Shopping with Kids at the Craftsmen’s Fair
Whenever we go shopping with our kids we try to give them the opportunity to buy something. It is never a big dollar figure thing, but allowing them to make their own decisions serves multiple purposes:
- The kids stay engaged during the day because they know they will get something
- The kids learn how to work with a budget
This past weekend, we went with two of our kids to the 75th Annual Craftsmen’s Fair in New Hampshire. The fair is a sprawling array of artisans demonstrating their crafts and offering them for sale. There are glassblowers, blacksmiths, painters, and sculptors working in every medium you can imagine.
Now a craft fair may not sound like a great day for kids, so we employed our strategy and told them they could each spend $20 on a craft of his or her choice. After looking at the hundreds of exhibits, the kids decided on pieces of hand-sculptured pewter from Walker Boyle. Our daughter chose two horse figurines and our son chose an eagle talon talisman. Mr. Boyle was friendly and accommodating to the kids, which made the entire transaction fun.
Each child hit the $20 mark exactly and left the fair happy as larks making it a great day for the whole family.
[...] and fellow shoppers about the displayed items. Our two children particularly were enamored with pewter items, and each chose items as souvenirs for the day. My husband and I found stained glass created by [...]
Pingback made by Good Life Review - For Those that Love to Travel » 75th Annual NH Craftsmen’s Fair on August 12, 2008 @ 12:05 pm
I think this is a great idea to let the kids have a specific amount to spend on something they’d like. I hope though that if they didn’t really see something they wanted that you would allow them to save it instead of “spend it or lose it.”
Comment made by Karen, author of "My Funny Dad, Harry" on September 16, 2008 @ 11:00 am