Frugal Fun Ottawa Newsletter 
May 2010


Tulip Festival - May 7 to 24, 2010

There are over one million tulips planted around Ottawa and the National Capital Region.  Tulips are blooming at Commissioners Park (at Dow’s Lake), along Queen Elizabeth Drive to Parliament Hill, and across the Ottawa River in Mackenzie King Estates in Gatineau Park. Hopefully they willl still be in bloom during the tulip festival! This year's special 65th anniversary Liberation edition of the Tulip Festival offers lots of opportunities for frugal fun.  Biking along the canal among the tulips and picnicking at Commissioners Park or Major's Hill Park are two ways of enjoying the spring weather and the tulips, and here are a few more:

• Party along Sparks street on May 7th, from 4:30 to 10 pm.  This Liberation Party will recreate the spontaneous street party that happened on May 7th, 1945 on Sparks Street, and will include a parade as well as free entertainment on Sparks Street between Elgin and Bank streets.   
   
• Enjoy music in the tulips!  Every day during the festival various musicians from various parts of Canada will entertain visitors at Commissioners's Park.  Check out the Tulip Festival event calendar to see the day's featured singers and performers.
   
• Visit the Tulip Legacy Discovery Cart at Commissioners Park from May 8 to May 24. You'll be able to touch and hold artifacts, try on Dutch clogs and learn more about the various themes of the Tulip Legacy exhibit. The Legacy Cart will be animated by NCC interpreters Monday to Thursday from 9 am to 5 pm and Friday to Sunday from 9 am to 8 pm.
   
• Take photographs - lots and lots of photographs!  The tulip festival offers one of the best photo ops in Ottawa.  The multi-colored tulips make an amazing background, and many tulip beds have stone paths allowing you to pose among the tulips. These photos, nicely framed, make wonderful, frugal gifts for special occasions.  Mother's Day is on May 9th, so you'll have to hurry if you want to surprise mom, but they would make terrific gifts for Father's Day and Christmas, too!  And since the tulips are blooming early this year, you can head down to the tulip beds right now and get some great pictures before the crowds arrive.  Visit Photography.com for tips on how to take beautiful flower photographs.
   

• Make a rain gauge - Take a plastic pop bottle, cut off the top, and use a few elastics to hold a ruler vertically along the bottle.  Place it outside in an open area, and check it regularly.  Once the rain stops, compare your measurement with the weather man's!
   
• Go on a treasure hunt.  This one takes a bit of planning, but it can keep the kids busy and entertained for a long while.  For younger children you can use a pictures glued to the "clue" to tell them where to search next.  Older children will love to solve simple riddles.  You can also have the kids create a scavenger hunt - they can cut out pictures of everyday items from old magazines and glue them onto cue cards or pieces of cardboard.  Once they're tired of crafting, send them on the hunt!
   
• Have an indoor sports day. You can easily set up a "basketball" court using scrunched up paper and empty boxes.  Create an indoor volleyball court by tying a length of string between two chairs, and using a balloon as the ball.  The balloon can also be used to play ping pong; have the kids make paper fans to use as "paddles", then use the air currents they generate to move the balloon across a table.  And don't forget to play every child's favorite "sport" - hide and seek!