DFW Book - Cheap Alternatives To A Night Out

Former_MSE_Sue

Hello all - can I get your thoughts on what you do now instead of a night out in the pub/meals out/cinema or whatever it was you used to do if you were spending some serious cash on a night out.....

- ie anyone got great stories on new (and cheap) activities/groups/things to do over evenings/weekends?
- great places to go that are dead cheap etc?
- maybe even cheap/free activities for the children over summer hols etc?
- anyone got involved in new hobbies etc? or got super fit say by running, walking etc?

thanks Sue

tryhard_2

invite friends over for a meal - everyone brings 1 item and take it in turns to host

Imelda

I have signed up for all the free audience tickets, some show are ok, some not so. I'm sure there are some links on here.......

Good if you are in a city!

Gemmzie

Mystery shopping for the cinema. I know one company is seeitfirst

OberonSH

DVD parties are always good for us, everyone brings a snack and a DVD. Cheesier the better so we can all sit around commenting.

To be honest not going out has meant we now do more stuff together, like searching out stuff to sell, nd actually talking to each other!! Our mates seem relieved that we're not all having to shell out every weekend.

Sammz

Not free but the £10.99 unlimited card for UGC cinemas is well worth it for film goers.

newlywed

When the weather is good, picnics in the park!

lynzpower

A few in my armoury

Check out your local museums, galleries etc, many have evening performances, djs that sort of thing

Free cinema tickets using the internet

What about bingo? A mate of mine goes on the cheap night for a fiver all night and whatever she wins she sells on ebay or in her car boot box

Mystery shopping for meals out etc

Pigsback vouchers for cinema tix, pizzas, steakhouses etc

For special occasions a meal out is OK, book through pigsback, or make sure that thing are on special. look in local papers theres often set meals, or buy a main course get starter free vouchers if you look hard enough!

pudding06

Not free but the £10.99 unlimited card for UGC cinemas is well worth it for film goers.

beat me to it - same for cineworld - you can see as many films as you like and it pays for itself if you see just 2 movies a month.

mystery shopping for restaurants - it problalby wont pay for the whole meal but pays a good proportion of it!!

Games nights - especially old-fashioned board games, or for the young'uns computer / playstaion quiz games etc.

pudds

Snaggles

Get family/friends round for a quiz night - everyone prepares a category with questions that total, say 20 points, and you join in every round apart from the one you have prepared yourself.

We get quite hi-tech with this now, and have powerpoint presentations with tv themes, screen captures of old kids tv programmes, close-ups of well known brand packaging (so you can just see a couple of the letters, and you have to work out what brand it is - works especially well with beer/spirits labels), bits of song lyrics (you have to work out the song/artist) etc.

Because everyone is contributing (and usually because everyone is drinking too!), it gets people chatting and laughing.

emmamcr

We order in Pizza via Mystery shopping and use free DVD rentals for a free night in. We also have quiz nights and board game nights.

With friends we do Ready steady cook nights where we each buy £5 worth of food and swap it, getting together with them the next night for a dinner party-it's good fun, especially when you have a bag from the chinese supermarket with no English instructions!

We do lots of cheap days out with our children. Museums and art galleries often have free events and craft activities which are great, and we also do Geocaching, which is a bit like orienteering (using an electronic GPS). For christmas we ask for membership to the National Trust etc so we have lots of places to go for free.
Other cheap days can be taking a train ride to the countryside, visiting a market (with £1 each to find bargains).

Food flasks are a great investment