Top Tips for Saving on Kid Activities

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Does your kid ever find out her friend is taking dance and all of sudden “MUST TAKE DANCE mommy, or I’ll just die”? If not, consider yourself seriously lucky beyond your wildest dreams! I know that’s how I consider myself. DARN LUCKY. You thought that was going to go in a different direction, right? I’m evil, I know.

That’s right, my kids rarely care what their friends are doing, or classes they take. I’m the one that asks them, “Would you like to try Jiu Jitsu, or dance, or tennis?” If I find a cute program at the local library, I sign them up for the program and “surprise” them with it as a treat for being so darn good.

Okay, enough about me and my amazing luck. Let’s talk about all of you out there who have kids hammering them to try the things they see their friends doing. Most activities require a HUGE commitment. Time, money and more time. OH, more money, too. Let’s pick DANCE to discuss for this post. I’m a blogger who likes to write about saving money, being frugal, and being a strategic shopper, so I’m always figuring out how to get the most bang for my bucks!

Your little girl comes home and says “Mommy, Melanie gets to take dance class. She gets to twirl around like a ballerina. I WANT TO DO THAT.” Your answer is usually, “Well, let me see what I can do.” This is a family blog, I won’t write what you’re really thinking, because I’m a lady and I won’t type out naughty words like that. So we’ll go with “Let’s see what I can do.”

Now you’re scrambling, calling different places to find out how much these classes cost. After your husband returns home, throws cold water on your face to wake you from passing out on the kitchen floor with phone in hand, he asks “what the heck is going on?” You tell him your pain in the butt our precious daughter wants to take dance class. He smiles, unaware of the price tag for just the classes. So, after you’ve gotten the smelling salts to get his passed out butt off the floor, you guys have to figure out what to do. I have your answers.

Here are my top tips for saving on kids activities:

1. Do them during the Summer months. MOST dance schools have a much harder time getting kids to do dance over the Summer after a full year of classes, with a recital that requires a lot of work. Most take the Summer off from dance, so they can go to camp, or vacation, or get jobs when they’re older. Dance schools offer REDUCED rates for the Summer months, most places will NOT require you to buy dance shoes and leotards for the kids. You can borrow shoes, plus come in street clothes. There’s also no recital at the end of the class session, so there’s no extra COSTUME expenses for a recital performance. They also won’t have you sign any kind of a contract.
2. TOWN. Where we live on Long Island, we have different towns. Each town has Summer programs, fall programs, spring programs and winter programs. Each session has a dance section. Tap, ballet, jazz and a few other options, like Hip Hop. Super cheap for a 3-month period of time. Again, most won’t make you purchase the special shoes, or leotard, and they won’t be having  recital at the end of the session, so no expensive recital costume.
3. Library. Yes, your local library sometimes offers a dance class to introduce various TYPES of dance to younger children. Normally over the Summer. Will it make the child a superstar dancer? No. However, your kids will see if they actually like dance and you can figure out if it is worth the expense at a local dance studio.
4. Church. We’ve got smaller groups that are run through the local churches. They even do a recital at the end of the year. It’s a quarter of the price and the kids still really get the full experience of class, recital and the costumes.

My daughter started dance over the Summer. She truly fell in love with it, so we continued with the classes during the school year. We put the investment into tap and ballet shoes, plus little dance outfits and she’ll be in the recital at the end of the dance year. She’s doing amazing, it’s helping her confidence and it helps her in school, too. I’m HAPPY to pay the money each month for her to take the combination class of ballet and tap. The joy she has each Friday when she attends class, seeing the costume for her recital, the thought of being ON STAGE so everyone can see her perform-PRICELESS. It’s completely worth it. However, two girls whose mom’s paid for the classes and had no clue if the girls would like dance – they aren’t loving spending the money, because it’s a battle to get the kids to dance each Friday, they fight, cry and are miserable. But the money has been invested and those moms WISH they had done what I did over the Summer.

And all I can do is nod, because they are so right. I’m pure genius……

KIDDING people. I’m just sharing tips. Take what you want, share it if you wish, or call me crazy. I’m okay with all of it!