Photograph Credit: Flickr (Tata)

The time of constant hand washing, nose blowing, watery eyes, and bottles of Benadryl are upon us. Allergy season has sprung. With the cool temperatures and sunny days, my kids enjoy playing outsides, but we pay for it later with sleepless nights.

In keeping a balance between fun activities and not aggravating my family’s allergies, I enjoyed planning our spring break. Since our school’s calendar parallels a college schedule more than grade school schedules, we have an early spring break. During that week, our family had a blast without breaking the bank.

Monday: Dinner Party

To recover from our weekend, we remained home to finish laundry, tidy the house, and prepare for our evening visitors. My children spent the day playing, relaxing, and helping.

My son enjoyed writing the names of our dinner guests on the name cards while my daughter helped pick up the toys and match the newly laundered socks.

By the time our guests arrived, we had a clean home, the table set, and dinner ready. Our family enjoyed the special time spent with my son’s teacher and her husband. What a great start to our fun spring break.

Tuesday: Play Date

With a clean house, we invited our friends over to play. During this time, my children practiced sharing their toys and teaching their friends our family rules. All six kids played well together which ended with naps for my girls in the afternoon.

Wednesday: Bounce House Day

Back in September, I purchased two LivingSocial deals for a total of $18. The offer was a 4-visit punch card to a local bounce house for $9 each. As each admission is regularly $6 per child, I saved 63% by purchasing this deal. In fact, the deal was so good, I purchased two of them. Since our family had not visited this establishment, we went not knowing what to expect.

Wow! Impressive! Since most children were in school, we had the entire room to ourselves. I used our LivingSocial voucher and received two punch cards. After using three of the 8 punches on this visit, we get to return again.

My children enjoyed running, sliding, jumping, riding the toys, and bouncing the rubber balls really high. I enjoyed the enclosed space behind a solid door and carpeted floors. Though I would prefer better lighting, we had a great time and will return again for another fun visit.

Thursday: Another Bounce House Day

We visited our favorite bounce house next. I used a voucher purchased in October from LivingSocial for $7 which included admission for two. This deal was a 50% savings. Yeah! For our third admission, I used a free pass saved from our summer reading reward.

Though I would have liked to space out our bounce house trips, we worked around the plans of our friends and the events at the bounce houses. Our spring break occurred during St. Patrick’s Day week, so some of the bounce houses had special events on Thursday and Friday.

In choosing days that were less busy, we enjoyed having the bounce house to ourselves. Though a few families came and went during our stay, we mainly had the place to ourselves.

After a few hours of indoor play, we went outside to climb and swing on the new playground equipment. With others on the equipment, my children had playmates for part of their adventures. 😉

A little too sunny for pictures 🙂

Friday: Visiting Grandparents’ House

After a full week of fun, my children opted to forgo visiting a new indoor playground establishment. (I purchased a daily deal for admission which we will try at another time.)

Tired out, my children chose to have lunch with Daddy and relax at home. So, we packed our lunches, drove to Daddy’s office, and enjoyed an outdoor picnic before visiting some of his co-workers.

During the evening, Paul and I enjoyed a long-overdue date night (using a Groupon, of course 🙂 ) while our kids spent special time with Grandpa and Grandma, who love to spoil them.

Saturday: Planting our Garden

Our spring break came to a close with the start of our garden. Paul built the frame, and then we planted our herbs and vegetables. Stay tuned on Thursday’s food posts for updates and pictures of our garden’s bounty.

Though allergy season arrived early, we planned around the outdoor activities and enjoyed our spring break. Planning ahead, using vouchers from daily deal sites, and adjusting to your family’s needs will result in a fantastic spring break.  If need further inspiration for spring break activities, our family participated in these events last year.

In using time wisely, enjoy your spring break while taking a break from your regular routine. Happy planning!

Question: What are you planning for spring break?