As parents, we’re constantly looking for affordable ways to keep our children entertained. The only problem is that we spend so many of our evenings researching the best value-for-money toys and even the most entertaining activities we can plan with some basic household items, that we forget to plan things for ourselves. After a busy week of parenting, we all deserve a night of treats or relaxation. Whether you’ve just got a few hours to yourself whilst your little one is sleeping, or you’ve arranged a sleepover at the grandparents for an evening, it’s important to plan something fun to do with your spare time. Here are three cheap ways you can entertain yourself the next time you have a child-free evening. 

Play a game of bingo

If you’ve ever played bingo at a bingo hall before, you’ll know how much fun it is. The increasing feeling of excitement as you get closer and closer to winning is incomparable to any other night out. When you’ve only got one number left to tick off your sheet, the excitement that you could be about to win is huge. The only problem is that by the time you’ve got ready and traveled to a bingo hall, it’s often time to come back again and get ready for your little ones to wake you up early in the morning. There are far fewer bingo halls around the country than there were a few years ago as well, so you could even struggle to find one near you to travel to. Luckily, you can now play the exact same game online. There’s a whole range of 5 pound bingo sites where you can play a whole evening’s worth of games by just depositing 5 pounds. The great things is that as you’re providing the refreshments, you won’t be charged huge amounts for drinks and snacks either.

Rent a movie

The same problem occurs whenever you want to go to the movie theater. By the time you’ve got ready, driven to the cinema, bought your tickets and sat through the adverts, you’ve probably already wasted a good hour or even two. Instead, why not rent a movie from the comfort of your own home. Many websites now let you rent and stream movies either just after they’ve been released at the movie theater or in some cases even at the same time as they’re being shown on the big screen. Just like with bingo, you’ll be able to buy your snacks from the supermarket rather than be charged the expensive prices as your local cinema. 

Learn a new recipe

If you love your food and fancy being a bit more creative with your evenings, why not try and learn a new recipe instead? Whatever meal you want to try and create, there’ll be a recipe online that you can follow. All you need to do is make sure you have all the ingredients listed at the start of the recipe. No matter how much you need to buy, it’s highly likely that it’ll work out cheaper than a meal from your local takeaway.