On A Budget | Escape Adulthood with Kim & Jason

Dad Breaks Rule on First Day of Spring

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The first day of spring is Wednesday. How are you planning to celebrating it?

Wait…you weren’t?

A woman at a recent speaking gig shared with me a neat family tradition that I had to pass along. She grew up in Connecticut, and every year, on the first day of spring, her father would “kidnap” his kids and play hooky. They’d all load into the car as usual, but he’d eventually take a “wrong turn,” and they’d never quite make it to school. One time, he took them sledding to take advantage of a new blanket of snow on the ground. Another time they ended up at the Statue of Liberty. Since it was a weekday (and a rainy one at that), the crowds were light and they were able to ascend to the top without any waiting.

It reminds me of the dad who took his kids to the circus instead of taking them to school.

Don’t get me wrong. I think that a parent’s first job is to model consistency and instill responsibility in their children. That there is a need for people like the Supernanny is a crying shame.

But I also think it’s important to create scenes with your kids. And one of the best ways to do that is by breaking a rule, starting a small rebellion, and just playing hooky once in a while.

Of course, one needn’t have kids, or even grandkids for that matter, in order to break a rule and create a scene. We ALL need a day to play hooky once in a while.

You can call it a mental health day or a “sick of it” day, if that helps.

This Wednesday is the first day of spring. How will you celebrate it?

P.S. Like the Statue of Liberty art above? You can get it as a print, available in vanilla or chocolate. :)

Snapshots From Our First Marathon

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Training began about a month ago. Perhaps that wasn’t enough time to prepare, especially if you have a hard time jogging around the block without feeling like you have to hurl. But Kim and I had each other to hold ourselves accountable and, as you can see from the photo above, Kim was all business. Continue Reading →

23 Super Snowman Building Tips

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I put on my snow pants, boots and mittens and scoured the vast wastelands of the Internet to uncover a whole bunch of neat tips for making your next snowman the envy of the neighborhood. Please keep in mind that these tips are for building a traditional snowman, which is typically three snow balls placed on top of each other. If you want to get all crazy and create some elaborate snow sculptures, this is not the post you’re looking for.

These tips are for those times when you want to roll old school. Continue Reading →

The Skipper

I’m not sure how I feel about this guy. This video is three decades old, but I know one thing for sure: he has no Adultitis whatsoever, as far as I can tell. His secret? Skipping.

“That sensation is absolutely one of the most extraordinarily joyous sensations that a person will ever experience.” –Bill Martinelli, The Skipper (now known as Skip Martin)

I gotta be honest, even though it’s been a while since I’ve been skipping, it’s probably in the top five, for sure. It IS hard not to feel joyous when you are skipping! And I love how he made a business out of skipping. But this is the quote I related to most:

“We started running, and I hated it immediately, like I always did.”

Skipping. The alternative holiday weight-melting activity for Adultitis-fighting anti-runners.

Making Memories Stick: One Sentence Daily Journal

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My memory stinks. And I’m not even forty. Perhaps that is why I am so interested in simple ways to record the cool stuff that happens in my life. Then when I’m old I can actually have some idea of what I spent my life doing. Continue Reading →

Superhero Fort Kit

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Ok, so how awesome is this…a Superhero Fort Kit! Complete with sheets! Clamps! Glow sticks! The best thing is that you can make it yourself and then make the MONTH of a kid. (If you can dare to part with it, that is. Better make two.)

The ideas and photos come from the fun and awesome Meg + Andy, as does this handy list of what you need to make your own Superhero Fort Kit:

2 Twin sheets: ARC for about $2 each
Ties on the Sheet: old XL T-shirt
Rope: Hobby lobby for about $2
Flash Light: Dollar Store $1
Clamps: Dollar Store $1
Glow Sticks: Dollar Store $1
Clothes Pins: Dollar Store $1
Suction Cups: Dollar Store $1
Lightning Bolt bag: Some cheap gray fabric, yellow felt $2

Add this sweet DIY superhero cape and you’ll have to start calling yourself Lucius.

17 Surprisingly Practical Uses for Silly Putty

There is great debate in toy history as to who really invented Silly Putty. One thing is for sure: we can thank the American rationing of rubber during Word War II for its existence. The shortage of rubber was due to the Japanese invasion of many rubber-producing countries during that time period, which led the U.S. government to fund research into synthetic rubber compounds.

James Wright, the man who was awarded the patent in 1943, discovered that reacting boric acid with silicone oil would produce a gooey, bouncy material with several unique properties. Although it never became a suitable rubber substitute, it eventually become known as Silly Putty.

Interestingly, after his discovery, Wright sent samples to scientists all over the world, and not one was able to find a practical use for it.

The fools!

Everyone knows that Silly Putty is great at lifting comic strips from the newspaper :)

And in the past sixty-odd years, we’ve amassed a number of other surprisingly practical uses for Silly Putty: Continue Reading →

Mustache Straws Make Everything Better

I don’t know what it is about mustaches, but they’re quite the trend. The best I can tell, fake ones are still more popular than the real ones (with apologies to Mr. Tom Selleck.)

You may remember a post a few months back in which I suggested the idea of having a mustache cookout. This week I’m sharing another mustache-related project because it’s fun and funny, and a ridiculously easy way to upset Adultitis. Which pretty much covers our M. O. around here. Continue Reading →

Ding Dong Ditch 2.0

One of my favorite parts of the first ever Escape Adulthood Summit was tapping into the collective knowledge and wisdom of every in attendance. We spent a few hours on Saturday afternoon sharing insights and ideas to help each other with various hot button issues. One of the things that got brought up by a camp director named Jen was the subject of pranking.

Pulling pranks and practical jokes is fun in large part because of the rush of excitement that comes from getting away with something and creating a scenario that contains the element of surprise. Unfortunately, it too often makes the person who was pranked feel bad, stupid, or even violated. So Jen shared that at camp, they only tolerate “positive pranking.” She gave an awesome example that she learned about via Amy Krouse Rosenthal.

It’s called Hostess Ding Dong Ditching. Continue Reading →

How to Build Tree Swings, Teepees, and Sweet Watermelon Homesteads

Even though kids are starting to go back to school, summer is still hanging on for a bit longer, and watermelons are still being sold at the supermarket. I love this watermelon homestead, carved up by the Dahls and featured on their site Builtbykids.com.

I especially LOVE the mission behind their site: Continue Reading →

Quite Possibly the Most Fun Service Project Ever

College students sometimes give up their spring break to go on a service trip.

Boy scouts have to collect service hours to earn certain types of badges.

Lawbreakers must log a set number of community service hours in order to pay their debt to society.

Every year, thousands of brave men and women enlist in the military to serve their country.

According to Muhammad Ali, “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”

Service is super important. The dictionary defines it as “an act of helpful activity.” But it seems that people have certain pre-conceived notions of what service looks like. Staffing soup kitchens, building homes for the poor, and raking leaves for an elderly widow are common mental snapshots. Sacrifice is a key element of how we think about service. Although serving others makes us feel good, “fun” is not usually a benefit that comes to mind.

But isn’t making someone smile or laugh also an act of helpful activity? Continue Reading →

DIY Kickball Planter

So what happens when your trusty kickball — *sniff sniff* — gets a hole in it?

Turn it into a planter, of course!

Places where this would be cool: a gym teacher’s office, a principal’s office, a sports medicine or therapist’s office, and pretty much any other office in the world (except the Adultitis-ridden ones).

Here’s instructions on how to make your own.

5 Fun Things to Do at McDonald’s

So here’s what I want to know. Is the guy in the white shirt another customer asking to take their picture to show people at work? Or is it the manager from McDonald’s? And if the latter, is he saying, “You guys are hilariously creative! How about we treat you to four Happy Meals?” or “We have an Adultitis-ridden policy against fun and that’s why I have to tell you to leave the premises immediately.”

Just wondering.

While this is a fairly elaborate stunt, here are a few other things you can do next time you’re at McDonald’s: Continue Reading →

Nearly the Next Best Thing to a Real Lightsaber

I wonder if I’ll ever see a real lightsaber in my lifetime. Not like a prop that they used in the Star Wars movies, but the fully functioning, cuts-through-steel-doors, real deal. Do they have the technology to make such a thing? It seems like they should. They’d probably be pretty dangerous and come with all sorts of warning labels and require a license and you’d hear about some idiot on the news who used it while drunk and accidentally killed his dog and cut his car in half.

Until then, here’s a tutorial to make some homemade ones that are much, much safer.

Photo by Audra Caldwell

G’Day Mate: Adventures in Expanding Your Comfort Zone

I often wonder why I care so much about what other people think.

I shouldn’t, and I like to think I don’t, but I do. Not always, but more often than I should.

The irony is that the worst-case scenario is always the most terrifying when it stays in our head. If we were to actually speak our fears out loud — to shine light upon them — we would realize how ridiculous it is that we allow them to enslave us.

When Kim and I wrote The Escape Plan, we identified this unfortunate but all-too-common trait that keeps us tied down and hastens the spread of Adultitis. And so we wanted to include a challenge to address it. We called it, “G’Day Mate,” and it was simple: Talk in a phony voice or accent to a complete stranger.

Simple, but not easy. Continue Reading →

Chase That Happy with Ze Frank

Ze Frank is an intense and insanely creative dude. In this episode of his web show, he shares a number of awesome ideas for fun having. Such as: Continue Reading →

Time For a Mustache Cookout

I got this idea — and the photo — from Lisa Braithwaite, a K&J Nation member and all around person of awesomeness. It all began last Christmas when someone pulled out a mustache on a stick, which was used in photos at a family wedding the year before. Since there was only one mustache on a stick (note to self: always make sure to have plenty of mustaches on a stick on hand), someone else pulled out a pen and started drawing finger mustaches. Within about two minutes, everyone was in line for one and a good time was had by all.

Lisa’s favorite is her mother-in-law, who is in the third row down, third from left. Although not a particularly wild and crazy person, she got into the fun just like everybody else.

Lisa dubbed it “Mustache Christmas.” But this is June, and Christmas is still half a year away (although we’ll probably start seeing Christmas decorations any day now…) So do you see what I did there in the title? I changed “Christmas” to “Cookout” because it’s summer and that would be more timely. Pretty clever, huh?

Ok, ok, not as clever as the idea itself, which of course can be done any time of year. But I can only assume that the more people you have, the more fun it becomes.

Next time you gather for a cookout, a campfire, Christmas, or pretty much anything else, be sure to pack a marker to make finger mustaches for all!

Homemade Donut Crayons

Food Network’s Alton Brown may consider donut pans a “unitasker,” but Tiffanie Turner has proven otherwise. She used her new pans to make these sweet donut crayons. The process is pretty simple:

1) Preheat the oven to 250º
2) Peel the paper off some old crayons.
3) Chop the crayons up and put them the pans.
4) Pop in the oven for 13-15 minutes, until donuts are just smooth at the top.
5) Cool them on a rack for about 15 minutes, then put them in the freezer for about 5 minutes to let the wax shrink away from the metal.

Don’t have donut pans? Sounds like it’s time to get creative with some other oven-safe containers!

How to Make Your Summer Memorable

What’s a foolproof way to make your summer memorable?

Get a face tattoo.

Kidding.

When we get to the end of our lives, the things that seem to matter most are the scenes. The adventures we shared with our partners in crime. The inside jokes and games we played and memories we made with the people we love. Continue Reading →

Our World Needs More Whimsy, Part 2

This is a follow up to this post. If you want to add a little bit more whimsy to the world, and you’re looking for something fun and crafty to do, then first, gather some rocks.

Paint them bright colors. With smiley faces or hearts or four-leaf clovers or anything else you might find in a box of Lucky Charms.

Then bring them back outside for others to find.

Bam. Instant whimsy. And just like that, the world is a little bit better place to live.

Thanks to the awesome Katie for the idea (and photos.)

More Cheap Family Fun: The Flour Game

Had I known about this idea two years ago, it probably would have made it into The Kim & Jason Guide to Cheap Family Fun. But I didn’t, so here you go.

It’s called The Flour Game and if you like fun and aren’t afraid of getting messy, this is for you.

Get a teacup or small bowl and pack it tight with flour. Regular, white, flour. Flip the cup over onto a plate, remove it, and carefully place a Lifesaver candy on top. (Some people use a coin of some sort, but candy is better in every way.) Then everyone takes turns cutting the flour with a knife, taking care not to disturb the Lifesaver. The person who makes the Lifesaver fall has to fish it out with their mouth. No hands — or feet — allowed.

I’m not sure who invented this game of awesomeness, but I learned about it here.

It is a game in search of an occasion. It’s perfect for birthdays, Christmas parties, even National Flour Month, which, of course, is March.

Or, if you’re having a case of the Mondays, you could find some flour and go crazy. And have fun!