Life Kit - Summer fun that doesn't break the budget

Episode Date: July 14, 2026

Wondering how to have fun this summer without spending a fortune? All you need is a little creativity. 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 — to your sunny days ahead. This episode originally aired Aug. 1, 2023.Follow us on Instagram: @nprlifekitSign up for our newsletter here.Have an episode idea or feedback you want to share? Email us at [e-mail] the show and listen to it sponsor-free by signing up for Life Kit+ at plus.npr.org/lifekitSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Life Kit from NPR. Hey everybody, it's Mariel. 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 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. 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 pack up some snacks like strawberries and fresh fruits and crackers. and we'll all 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. 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 sciencey 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, Life Kid 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. 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. 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 warning 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 out 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.

Like, shh. 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 Ujong 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 filmed 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 Kid 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 moms or your grandmothers. 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. 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. And last time we were in Canada, someone told us that Canadian chocolate is much chocolate-yre tasting.

So we got some Kit Katz 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 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 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 American. It seems like the rules are always changing. So it's 50% drinking game, 50% life-sized candy lane. It's more like 75 drinking 20 candy land. By the way, the floor is melting lava.

It's actually 90% drinking and it's got a loose candy land-like structure to it. Well, what 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. Daryon 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, one to ten. Tell me what the animal is, but don't tell me the number, and I'll try to guess. Crocodile. Hmm, 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 it's going to be, yeah, respect but at a distance. 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 Dow, 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 pools. Also, if they happen to have a gorgeous sibling

who's stopped 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. One last thing. Would you consider rating and reviewing Life Kit? It helps spread the word about the show. Here's a review from listener J.M. Kit 9, My Comfort Podcast. I adore this podcast and the episodes are always eerily relevant to my thoughts and curiosities. Yes, J.M. Kit 9, that's because I've been reading your mind. Help us spread the word about Life Kit. Leave us a review in your podcast app right now. This episode of Life Kit was produced by Thomas Liu. Our digital editor is Molly

Gareb and our visuals editor is C.J. Riegelon. Megan Cain is our senior supervising editor and Lauren Gonzalez is our executive producer. Our production team also includes Andy Tagle, Claire Marie Schneider, Margaret Serino and Sylvie Douglas. Engineering support comes from Jimmy Keely and Cina LaFredo. I'm Mariel Seagara. Thanks for listening.