Budget friendly things to do this summer
12:36 Share

This message comes from Discover, accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. If you don't think so, maybe it's time to face facts. You're stuck in the past. Based on the February 2024 Nielsen Report. More at discover.com slash credit card. You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.

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. 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

You just had that permission to have fun. The other part of that celebration was a trip to a mini zoo. 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. 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. 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.

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. ♪

Support comes from our 2025 lead sponsor of LifeKit, Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with the Name Your Price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try it at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. Not available in all states.

This message comes from Charles Schwab. When it comes to managing your wealth, Schwab gives you more choices, like full-service wealth management and advice when you need it. You can also invest on your own and trade on Thinkorswim. Visit Schwab.com to learn more.

This message comes from NPR sponsor, U.S. Bank. With U.S. Bank Business Essentials, you get more than just a bank. You get a dedicated partner that provides you a powerful combo of checking and card payment processing with quick access to the money you've earned, proving that there is nothing as powerful as the power of us. Visit usbank.com today to learn more. Member FDIC. Copyright 2025 U.S. Bank.

Support for NPR and the following message come from Edward Jones. What does it mean to live a rich life? It means brave first leaps, tearful goodbyes, and everything in between. With over 100 years of experience navigating the ups and downs of the market and of life, your Edward Jones financial advisor will be there to help you move ahead with confidence. Because with all you've done to find your rich, they'll do all they can to help you keep enjoying it.

Edward Jones, member SIPC. This is Ira Glass of This American Life. Each week on our show, we choose a theme, tell different stories on that theme. All right, I'm just going to stop right there. You're listening to an NPR podcast. Chances are you know our show. So instead, I'm going to tell you we've just been on a run of really good shows lately. Some big epic emotional stories, some weird funny stuff too. Download us, This American Life.

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. I'll get all my friends and pack up my little hammock and

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 all have our little books. And it's all just like very cute and wholesome.

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 bandanas.

Or you could get to know the creatures and plants that live in the park. So there's like a lot of free apps out there that like, that allow you to like unlock these science-y 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. By the way, LifeKit 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 bodyweight 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. A penny date really kind of gets you out to explore things without an objective. 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 Penny Date works. You take a penny, or any other coin really, and pick a direction for heads and tails. 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. 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. A lot of times...

Farmers 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 from vendors. Oh, and how about a parade? Any of those going on in your city or town? Could be fun. Lots of merriment. Okay, 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. 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. Sometimes they'll give each other prompts they have to stick to, like a recent one with secrets. And we all had to, like, make our art secret themes or, like...

something you're not supposed to know. 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 Ujung Lee is a producer on NPR's Education Desk, and sometimes she goes to mystery movie screenings at this local theater on Wednesday nights. 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. 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 in another Life Kit episode. 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...

I cannot cook my mom's quality food ever. Never. Because everybody has their own touch. Now, if you don't feel like making your food, how about a food challenge or a taste test? LifeKit producer Sylvie Douglas likes to do those with her partner. And last time we were in Canada, someone told us that Canadian chocolate is much chocolatier tasting.

So we got some Kit Kats to do a taste test with. They like the Canadian ones better. You can do this with different brands of vanilla ice cream. Or you could go to your local bodega and like try a bunch of different brands of like the same flavor chip. 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. Okay, tonight is the French night, so we'll watch Amelie and make French onion soup, and that's our night. Our supervising editor, Megan Cain, 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. And it seems like the rules are always changing. So it's 50% drinking game, 50% life-size candy land. It's more like 75 drinking, 20 candy land. By the way, the floor is molten lava. It's actually 90% drinking and it's got a loose candy land-like structure to it. But with stakes. 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. Tell me what the animal is, but don't tell me the number, and I'll try to guess. Crocodile. You're either scared of crocodiles or find them incredibly cute and impressive.

I'm going to guess eight out of ten. Four. Okay. You're slightly averse to them. 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. So respect. It's going to be, yeah, respect, but at a distance. Rushing respect. Yeah, exactly. That makes a lot of sense. Very good. That's the game.

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 Dowell, the freelance writer. Do a house or apartment swap with a friend, maybe one who lives in your city but a different neighborhood. 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. Okay, I really need to get some friends with pool.

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. 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 a backstory about, you know, who you are and why you're out here looking for a home.

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 a writer's group once a week. Because, you know, sometimes you have to make your own fun. ♪

Thank you.

To find out more, head over to plus.npr.org slash life kit. And to everyone who's already subscribed, thank you.

This episode of Life Kit was produced by Thomas Liu. Our visuals editor is Beck Harlan, and our digital editor is Malika Garib. Megan Cain is our supervising editor, and Beth Donovan is our executive producer. Our production team also includes Andy Tegel, Claire Marie Schneider, Margaret Serino, and Sylvie Douglas. Engineering support comes from Valentino Rodriguez-Sanchez and Josh Newell. I'm Mariel Cigarra. Thank you for listening. ♪

This message comes from NPR sponsor, Shopify. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all e-commerce in the U.S. from household names like Mattel and Gymshark. Get started with your own design studio with hundreds of ready-to-use templates.

Shopify helps you build a beautiful online store to match your brand style. If you're ready to sell, you're ready for Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com slash NPR.

Support for this podcast and the following message come from Thrive Market, built for those who value transparency in their food. Organic first, clean label groceries, all delivered. Get 30% off and a $60 gift at thrivemarket.com slash podcast.

This message comes from Warby Parker. What makes a great pair of glasses? At Warby Parker, it's all the invisible extras without the extra cost, like free adjustments for life. Find your pair at warbyparker.com or visit one of their hundreds of stores around the country.