Free/Cheap Fun Activities?

[RobsEG]

my wife and I really enjoy airsoft (like paintball except cheaper and with bb's). for a whole day of play it's $20 a pop plus bb's, so we try to limit playing to 2 times a month.

would like more activity ideas for me and my family. so far other stuff we do are:

-sports (frisbee, basketball, soccer, etc)
-beach/picnic (during warmer weather. gotta love Florida for that)

give me some ideas! what do you and your family do for fun for cheap or free?

[davisgang90]

hiking and digital photography for me.  We also have geocached in the past. 

[frugally]

My wife and I love people-watching at the mall.  Get some exercise walking, play cheeky games (dad or boyfriend is my favorite), and laugh in the face of consumerist temptations and gluttony.  What could be better?

[driftmehard]

I like kyaking, rock climbing and Frisbee golf. It costs a bit to get started, but you can spent hundreds of hours doing these with minimum maintenance costs.

[wtjbatman]

Explore state parks in our area. Here in Minnesota it's like $20 for a vehicle pass for the whole year. Obviously if you're close enough you don't have to drive you don't need a vehicle pass. But even if the park(s) are a bit away from you, start early and you can make a day out of it. Explore the park, walk the trails, eat a lunch that you packed and brought, do some geocaching (love love geocaching), do activities the park has planned... lots of exercise and fun for (relatively) cheap.

I'll be honest I mainly do this in the warmer months, but if you're nuts enough a lot parks are open year round.

[LibrarIan]

Check my name. Go to the library. Netflix is good, but you don't necessarily need it if your library is as good as my local one. You're already paying for it in taxes presumably, so go get some books, magazines, movies, CDs and/or video games and enjoy that. Once you check out a handful of items or use other services, you've more than recouped your annual "loss" from taxation. Most libraries also carry ebooks and other electronic media. For example, my library has a digital magazine platform, streaming video service and a music service called Freegal where you can download and keep 3 songs per week.

I workout regularly at home. There are lots of free workout videos on YouTube and Vimeo. I've even found full P90X workouts online.

I play lots of video games cheaply. I buy games waaaay after they come out and are in used/discount bins or sometimes just swap with friends. There are lots of free games on smartphones nowadays like Solitaire or Hearts that are free ways to kill time.

I also enjoy writing sometimes. It's fun even if it is dorky or emo sounding. Also, buy yourself an instrument off Craigslist. Whatever your fancy, you can teach yourself simple songs at home at no charge. I learned some basic acoustic guitar and it's fun to do every now and then.

[xingcat]

Get involved with local theater, if there is some in your area. I'm very involved (I direct and write and act and design sets and stage manage), so I'm a big advocate of it. You can get free tickets by volunteering to usher at most theaters, which can save you hundreds of dollars sometimes.

[TheRealMFC]

We live in a great area (Seacoast New Hampshire) for low cost and fun activities. We hit the beach quite a bit during the summer. We canoe, fish, hike and swim in the lakes and mountain regions. We love to camp, even if it is just in our back yard. Have a bonfire and relax with neighborhood friends.

When I started doing research on fun things to do in our state, I was surprised at how many unique and cool areas exist. I took my kids on a day hike to a series of waterfalls in the mountains last summer and they said it was the most fun they had ever had. I had lived here for over 20 years and didn't even know the place existed until I did some searching on the internet. We have a list of 5 new places in the mountains that we are going to visit in the coming summer.

[Fireman]

We enjoy doing puzzles.  They're fairly inexpensive retail but you can also find them at Goodwill and other such thrift stores.  If a puzzle costs $10 and you spend 10 hours putting it together...well you can do the math!

[ZugZug]

I love hiking although I typically go alone

[mrsggrowsveg]

Some of our favorite winter activities: 

We love to cook, so we make up our own cooking contests.  We do a version of Chopped, where one of us picks a basket of ingredients and the other makes an entree or dessert with it.

Fort building-really fun with a little one it the house

Watch Ted talks

Outdoor: 

Take the dog for a hike.

Visit our neighbors and bring them eggs/veggies (they are a mile away)

Bike to the library

Plant flowers

Pick wildflowers

Play soccer

[Cujo]

My main hobbies are hiking (practically free), bicycling (modest up-front cost if you don't already own a bike), and camping (again, modest up-front costs), and combinations thereof (backpacking and bike touring).

I just started rock climbing - again, a few hundred dollars in equipment, but that will last a long time and after that it's pretty much free on an ongoing basis.

Fishing is also fun and cheap, and if you eat fish, it is better than free. I don't do much fishing because all of the water within an hour of where I live is too toxic to eat from (sigh).

[davisgang90]

I find video games I really enjoy and then play them for a long time.  I played Skyrim for a looooong time and still play it sometime.  I'm currently playing Splinter Cell Blacklist and it has a great deal of replayability as well. 

[Dibbels81]

If you like paintball, go out and buy some high quality laser tag guns.  Nerdy but a ton of fun.

[the fixer]

Board games, especially the newer European-style games. Collecting a lot of them would get expensive quickly, so it's best to find or build a gaming group to spread the cost over lots of people.

[hybrid]

Board games, especially the newer European-style games. Collecting a lot of them would get expensive quickly, so it's best to find or build a gaming group to spread the cost over lots of people.

<--------  Big +1.  Also a big plus one for disc golf.  Both of these hobbies require a little bit of money, but the bang for the buck is hard to beat.

[hybrid]

And if you really enjoy Eurogames, you can play a nice selection at www.yucata.de for free.  If you do find yourself using that site over time, donate to it.  I have to hound my buddies about not being cheap and using the site (all volunteer driven) while neglecting to support it financially.

[CommonCents]

And if you really enjoy Eurogames, you can play a nice selection at www.yucata.de for free.  If you do find yourself using that site over time, donate to it.  I have to hound my buddies about not being cheap and using the site (all volunteer driven) while neglecting to support it financially.

I <3 you.  Never heard of that site before but on quick pursual, I love it! 

My parents told me about playing a game with my nephew the weekend before last when he was staying with them.  He had gotten it for Christmas.  They told me it was fun, he loved it, and I should play it with him because it was a "CommonCents game" (apparently that is defined as a game with a lot of rules).  I told them that's probably because I got it for him as a present.  :) 

[ArcticaMT6]

Board games, especially the newer European-style games. Collecting a lot of them would get expensive quickly, so it's best to find or build a gaming group to spread the cost over lots of people.

And, on a related note, play the card game "Cards Against Humanity". Not suitable for children, but an awesome game and great fun, especially in large groups.

[RobsEG]

thank you all for the ideas! definitely will be looking into and trying some of them. if you guys have more suggestions, please keep em coming :D

[FrugalZony]

Board games, especially the newer European-style games. Collecting a lot of them would get expensive quickly, so it's best to find or build a gaming group to spread the cost over lots of people.

+1 plus find a group on meetup and meet new folks, not only for board games
but also for other interests you may have

Oh and albeit not totally free, I enjoy geocaching, but not the city version of it
I love discovering hidden places, I have been caching since 2003
so after a while you have to go further to find caches, which is why we usually just only cache on vacation

[ZugZug]

Board games, especially the newer European-style games. Collecting a lot of them would get expensive quickly, so it's best to find or build a gaming group to spread the cost over lots of people.

And, on a related note, play the card game "Cards Against Humanity". Not suitable for children, but an awesome game and great fun, especially in large groups.

cards against humanity is awesome especially if you have creative ppl to play with

[captainawesome]

trampoline parks/gyms are a lot of fun, although I'm not sure the price or availability in all areas.  Can also double as one hell of a workout if you are playing dodgeball or basketball at one. 

[bariloche]

Mountain biking, trail running, and backcountry skiing for me!

[AlmostIndependent]

When I was living in the Bay Area, Fun Cheap SF (sf.funcheap.com) provided leads on tons of fun, cheap activities. Highly recommended to the SF Bay Mustachians.

[Fireman]

When I was living in the Bay Area, Fun Cheap SF (sf.funcheap.com) provided leads on tons of fun, cheap activities. Highly recommended to the SF Bay Mustachians.

I was hoping the 'sf' at the beginning of the URL meant there were more sites in other metro areas...like DC.  Although i'm sure there are, i'll admit I haven't looked!

[AlmostIndependent]

When I was living in the Bay Area, Fun Cheap SF (sf.funcheap.com) provided leads on tons of fun, cheap activities. Highly recommended to the SF Bay Mustachians.

I was hoping the 'sf' at the beginning of the URL meant there were more sites in other metro areas...like DC.  Although i'm sure there are, i'll admit I haven't looked!

I hoped the same thing. Unfortunately I think its just a SF Bay thing.

[ArcticaMT6]

Board games, especially the newer European-style games. Collecting a lot of them would get expensive quickly, so it's best to find or build a gaming group to spread the cost over lots of people.

And, on a related note, play the card game "Cards Against Humanity". Not suitable for children, but an awesome game and great fun, especially in large groups.

Apples to Apples is the same thing, only more family friendly, if anyone does want to play with kids.

It being non-family friendly is part of why it's so great.

[NeighborGuy]

You might be surprised how much fun it is to go to a park and play on the playground like you did when you were little. You could also learn some basic parkour vaults and make the entire world your playground.

[hybrid]

And if you really enjoy Eurogames, you can play a nice selection at www.yucata.de for free.  If you do find yourself using that site over time, donate to it.  I have to hound my buddies about not being cheap and using the site (all volunteer driven) while neglecting to support it financially.

I <3 you.  Never heard of that site before but on quick pursual, I love it! 

My parents told me about playing a game with my nephew the weekend before last when he was staying with them.  He had gotten it for Christmas.  They told me it was fun, he loved it, and I should play it with him because it was a "CommonCents game" (apparently that is defined as a game with a lot of rules).  I told them that's probably because I got it for him as a present.  :)

Awwwww..... Thanks!  Nice story about your nephew.  For all you Eurogamers out there here are some of the more popular games on Yucata.  All in English, and all very well laid out (not necessarily iPad friendly though, because in many games you need to mouse hover for info, which is not doable to the best of my knowledge on a tablet.)

Balloon Cup
Can't Stop
El Grande (my personal favorite)
Just 4 Fun
Roll Through The Ages
Saint Petersburg
Stone Age
Thunderstone
Thurn and Taxis

There are literally dozens of games on that site, I just pulled out the most recognizable ones.  And they add a new game every few months.  I have played, no exaggeration, over 1100 games on that site in the past 18 months.  I donated $200 to the site in that time frame becuase I was so impressed with the work the volunteers have done.  Or in other words, less than 0.50 a game.

A more casual gamer could play 100 games there over a year, throw them a $10 bone (which, like public radio, would be more than what most do) and play for a rate of 0.10 a game.  Tough to beat that.

[AlmostIndependent]

I had a friend who made a giant outdoor game of Jenga out of 2x4s. That was a blast at BBQs and such. He worked construction and used scrap from various projects for the cost of fuh-ree.