Everyone Likes a Good Deal!

At our last meeting (January 21), the theme was Freebies and Great Deals.  First, one of our moms (Melissa) put together a page on ways to get a ton of things free.  She has been SUPER successful from getting things from travel0sized samples to jackets and big toys free using the ideas on her handout.  Then our coordinator (Wendy) had a handout prepared about the free preschools and many of the charter schools in the area.  The handout included a timeline for the lotteries/registration at the schools.  Finally, another mom (Stephanie) created a handout on some free and almost free resources for moms interested in homeschooling.
After these were handed out, we spent some time at our tables talking about other free or great deals.  And then we shared them with the big group.  Here are some of those ideas:

• Free days at many of the museums and national parks in the area.  Check the websites for exact dates, but some of the museums do them monthly on Sundays.
• Free story times at the public libraries, balloon museum, and Barnes and Noble.
• Free activities at Chick-Fil-A most Tuesday nights (Family Nights).  Some times these include free meals for the kids.  This is at all three stand-alone Albuquerque locations.  Also at Chick-Fil-A, you can turn the toy in to the counter from a kid's meal and get an ice cream cone instead.
• Season passes to Explora and the BioPark.  A note ont he BioPark: unless you have more than 6 people in your family or teenagers, the family pass is not the best deal.  Instead get an individual or couple and "Add-a-guest."  Only get the couple if you have more than 4 kids OR your husband would go to the zoo without you.