Last year, I remember using the hashtag #eidsnotexpensive to introduce practical ways to spend eid holidays. As many would take a trip to nearby destinations or spend staycation holiday on hotels around the city, there would be some who weren’t able to finalize their activities until the last minute.
I’ve collected several lessons and discoveries over the last few days, and while going back to work still on a vacation mode, i decided to hit the road today and share what we’ve been up to during the last four days.
FREE COMMUNITY EVENTS.
There were lots of events scheduled during Eid Al Adha 2017. From sports to various entertainment shows, we have a lot of choices. Most of all, these events are usually FREE. And we were given an opportunity to help as one of the social media volunteers in promoting and covering Piyestahan 2017 (link to our event PRIMER here). Through INSTA STORIES, our social media followers were able to watch snippets of the ongoing festivities. This is our way of giving back to the community who were also supporting our blogs and our initiatives.
ENJOYED OUR VERY OWN “KAKANING PINOY”.
Aside from the regular programming, we usually look forward to those pinoy desserts (kakanin) that are hard-to-find on a regular basis. These delicacies bring back good times and memories of our life back in the Philippines. And what better way to celebrate a long holiday than to take home these goodies while spending lazy days in front of the TV, a book, or while doing our household chores.
REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE.
Cleaning up our closets will help us discover that we have collected more items than we actually need. Again we can revisit our way of spending or make use of these items as gifts or even for the purpose where we bought them in the first place. Our busy schedules or unorganized storage areas may even show that we have those things we’ve been looking for in a long time.
LOOKS CAN BE DECEIVING.
While some restaurants can look intimidating outside, you’ll be surprised that many of them actually doesn’t cost as much as what we expect them. We would only know by trying it out ourselves or to be safe, checking out their online menu or even calling their numbers for inquiries. We’ve visited a seafood restaurant in Katara for the first time and since we were only guests of the group, we let our friends order the food. We all thought that choosing from the ala carte menu would be less expensive since you get the see the price afront. However, we were told by the waiting staff that we could have actually enjoyed the “fresh market” options at half the price of what we ordered.
FREE LIVE SHOWS AND PERFORMANCES AT THE MALL.
The best spots to go during hot days are the malls. And we are blessed that there are now a lot of great shopping malls to visit in Qatar. And as we always recommend, the opening hours is one of the best times to stroll where there are still less people and we can enjoy peaceful walk while checking out window displays and even taking a snap of the beautiful mall interiors. For families with kids, there are also FREE shows held inside the malls. We don’t actually need to spend more on paid entertainment as they will already be delighted with several shows happening left and right.
Hope that everyone had a blast during the four days break. Feel free to share your Eid Holiday experiences as others are just half way through it. These ideas and tips could help others spend a meaningful vacation without really spending too much.
And when someone would ask “how are we doing here in Qatar?” i would always ask them to checkout my blog posts and social media accounts. We are simply blessed to be in a country where we always feel secured and protected. Amidst all the challenges, we can still confidently say LIFE IS GOOD here in Qatar!
Love how you always celebrate Eid vacations, always a family bonding affair! <3
Aw! Thank you MS LEN!
We always explore Qatar on a budget. More nature, free shows and family road trips. Hope the family enjoyed Eid holidays! Been following your instastories! All very entertaining ❤️
Thank you for the support. Your travels are inspiring to us esp that you are traveling with kids… it gives us confidence too. See u guys soon!