During the summer, Gogurt had a promotion where if you buy so many boxes you can enter the codes online and get a free child's movie ticket. Since the GoGurts were the same price as the store brand yogurts in a tube I took advantage and got two free movie tickets. However I had a fairly young baby who didn't like to be at home and a babysitter I didn't want to take advantage of for date nights with my husband so they sat unused. I also found some random movie theather gift cards that we had accumulated. I wasn't even sure how much money was on them but I figured even a few extra dollars would help out. Since the printed tickets had an expiration of the end of January I finally convinced Shane to watch Warner and the two older boys and I headed out the door on our special "date" planning on spending a bit of money the boys had recieved as a gift or foot the rest. Of course I stopped by the grocery store to pick up something else and let the boys pick out a special candy to bring (don't get me started, Dylan already pointed out the "no outside food or drink" sign and I had to deal with that issue) and after the printed tickets and part of one gift card we were in the door. We also got a medium popcorn and a medium Sprite to share at *gasp* $9.50. Between the cards, printed tickets and savings at the grocery store we had a fun, cheap date for $5 total. My boys loved watching Rise of the Guardians, I had fun taking them to do something out of the ordinary, we didn't break the bank and Lincoln only had to go to the bathroom once. I was a fun day for all. Except on the way home from the movie Lincoln kept asking when we were going to go on our date...
My oldest son just turned 7 and since we are watching every cent going out I tried to be as creative as possible when coming up with the birthday of a life time (until next year). Do: Make Them Feel Important Without Spending Money Waffles with chocolate syrup for breakfast are ok on a special day like this! (I love using a pizza cutter to slice waffles and pancakes for the little guys, especially Lincoln who is still learning to feed himself with a fork) Measuring on the wall of fame, we only write on it once a year now to make it exciting. Dylan grew about 3.25 inches in one year! This momma gets tired quicker than ever being 30+ weeks pregnant and chasing after a rowdy toddler so I didn't do the fanciest cakes (remember the volcano cake from birthday 4 or the mint chocolate chip cupcakes from last year) but I did find some cute stickers that have been in the house for years, put a matching one on both sides of a flat tooth pick and voila, cupcakes to compete with the best ...
Now that's value! I love your stories. They keep me entertained!
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