If the summer that's looming ever closer feels like a daily quest to entertain small people without torching your budget or sanity…welcome. You’re among friends. 

This week we’re leaning all the way into low-lift, low-cost fun that your kid will actually love. Bonus: they’ll do more of the planning, you’ll do less of the scrambling, and nobody’s impulse-buying a $28 bubble machine at Target. (No shade to bubble machines, we love them, but let's be real we already have more bubble devices than we need.)

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💗 Yes Day Lite — But Make It Budgeted

👉 We love the concept of a “Yes, Day” but…you don’t actually need to say “yes” to everything. Just pre-load the options and set a hard $5 cap.

How it works:

🔷 Give your kid a menu of 6–8 free or low-cost activities: driveway obstacle course, library bingo, sprinkler time, ice cube painting, etc.

🔷 Add a twist: hand them $5 in actual cash and say, “You choose how to spend it.” Use it on a thrift store toy, an ice cream coupon (or any of those random mailer coupons you've received), or their dream gas station treat.

🔷 Let them pick 3 activities + their $5 moment = instant control, no chaos

This works because it feels like freedom (to them) and like smart delegation (to you). Win-freakin-win.

💬 Reddit’s Freebie MVPs - Tried and Tested

👉 We pulled real screenshots from Reddit threads about free summer fun (we read these a lot), and these were the crowd-tested, parent-endorsed, “my kid weirdly loved this” winners:

Can confirm, Cabela’s, Bass Pro Shop, and Sheels are my toddler’s Nirvana.

🧡 Want a roundup? Click "yes" below and we'll get to work compiling the ultimate list of free activity ideas.

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Did you know? 🧃 JuiceBox is built by a tiny team of working parents just like you. We curate and write this stuff so you don’t have to but we’d LOVE for you to get in on the action.

💬 Got a time-saving tip or a chaos-fighting hack of your own? Hit reply and share it—we all need a village, and we’d love to hear from you.

👯‍♀️ Know a fellow parent who needs this? Forward away or hit this button:

🎒 The Summer Intern System (a.k.a. Delegate the Fun)

👉 Hand over one “activity block” a week to your kid. They plan it, lead it, and you get to participate, not produce. How to scale it by age:

👶 Ages 3–4: Let them pick the day’s “theme” (e.g. dinosaur day, blue day). You fill in the activity.

🧒 Ages 5–6: Give them 2–3 starter ideas (“Would you rather run a scavenger hunt or set up a spa day?”) and they help design it.

👧 Ages 7+: Let them brainstorm, plan, and “pitch” it to you with a supply list. If they want to host a backyard yoga class for the family? Grab the beach towels and say yes.

We’re not looking for perfection. We’re building initiative — and reducing the number of “what are we doing next?” questions flying our way.

K that’s all. You’re the best and we love you.

-CK “I Live at Scheels” Fuller (Editor) & the JB Crew 🫡

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