What a Zoo! Family time on a dime!

This weekend was a mess! It was the last few days of hubby's vacation and we were itching for something to do. Unfortunately Friday's planet alignment was slightly off and after spending $250 in a matter of hours on repairs for the mom mobile (our trusty steed and carriage) our budget was pretty well blown. We had less than $100, one dad nipping at the bit for one day of fun with the kids, two 10-year olds that didn't care what we did, two teenagers willing to go as long as the activity didn't cramp their style with too much lameness and one mom stressing over a budget that could hardly stretch far enough to make everyone happy.

Or so I thought....

I hit the internet looking at all the obvious places to visit. I almost immediately clicked off the amusement park site after viewing the rates. We could get 3 of us in the water park if 3 didn't mind hanging out at home... ugh, yeah, that wasn't going to fly. The ball team wasn't in town and I was about to give up. When I remembered the zoo, I figured it would be a long shot and I would just be as disappointed and frustrated as I was before I remembered it.
Much to my surprise though I found the rates quite reasonable. $14 for adults (yep, in the world of entertainment, the teenagers count as adults) and the twinnies could get in for $9 a piece. So a day of fun for all of us at $74. Not bad. Being the frugal mom that I am though, I browsed the membership tab. I remembered being told that if you paid for one zoo, there were "reciprocal" zoos where you could get in free or at a discount with your membership to your home zoo. I was blown away to know that we could purchase a year membership for $85 for ALL SIX of us! We could come back anytime we wanted, visit other zoos, get discounts in the parks, and also have lots of other privileges! To me, it was a no-brainer! But it gets better folks!
Since our zoo is a non-profit, we get to write our membership off on our taxes AND I'm a homeschool mom, so we got the membership for $75!!!!!! We were able to take our own snacks and drinks in, avoiding the enormous prices at the concessions. At $3.95 for one soda, we were more than happy about that!
We spent 5 hours in the park and didn't even see everything. The kids were ALL happy - therefore, we had conquered the world!!!!
When planning a trip, even last minute, make sure to invest a little time to discover the best way to save money. Would we have had more fun on a roller coaster? Perhaps. But who cares? We had a great time, the kids learned lots, we created fabulous memories and there wasn't a video game in sight!