Recreating the Cinema Experience at Home
With the economy still down, households across the globe are continuing to cut costs where possible. For many, this cut comes from leisure activities - often considered a disposable expense in the face of more pressing financial requirements. However, it's important to keep certain aspects of leisure alive in a household - especially for the purpose of raising morale and escaping everyday stresses, even if only for a short while.
Yet keeping such aspects of leisure alive often requires a bit of flexibility and creativity. After all, something has to change in order for you to be able to stay on top of your finances and still be able to afford and enjoy leisure. One way to go about it is to slightly alter your leisure activities, so that you're still benefiting from activities but not spending as much.
One example of this is in the cinema outing experience. When it comes to seeing films at the cinema, many don't stop at just purchasing a cinema ticket. A lot of families, for example pair going to the cinema with eating out and getting snacks at the cinema to enjoy during the film. This combination of leisure activities can prove to be costly - particularly if the entire family is participating. If a cinema outing was previously one of your regular weekly family activities, you might have found that you simply can't afford to keep it as part of your family leisure plan now.
Just because you're cutting costs doesn't mean the classic family activity of going to the cinema needs to come to an end. With a bit of creativity, you can recreate the cinema outing experience at home. To begin, think about all the aspects of a cinema outing that you and your family enjoy most. If you used to go out for pizza before cinema outings, then plan to make pizza at home - whether homemade or frozen. Buying frozen pizzas will give you an easy and cheap dinner option, while making the pizzas with the help of the entire family can be fun - and still less expensive than eating out or ordering pizza for delivery.
Next, consider recreating the cinema snacking experience at home. If your family loves to get popcorn at the cinema, pop some up at home. Just for fun, you might also consider rearranging sofas and chairs in your living to resemble movie-theatre seating.
Finally, you'll need a means to access current films on TV. You can always rent a DVD, but accessing movies via HD channels is often much more convenient and will give you and your family a greater variety of films to choose from. Of course, you won't just be limited to films either - if your family loves a certain TV series, you can always watch a few episodes in place of films.
Making just a few changes like these with regard to your family's leisure activities can help ensure you still enjoy your favourite activities, without breaking the bank.
Yet keeping such aspects of leisure alive often requires a bit of flexibility and creativity. After all, something has to change in order for you to be able to stay on top of your finances and still be able to afford and enjoy leisure. One way to go about it is to slightly alter your leisure activities, so that you're still benefiting from activities but not spending as much.
One example of this is in the cinema outing experience. When it comes to seeing films at the cinema, many don't stop at just purchasing a cinema ticket. A lot of families, for example pair going to the cinema with eating out and getting snacks at the cinema to enjoy during the film. This combination of leisure activities can prove to be costly - particularly if the entire family is participating. If a cinema outing was previously one of your regular weekly family activities, you might have found that you simply can't afford to keep it as part of your family leisure plan now.
Just because you're cutting costs doesn't mean the classic family activity of going to the cinema needs to come to an end. With a bit of creativity, you can recreate the cinema outing experience at home. To begin, think about all the aspects of a cinema outing that you and your family enjoy most. If you used to go out for pizza before cinema outings, then plan to make pizza at home - whether homemade or frozen. Buying frozen pizzas will give you an easy and cheap dinner option, while making the pizzas with the help of the entire family can be fun - and still less expensive than eating out or ordering pizza for delivery.
Next, consider recreating the cinema snacking experience at home. If your family loves to get popcorn at the cinema, pop some up at home. Just for fun, you might also consider rearranging sofas and chairs in your living to resemble movie-theatre seating.
Finally, you'll need a means to access current films on TV. You can always rent a DVD, but accessing movies via HD channels is often much more convenient and will give you and your family a greater variety of films to choose from. Of course, you won't just be limited to films either - if your family loves a certain TV series, you can always watch a few episodes in place of films.
Making just a few changes like these with regard to your family's leisure activities can help ensure you still enjoy your favourite activities, without breaking the bank.
