Thanksgiving budgeting activity for teens
A fun activity to teach your teens the basics of budgeting
Fun Thanksgiving Budgeting Activity
Learning to budget is one of the most important lessons you can learn, and maybe one of the hardest. Luckily, Thanksgiving provides some great opportunities to teach your children about budgeting so they can get an early start on forming good habits.
This activity is especially great for older children who are gaining independence and will soon need to know how to budget for themselves - whether it’s fending for themselves in college, learning what to do with their first paycheck, or saving up for a financial goal.
Trust me, your kids will thank you for this later!
Goal of the activity
Teach your children to stick within a budget, while still having fun. Bonus - teach your children how to follow recipes, navigate grocery stores, and maybe even do some cooking!
The activity:
You are going to let your children plan a “Thanksgiving meal”. Don’t worry - it doesn’t have to be the real Thanksgiving meal on Thanksgiving! And it doesn’t even have to be traditional Thanksgiving food.
You are going to pick a budget for a meal (maybe $20), then let your child be in charge of allocating this money towards the things needed to make the meal.
Depending on your child’s age and capabilities, you can either provide them with a recipe and ingredient list, or let them find a recipe on their own.
Next, you will take them to the grocery store, and let them be in charge of finding everything for the meal, and making sure they stay within their budget! This may seem unnecessary, but letting them pick out the food, and see the items get rung up at the register will really give them the real life experience of doing this for themselves. Imagine their joy when the register shows they succeeded! What will they do if they come up short?
If your child is able, it would also be a great opportunity for them to be in charge of cooking the meal independently as well! If not, they can help a parent cook it.
Steps:
- Decide a budget for the meal for your child to stick to
- Pick a meal for the child to plan for (you or your child can pick it)
- Help your child research the ingredients they need to buy and how much they will each cost
***TIP: Show them how to compare the costs of different brands. Can you teach them that certain foods are cheaper at certain stores? Is it better to buy in bulk or one off? - Take your child to the stores they planned to go to, and let them find the ingredients and check out on their own. Did they budget correctly??
- Include your child in preparing the meal for your family
- Enjoy a wonderful family meal! During dinner, maybe start a discussion about what they learned. What was hard? What was easier than they thought
- Celebrate the accomplishment and lessons they learned with the activity <3
