’re Teaching Our Kids About Money

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One of the ways we attempt to keep marketing material away from the children is to minimize their tv time and their exposure to commercials. We have a rule in our house, “when the commercials come on, the tv goes off”. They are trained to shut the tv off for a few minutes while the commercials play and then turn it back on when the show they are watching resumes. We are usually close by to enforce this rule. The kids have limits on the shows they are allowed to watch as well as the length of time per day.

Another way we minimize their exposure to advertising is by throwing out all the toy catalogs and magazines that are sent their way. American Girl is one of the worst offenders. We have never purchased anything from them, but somehow they got our daughter’s name. They faithfully send her their latest catalog so she can see all the dolls she simply must have, at a cost of $100 or more per doll. Yikes! Now we sort through our mail before bringing it into the house, and toss any catalogs or sales flyers directed at the kids.

For myself, I don’t browse catalogs or stores where I know I will be tempted with impulse purchases. I have come to recognize that simply removing these things from my line of vision helps me to see more clearly our goal of saving money and living within our means. When I am feeling particularly emotional, I avoid advertising like the plague. No TV, magazines, online shopping, etc.

Now we don’t tune out all advertising. That would be impossible to do. However, we find that by keeping it to low levels, everyone in the family is not focused on the next “thing they have to have”.

Content provided by Not Made Of Money: To Limit Spending, Limit Your Exposure to Advertising

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The author (Lisa Reid) begins the book with a chapter on guidelines for thrifty living. She discusses general goals to help reign in spending. This includes cutting down on waste, find ways to get the same thing for less, and to stop buying things that provide little value.

There is an entire chapter devoted to clothing your child from the baby years all the way to the teen years. She describes her yard sale method for finding bargains as well as ways to shop at thrift stores and consignment stores. I especially liked her ideas for transforming used clothing into something more acceptable to a pre-teen or teen by “trending it up” a bit.

Toys are addressed in their own chapter too. She advocates simplifying the toys in your home and purchasing more of the traditional type toys that will be played with for longer and not discarded to the “I’m tired of it” pile. Games, puzzles, dress up clothes, lincoln logs, legos, etc. are good examples of these type of toys and can easily be found at garage sales. She even gives a few ideas for making your own toys.

Other chapters provided include entertainment and education ideas, frugal birthday parties, traveling with children, and holiday celebrations. As in the previous chapters, specific money saving ideas are shared as well as real life family stories of those “making it happen”.

I can highly recommend this book as an easy read for any parent looking for ways to save money on kid related expenses. Since this book has been around a while you should be able to borrow it from your local library.

Content provided by Not Made Of Money: Book Review: Raising Kids With Just A Little Cash

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