That doesn’t make sense does it? The words planning and spontaneous aren’t supposed to go together at all but they do, they really do!
I have a bag that I keep in the back of the car in the Summer which is filled with things that mean I can say YES when they want to do things – let me explain how we’re prepared for Summer with our Summer bag!
The first things in our Summer bag are two old towels which mean that the kids are free to paddle in the sea if we have a trip to the beach or we decide to stop off there on the way home from somewhere. In the past I might have said no because wet children on a journey home does not make a happy journey for any of us.
For the same reason, there’s also a change of clothes in the bag. Nothing flash, just a pair of shorts and a top each along with a pair of socks for Master Frugal as he moans like an old woman if he has to wear wet socks or socks with sand in them.
There’s sun tan lotion in there too as they burn so easily and if I didn’t have it with me then there wouldn’t be much spontaneous fun going on if the sun was shining. I also have a hat each for them in there even though it’s a battle to get them to wear them.
There’s a football and a tennis ball in there because you can have so much fun with just a ball and a huge picnic blanket as well so we’ve got somewhere to sit while the kids are playing.
And to finish it off, there’s a little purse with £5 in change for parking and ice cream if we do decide to stop somewhere on the spur of the moment and I don’t have any change.
In the past our Summer bag has included things like a frisbee and daft bits and bobs that I picked up at the pound shop who do a great variety of outdoor toys but these days we just need a couple of bits and bobs to play with. If I know we’re going somewhere specific then I might add in other bits like our badminton rackets but for the most part, I just leave the Summer Bag in the back of the car for the Summer (making sure the towels are clean and the money is topped up obviously ;-))
Having a Summer bag means that I have what we need handy for spur of the moment activities and I don’t forget things or have to say no to doing things while we’re out!
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