We signed up for our library’s reading program for the first time this year. I read a lot of picture books to Silas each week, so it wasn’t much of a challenge for he and I to reach his goal, but the girls have been very motivated to read in order to reach their pre-set reading goals.
Kaitlynn was so motivated, in fact, that she read 10 easy readers the very first day and then recorded all of their names on her little reading record. I’ve never seen her quite so driven to reach a goal — and it was fun to watch!
Today was the first day that we could go and pick up the prize bags, and the girls were SO excited. They’d been talking about this day for weeks, literally.
Truth be told, I was a little concerned that maybe the prize bag wouldn’t be much and it might be a disappointment.
Boy, was I ever wrong!
Not only did each child get to choose a free book to take home, they also got a bag stuffed with great coupons and offers from local businesses — things like free Kid’s meals, free miniature golf, a free smoothie at McDonald’s, free baseball game tickets, free ice skating passes, and more.
They were beyond thrilled — and I was totally impressed with the coupons and freebies. Some of them required an additional purchase (like an adult entree purchase in order to get the free kid’s meal), but some of them were completely free — such as the free McDonald’s smoothie coupons, free tickets to an indoor kid’s play center with inflatable slides, etc.
Once again, I’m so thankful for the free service that libraries provide. Not only do they allow us to read hundreds of free books each year, but then they offer amazing programs like the summer reading program — for free.
If you aren’t utilizing the resources at your local library, I encourage you to check into it and see what all they have available. It just might save you a lot of money — and provide hours of frugal fun!
Did you do something fun and frugal as a family today? If you blogged about it, I’d love for you to leave a link to your blog post below. Or, you can just tell us what you did in the comments.
Note: Since the purpose of this series is to encourage you to be intentional about fun in your home this summer, please only link up posts showing pictures/sharing details of fun things you did as a family today (or within the last few days). Posts that do not adhere to these guidelines will be deleted in order to make it fair for those who are putting forth a lot of effort to participate in this challenge.






















A testimony from Becky


























