Things For the Family To Do in Las Vegas: Go Shopping

My mom, my daughter and I enjoy walking around the mall and window shopping. Even though we may not have the money to spend right now, we like to look at what we want to save up our money for. Plus, it's a great place to be in the air conditioning when it is over 100 degrees outside. We love that we have several malls to choose from here in Las Vegas. Each mall has a little something extra special.

Fashion Show Mall

One of our favorite malls is the Fashion Show mall on the Strip because they have free fashion shows on the hour! Here is a picture of the fashion show that we saw today:

Fashion Show mall

Meadows Mall

We frequently walk around the Meadows mall. Our favorite store there is See's Candy because they give each person a free sample! I try to remember to bring my refillable souvenir cup with me to the Hot Dog on a Stick and get a giant lemonade for only $2.  

Bring your little ones to the free summer play days at the Disney store. 

Lady Bug Express Train ride at Meadows Mall

You can purchase tickets for a train ride or play at the free playground located in front of Dillard's Clearance store. 

Meadows mall free playground

Toddler car rides for $1 are located near JCPenney.

Meadows mall toddler car rides

Crystals - City Center

walkway bridge at Crystals - City Center

Crystals is an upscale indoor mall in the City Center featuring many well known fashion designers. Valet is very friendly and informative. 

In the middle of the walkway, we saw these fascinating whirlpools inside tall glass pillars. Some of them were even tinted with colorful lights. We were mesmerized as we watched them change direction.

glass column whirlpools - Crystals mall

Several frozen pillars of glacial ice were standing as high as 15 feet in a diagonal pool. It takes up to 50 water jets to sculpt each one and up to 36 hours for the columns to freeze.

Glacia ice pillars - Crystals mall

Across the short walkway bridge outside, there are a few fine art gallery shops, where we enjoyed some interesting fine art by Elena Bulatova, amazing bronze human sculptures by Richard MacDonald, breathtaking photography by Rodney Lough Jr., and one-of-a-kind blown glass by Dale Chihuly.

Gallery Row Shops - City Center

I downloaded a free app on my phone, called "Aria Fine Art Collection" that guided us on an extensive free walking tour of fine art. 

"Reclining Connected Forms" by Henry Moore

"Seven Magic Mountains" by Ugo Rondinone

Outside, in front of Aria is a long walkway with a beautiful waterfall, and a dancing water fountain.

Aria waterfall

Other indoor shopping malls:

Forum Shops at Caesar's - talking statues

Grand Canal at the Venetian - singing gondoliers

Miracle Mile at Planet Hollywood - fountain show, indoor rainstorm

Outlet mall on South Las Vegas Blvd. at Warm Springs

Boulevard mall on Maryland Pkwy. - new giant interactive aquarium coming soon

Outdoor shopping malls:

The Fremont Street Experience between Main St. and 4th St. - purchase tickets for the zip line, free light show

Downtown Container Park on Fremont St. and 7th St. - playground

Grand Bazaar in front of Bally's - free light show

Summerlin mall near I-215 at W. Sahara - free weekly family-friendly outdoor movies

Outlet mall near the Spaghetti Bowl - Locals' Night every Wed.

Town Square on Las Vegas Blvd. at I-215 - an incredible playground with a fountain, tree house, and a maze

The District in Green Valley Ranch - free concerts, free outdoor movies

Free on the Strip (part 3)

An oasis in the desert is the hotel for the birds. Some birds are tourists enjoying the waterhole and free food, while others have lived in this paradise for many years. Several waterfalls pour into a large koi pond that is home to over 300 fish, 20 turtles, and over 60 birds. This certainly would be a romantic scene for a wedding near the waterfall and garden.

We saw many huge Japanese Koi and an Albino Channel Catfish, as well as some mallard ducks enjoying the pond.

Some lucky birds have been rescued, mended, and cherished by some very loving attendants at the Flamingo Wildlife Habitat.

You could tell the residents apart from the visitors because they were a bit territorial at feeding time. Apparently, the European Shelduck can be quite quarrelsome.

We saw an elegant Australian black swan with a brilliant bill gracefully float by to make his presence known.

We found a hummingbird feeder, but we didn’t witness any hummingbirds. These year round visitors are welcome guests because they dine on all of the tiny bugs that are attracted to the hotel windows.

Apparently there are 20 water turtles here, but we only saw just this one swimming past us to say hi.

This beautifully maintained park is free on the Strip and open to the public during daylight hours. The best time to go is either 8:30 am or 2:00 pm when the pelicans are being fed by a friendly caretaker who educates everyone present about the animals and answers all of your questions that you may have.

The speaker told us that these two pelicans were found in California wrapped in some fishing line. Their damaged wings were repaired but they are permanently disabled. They are named Bugsy and Virginia, after Bugsy Siegel and his girlfriend, who opened the first resort casino on the Strip.

Bugsy named the hotel Flamingo because of his girlfriend’s long legs and red hair.

Displayed in the front lobby are some interesting historical photographs on the wall next to a giant birdcage that holds a handsome Macaw named Captain, who was rescued when he was 5 months old. We tried to get him to talk to us, but he was taking a coffee break and didn’t want to be disturbed.

In the back hallway, there is another huge birdcage that holds some lovely cockatiels.

One of them was very friendly, came over and even bent down so that my daughter could pet him! “It was so soft!” she exclaimed when we left.

We were provided with an informative brochure that explained about all of the different animals. This would be a great place to take your kids for a free educational excursion, on your way to the pool of course! I know my mother, my daughter and I really enjoyed it.

Free on the Strip (part 2)

To celebrate Father’s Day, we did something a little special today. We went to the Shelby Mustang Heritage Center and enjoyed their free guided tour. The museum is not technically on the main drag but is located just off of Las Vegas Blvd. just south of the Las Vegas sign which by the way is another exciting thing to see for free on the Strip. Recently they added a small parking lot so you can get out and take your picture in front of the world famous sign. There is usually a short line but it goes pretty quickly.

The extremely knowledgeable tour guide went around the entire showroom and explained a great deal about each car. I was impressed that he was able to speak for about 2 hours straight from memory without using any notes. I liked that it wasn’t just a bunch of boring statistics, but he gave intriguing tidbits of background information about Carroll Shelby and how he fulfilled his dreams.

During the tour, we found out that Mr. Shelby was a chicken farmer and started racing as a fluke when his friend, who was a racecar driver, asked him to fill in and drive for him for one race. From that moment on, he was hooked. After he retired early from racing in 1960 due to health issues, he started making race cars. The guide told us the story of how Shelby originally took his sales pitch to GM but they weren’t interested, because they already had their Corvette. So he went down the street to Ford, and when Lee Iococca heard that he had something that could beat the Chevrolet Corvette, he was sold.

The tour guide stated that Carroll Shelby was always trying to make his cars even faster. He also stated that he had cars available for sale if anyone was interested to talk to him after the tour was over.

When the tour guide popped the hood and showed us the motor of the Shelby 1000, all of the guys were crowding in to get a good picture of that engine.

There were about 25 people on our tour that started at 10:30 am. When we headed out to the production area, almost every one of the approximately 20 production bays had a car being built or remodeled. This is where it was extremely hard to hear what he was saying unless you were directly in front of him, so several of us left and went back inside to sit down on the bench to wait. When I sat down and looked at my watch, I was shocked that he had captivated my attention for 1 hour and 45 minutes!

While I was sitting on the bench, that is when I noticed that they were filming live for Drivers Talk Radio right there in the showroom while everyone else was in the production area.

When the tour was over at about 12:30 pm, we looked around the retail gift shop at all of the t-shirts, hats, and souvenirs they had for sale. You can even order custom Shelby car parts such as struts, clutch plates, and superchargers for conversions.

Even though my husband was there once before, he said it was a different experience. He said it was another tour guide and some of the cars in the showroom were new because some are on loan and some are for sale. The first tour guide was older and actually knew Carroll Shelby and talked about his personal conversations with him. The second tour guide was filled with interesting facts and figures about the chronological history of each and every one of the specific cars down to the year, make, model, and the specific conversations and/or controversies around that specific car, how and why it was made the way it was made. I didn’t actually count them but I think there were probably about 30 cars in that showroom and he talked about every single one of them.

I’m no expert when it comes to cars, but I really appreciated this tour because my first car was a silver blue 1975 Mustang Mach 1 V-8 hatchback and I loved it!

So anyone who is a car nut of any age will enjoy this experience, and it doesn’t have to be just a one-time occasion either. They have tours every day, but if you happen to go at a time when they are not giving a guided tour, you can still learn an abundant amount of informative facts just from what is written on the walls of the showroom. This is a remarkable place to take the entire family on your next vacation to Las Vegas. This would also be a fascinating place to take students for an educational history lesson. Definitely a must see on your list of free things to do on the Strip!

She Earned It!

My daughter earned all A’s and B’s on her final report card! She worked hard and deserves a treat! So for a reward, my husband and I took her to Krispy Kreme on Spring Mountain and Rainbow.

Krispy Kreme has a fantastic community spirit by offering a free donut for every A on a student’s report card. (Below is a picture of a sign in their window.)

What a great incentive because what kid doesn’t love donuts as a special treat.

She was giddy because she got to order a whole box of donuts of whatever she wanted.

On top of that, because we came during their “hot light” hours, they gave us each a free hot glazed donut fresh off the stove!

So we received NINE FREE DONUTS! No gimmicks…not with a purchase… just free…period.

But of course, you can’t just leave without ordering something else because they are just too tempting. My husband and I each ordered a donut and a cup of coffee, and we bought her a milk.

Speaking of free deals, my husband went to Krispy Kreme on Veteran’s Day last year and they gave him a donut and a cup of coffee for free! Plus, they give a military discount on every purchase. What a great way to honor the people who have served our country!

At this particular location, you can watch the entire process of how they make their donuts. My daughter really enjoyed watching the donuts flip over automatically so she took a video.

Free on the Strip (part 1)

One of my mom’s favorite things to do in Las Vegas is to see the Bellagio garden because she loves to seek out the colorful beauty in the desert wherever she can find it. Whenever she sees a different flower, she always tries to see if she remembers the name of it before looking it up. They have small signs everywhere that tell you the names of the plants and other educational tidbits of information.

We try to go at least 2 or 3 times a year because they change it every season. We have seen it decorated for Christmas, changed for Chinese New Year, and then changed for the Spring. We have gone again in the Summer, but it usually was not much different from the Spring the few times we have been there. Sometimes, we see several of the same decorations that we have seen before, just displayed a little differently. But this time, it was a completely new scene that we had never seen before.

The indoor garden was decorated as if it was all underwater. My daughter and her cousin told us the theme was “Finding Nemo” because there was a sunken ship with a scuba diver dressed in black, and in the giant walk-through aquarium we found all the different kinds of fish that were the characters in the movie, such as Nemo, Dory, Gill, Bubbles, and Deb. There was also a huge sea turtle covered in flowers that reminded us of Crush. 

There were enormous jelly fish hanging from the glass ceiling that reminded us of the scene when Marlin and Dory were surrounded and scared. I loved all of the colorful hydrangea underneath the seahorses made of shells and flower petals.

There was a giant blue whale with huge kind eyes that reminded us of the whale that brought Marlin and Dory to Sydney, Australia where Nemo was. I thought it was made out of cabbage, but my mom corrected me and said it was covered in “hen and chicks.” 

My daughter was sad that she didn’t see Squirt anywhere, but she also stated that there were no sharks or “bad guys” either, which made it very cheerful and family friendly.

Seeing all of this makes us even more excited for the new movie “Finding Dory.” 

In the back corner lies a giant picture frame that is always filled with a different artistic scene made entirely out of flowers. They usually have the original painting next to the frame along with information about the artist and/or the painting itself. But this time, it was a promotion for their new restaurant. 

In addition to the garden inside, there is a spectacular fountain show choreographed to music located outside in front of the hotel which you absolutely must see. If you happen to stop by when it is not showing, just stand there and wait a few minutes and it will start back up again. It is definitely worth the wait.

There’s many more free things to do on the Strip, so stay tuned!

Check it out!

“I’m bored!” “I don’t have anything to do!” “This is boring!” “What can I do?” Do your kids say these things all the time too?

Are you broke too?

So what do we do as a family for entertainment when we don’t have any money?

Movies

There was a time when we had to turn off cable and the internet to help cut down our expenses in order to pay our bills. I was super spoiled with my DVR and hated having to turn that off! I just thought I was going to die without my favorite shows! We just watched antenna TV, Redbox, or movies that we already had on the wall. After a certain bill was paid off, we turned on basic internet. When another bill was paid off, we got Netflix. Later we added Amazon Prime, so now we have gotten used to not having cable TV. Now I’m spoiled being able to watch an entire season of our favorite television show all at once! It’s astonishing what you can get used to when you have to. And we can put up with not having something as long as we keep telling ourselves that it’s only temporary until we can afford it again.

When we got sick of trying to watch the three fuzzy channels, and after we had seen all of our own movies way too many times, we found a surprisingly amazing resource for FREE. The library has a fairly big selection of movies that you can check out for free, either on DVD or even online.

Books

When we finally realized that there is nothing on TV to watch, then we remembered how much we used to love to read! We would spend an hour at the library just looking for books, but now we go online to search for what we want to read. We can either download it to read, or we can request a book to check out and they email us when it is ready to be picked up. If you don’t know what you want to read, they have convenient lists available by age and genre. Just ask the librarian at the desk, they are usually very happy to help.

Summer

The library has a wonderful activities calendar during the summer for all ages! They have story time, movie time, craft activities, concerts, author visits, and guest speakers. One time I went to the library and there just happened to be a flower show and I came home with a free orchid! You never know what you’ll find at the library!

So what do you do as a family for entertainment when you don’t have any money?

Random Acts of Kindness

Living on a budget is a great opportunity to teach your children valuable life lessons, such as saving and giving. Not only can you give money, but you can also give your time and energy. Teach your kids to have courage and be kind. When they help other people, they can see different perspectives. Even though you may not be wealthy, you are rich in the blessings of your children.

Set an example for your kids and volunteer your time for a worthy cause. Find something that your kids can do with you. While beefing up their resume with needed experience and job skills, they will feel a sense of pride and accomplishment for helping someone in need. Acts of random kindness repay you with warm fuzzies, contentment and joy like nothing else you can ever imagine or buy.

Excuses

There are always excuses. “I don’t have time.” “I’m just one person; how can I make a difference?” “I don’t know what I could do.” Just like the slave who helped the lion, you don’t need money, skills, or a great amount of time to help someone in need. Just like anything else in life, you can start out small and work your way up.

Home

It’s always best to start them young. Have your toddler help you sort the laundry into colors. Have your preschooler help you put the clean dishes away. As they get older, keep adding to the list of chores. Have your kindergartener take out the trash to the curb. Have your pre-teen wash dishes and dust the furniture. Have your tween vacuum the carpet and sweep the floors. Have your teenager clean the bathrooms. It’s never too late to start, no matter how old you are.

Neighborhood

Smile and wave to your neighbors. Just a small gesture can brighten someone’s day. If you see graffiti, grab a paintbrush and cover it with some white paint. The best way to help someone is to do it without being asked and surprising them with a job well done.

School

Ask your teacher at school if he or she needs any help with anything, such as erasing the board or picking up papers.

Church

Your local church needs your help wherever you can give it. You can help in the nursery watching the babies, empty the trash cans, pass out bulletins, or vacuum the carpet.

Community

Who do you want to help? Do some research to see what is needed in your local area. Are people out of work and looking for a job? Do they need help with the basic needs of life like food and clothing?

You can help feed the hungry at your local food pantry. When food is donated to the organization, they need volunteers to unload boxes from the truck, stock the food on shelves, and prepare meals for people.

You can help sort baby clothes at your local crisis pregnancy center. When clothes and baby items are donated to the organization, they need volunteers to sort through the items by gender, age, size, and season. The clothes need to be cleaned, steamed, tagged, and displayed for the parents to find what they need for their children. The baby items need to be sorted and distributed in layettes that are given to new mothers to help them take care of their newborn baby.

The World

Collect some inexpensive items to fill a shoebox to give to a needy child somewhere across the world. If your family does this throughout the year, it is not such a big expense to fill a shoebox all at once, but it is a huge blessing for a child who would not otherwise receive a gift for Christmas. Watch the following video for more information about Operation Christmas Child:

Who knows? Maybe one day you will be in a crisis and need someone to help you, like the story of the lion and the mouse.

God will provide what you need.

If you can give money to the needy, there are many worthy organizations to give to. It is possible to give even if you don’t have any money. We can do it, so can you.

What are some other suggestions of ways to help others in need?

PIZZA!

What do we do on our one family night of the week? We grab a $5 pizza to go and take it home. I don’t want to spend time in the kitchen cooking, I’d rather spend time with my family! Like most families, we have busy, hectic lives with varied schedules that make it difficult for us to ever have an evening together. We love to spend time together chatting, laughing, and just enjoying each other’s company. 

Sometimes we will play a card game, put a puzzle together, or watch a favorite movie that we’ve seen a dozen times. If we do actually play a game, we don’t keep score. Sometimes, we don’t even remember whose turn it is because we’ve been telling jokes, stories, or reminiscing and forget about the game almost entirely. It’s not really about the game or the movie, it’s more about the quality time, and pizza is what brings the family together.

Restaurants

My family loves pizza and our favorite pizzerias are Sammy’s, California Kitchen, and Metro Pizza. These are the best restaurants to go to if you can afford it because they are worth every penny!  

When we had a Costco membership, we would get pizza from their concession stand. I remember that it was deliciously inexpensive.

Delivery

For pizza delivery, our favorite was Hungry Howie’s. They have the best flavored crust and fresh salads. Unfortunately, they closed the one location near us! Now we like Papa John’s, but for a large sausage pizza, including delivery charge and tax, the cost is $20 plus tip.

Carryout

We have found that it is much cheaper and faster to get the pizza yourself, plus it is even hotter and fresher when you get it home! You could get one of those take and bake pizzas, but that involves heating up the oven, a longer wait time, and defeats the purpose. If you want an even cheaper alternative, you could get the Red Baron frozen pizzas at Walmart, but you still have to cook it.

The best value has to be Little Caesar’s “Hot-n-Ready” pepperoni pizza for only $5 which feeds our family of 3 quite nicely! You don’t have to call to order, you just go there and pick it up. You don’t hardly have to wait any time at all because they usually have them hot and ready, waiting for you to pick it up immediately. We usually go to the one on Charleston and Decatur. It’s a small hole in the wall with no place to sit, but there are always customers coming and going. I think one time we had to wait a couple minutes because the person ahead of us took everything they had, but they are constantly making cheese and pepperoni pizzas so that they are instantly ready for pick up. What an amazing concept!

We each get 2 or 3 pieces of our favorite comfort food. This pizza is surprisingly good for only $5! The crust is not too thin and not too thick. In the past, we have also ordered their “three meats” pizza for $8 which is delicious! Their cheese bread is appealing, but we usually just fill up on pizza and don’t need the appetizer. My husband keeps saying that we need to try their wings someday.

Little Caesar’s has locations all around the world, so find one near you and pick up their “hot and ready” pizzas whenever you need a cheap, quick, and easy dinner for your family.

What is your favorite pizza joint and why?

What do you do for Family Night?

Free and Educational

A great benefit of living in Las Vegas is that we have plenty of beautiful parks to choose from. There are several hidden gems that the local residents treasure. If you don’t have any money to spend on entertainment, going to the park is a great way to spend the day with your family. My mother and I like to take my daughter and her younger cousins to the park so that they can play on the playground while we take a nature walk.

Even though the City of Las Vegas is fairly young, there is a wealth of history in this valley; you just have to look for it. We found a little piece of history tucked away in a residential neighborhood. There is a small park on Cimarron just south of Sahara that is worth checking out if you are interested in a history lesson. 

The Old Spanish Trail runs right through the middle of the park. You can actually see some of the old wagon wheel ruts which are preserved in the original landscape at the very back edge of the trail.

As you can see in the above picture, the dirt trail is very level and easy to walk on, and there are several covered benches conveniently scattered throughout the park so you can sit while the kids are playing. 

There is a concrete sidewalk that wraps all the way around the outer edge of the park so that 3 laps conveniently equal one mile. We enjoy walking around and reading all of the interesting historical signs that are placed throughout the park. One of the most interesting signs talks about the evolution of the interstate highway.

Las Vegas was a watering stop and campsite on the way to California. The trail was originally a mule path, until covered wagons started bringing families out west. My mom’s favorite sign was about the toys that children played with as they crossed the country in a covered wagon, and how the long journey west was dangerous for children.

We also learned that several of the street names in this city were named after the original pioneer settlers and ranch owners, such as Gass, Stewart, Kiel, Fremont, Craig, Smoke, and Gilcrease.

Mom and I really take pleasure in looking at the desert scenery and chatting as we walk the path around the playground area. The park and restrooms are well maintained, and little doggie bag stations are conveniently placed for dog walkers. 

I always thought the desert was just sand, cactus, and tumbleweeds. But this park has a beautiful desert landscape with several flowering bushes like this one in the picture below.

We are originally from Illinois where there are an abundance of green trees and shrubs with beautiful gardens of colorful flowers everywhere. So it took us a while to appreciate the beauty of the desert, because at first glance, all we saw was brown. Eventually though, we realized that there are many different shades of brown in the sand and the mountains. Then we saw the beautiful golden sunsets, the yellow and pink flowers, the red rock, the orange and purple of desert brush, and we learned to be grateful for the rare treasure of such striking colors in the desert.

We hunt for the specks of green wherever we can find them. We relish finding wild flowers in the desert landscape. We also like to search for the animals: such as chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, and hummingbirds.

Yucca Tree

My daughter really likes the Joshua trees which are scattered beyond the local highways. There was even a park sign that said, “You know you are in the Mojave Desert when you see Joshua trees.” Ironically, we did not see any in this particular park, but we did see several yucca trees. A Joshua tree is the largest of the yucca family.

There are an abundance of parks to choose from in Las Vegas, so we check out different ones all the time. It’s a nice way to spend a lovely spring day outside and enjoy the beautiful sunny weather. There was a lovely cool breeze so we had to wear a light sweater. You could even bring a homemade picnic lunch, have quality time with the family and not spend any money.  It’s a great way to get some exercise and enjoy the fresh air.

Whether you want to spend a day with your family or just get out of the house on a nice day, Las Vegas parks have something to offer everyone. Please let us know about your favorite park in the comments below. Thank you!

Theater vs. Netflix

We love to go to the theater as a family, especially since it is such a rare occasion that we can afford to go. We don't like to waste our money on movies that we can wait and watch at home on Netflix, but there are some movies that you just have to splurge and experience in a movie theater, like Star Trek, Star Wars, and The Avengers, because of the phenomenal surround sound, the visual effects on the giant larger-than-life screen, the action of the superheroes, the "ooos" and the "aahs" of the audience, the smell and taste of the popcorn, all of which you just can't duplicate at home.

Last year, we took our daughter to see Cinderella for her birthday, which she absolutely loved.

We had recently earned a free movie ticket from Regal Rewards so we found a great movie to watch as a family at the theater for Easter that I definitely recommend:

"Risen" is the Biblical story of the resurrection as told through the eyes of Clavius, who was ordered by Pontius Pilate to solve the mystery of what happened to the body after the crucifixion, in order to invalidate the rumors that Jesus is alive.

We try to see a movie at the the special matinee price, or on special discount days that the theater offers:

Regal Cinemas at the Texas Station casino is one that we enjoy because of the overall cleanliness of their theater:

• Tuesdays $6 + 50% off popcorn + free soda refill
• During the summer, they have special family movies every Tuesday and Wednesday for $1

Brendan Theater at the Palms casino is our favorite place for their comfortable seats and their chili-cheese nachos, but only if we can afford to splurge:

• Mondays $5
• Tuesdays "2 for $22" includes 2 tickets, 2 drinks, and popcorn

Tropicana Cinema typically plays the movies that have been out for a while but we tend to just watch those on Netflix:

• Tuesdays $1
• Every other day is only $2

The next movie that we hope to see at the theater is either Batman vs. Superman or Captain America: Civil War. 

Please let us know of any other great movie theater deals in the comments section below. Thank you!