Play on a budget #1

Whether you be a parent or a childminder, children can prove to be super duper expensive in every way possible BUT there are ways around this! To be quite honest most kids are happy with a simple box to play with than expensive toys. Why buy a plastic play boat or fancy castle when a box and a bit of imagination are one and the same thing!



One of the best and most interesting things my own children have played with is a treasure basket which was simply put together with inanimate household objects I already had around. The developmental benefits and play value of this are huge and produced many more hours of fun that any of the expensive plastic toys we had bought. (Blog post to come with more on how to make your own treasure basket!)

Another way to save yourself pennies is to be a savvy shopper. Shop around for good deals and get yourself down your local charity shop. One mans junk is another mans treasure (and you get to give a bit of money to charity in the process) I LOVE it!

Luckily for me, my mother manages our local charity shop so I go for a shop around quite regularly and she will tell me if she thinks there is anything I may like.

This came in very useful one day when she had someone come in with some donations, part of which was a big heavy circus style trunk. The paint work had chipped in places and one of the feet had fallen off but the thing was solid and obviously very expensive when new. It was beautifully hand painted with circus animals on the sides, the lid is shaped like a high top tent and just generally lovely!

Unfortunately my mums shop cannot sell furniture as they just don't have the space to store/sell it so she had to send them away with it. They went to pop in back in the car but as she was closing the door on them she heard them say they would take it down to the tip as they really didn't want to take it back home again and needed it gone!

My mum quickly flung open the doors and stopped them saying she would take it to see if I would like it rather than throw it away and boy am I glad she did!!!!!!!

It is now sat looking lovely with a new foot, a little lick of paint on the lid and filled to the brim with dressing up clothes & accessories (which have also been second hand finds!)

And rather than making a monetary donation in this case, I donated my baking skills for a cake sale at the shop which raised £100!

Another find lately has been this floor cushion which was a few pounds and fits perfectly in 'Story corner'

I love the beautiful embroidery!

This will be an ongoing post (hopefully weekly but we'll see how we go!) filled with any great finds, bargain deals, and homemade games/play. This has also been linked up to Me and my Shadows 'Magpie Monday' where you will find other lovely bloggers bargains of the week!

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