Frugal Fun: The Art Car Parade



R.O.U.S.?



Singing fish & lobsters

All photos in this post are courtesy of my super awesome & talented dad Nick Papas.

So, the art car parade is just one of the many cool, free, unique things to do in Houston.  Maybe some of you went.  Maybe you don't live in Houston so you don't really care about it.  But I was thinking about the principle of "frugal fun" and how to apply it.  I'm going to use the art car parade as an example but talk through a few pointers on frugal/free local events.  Besides the obvious pointer of GO TO THEM!

• First, you have to know it's going on in order to take advantage!  Social media is ripe with advertisements about all of the things going on in your city.  So many neighborhoods/cities and organizations have Facebook pages that you can join, websites you can subscribe to, and magazines/newspapers that contain ads for these events.  All you need to do is keep your eyes peeled.  I subscribe to:
• the Shop Heights 19th Street fbook page (antique shops just up the road from our house,)
• Thread Houston fbook page (more 19th St. info plus they just started doing DIY nights,)
• the Discovery Green fbook page (see my previous post about the DG,) and
• get emails from Houston Downtown Happenings. 
• Also, when I enjoy an event, I mark it down on the wall calendar (if it wasn't already there.)  Then, when I copy over all of the birthdays/special days to the next year's calendar, I put a reminder on the month of the event.  That triggers me to go check out the website or whatever for the new year.
• Anyone have any other suggestions for me??




Guess which ones are my friends and guess which one is part of the parade

• Be friends with people who like to go to free events.  Let's be honest - free events can be a little... quirky and certainly attract a WIDE variety of people.  Have fun, enjoy yourself, and don't take it too seriously.  You may actually have a good time!



Shaded under the tent & a hat

• Be prepared.  At the art car parade, we were expecting a rainy day but the afternoon turned out to be hot and humid.  Luckily we adapted and brought sunscreen & water - plus the friends we met up with were awesome and had a tent set up for shade.  Also, be creative with your "water" bottles if that's your thing.  Generally, fun things are funner with a little Tasty Beverage/"Daddy Juice".  An icy-cold thermos full of margarita never hurt anybody. (Wait...I'm sure that's actually a lie.  What I mean is: drink responsibly.)



Zoe poppin' tags

• Just GO.  A lot of times on the weekend, all you want to do is sit on your butt and relax.  You don't really want to make a plan for driving to something, figuring out parking, what do I wear, who's coming, etc. etc.  Well, just get over it.  You will not regret going!  These kinds of interesting, fun things are what make life cool.  You may need to drive around for parking.  You may need to pee in a port-a-potty.  But with the right attitude, these are all part of the adventure!  And also, you have something super-cool to tell your friends at work on Monday instead of "I went to Home Depot and sang Wheels on the Bus 50 times with my toddler."
• P.S. This last bullet point was me talking to myself.

Inappropriate comment

I encourage you to get out there and find some cool things to do in your city!  And please, leave a comment with your favorite super-awesome-secret Houston event!

Happy searching....

xoxo Phae