By on April 17th, 2017

Weekend Ideas for Host Families and International Students

Being a homestay parent is a rewarding experience unlike any other. Here are seven tips for host families to entertain your guest on the weekends.

Ask Them What’s on Their Bucket List

Do this with your student early on. Depending on where you live, they probably thought of some places beforehand that they really want to see nearby. A lot of times, this will be a public area that won’t cost you a dime but may take up an afternoon to bring them to.

Go to the Movies

Movies can definitely add up if you’re going every single weekend, but every now and then, they’re a fairly affordable way to save money on being a homestay host while still showing your student a good time.

Be sure you plan ahead, too. Going on Friday night will be more expensive than catching a matinee on Saturday or Sunday morning. There are also all kinds of coupon sites that will cut the price for a movie even further.

Check Your Local Calendar

As a host family, you should always be on the lookout for local events. There may be free concerts in the park, parades, cultural performances, historical recreations, athletic tournaments, etc.

The vast majority of the time, these will be free or extremely cheap, so stay on the lookout and try to get a sense for which types of events your foreign student likes best.

Go to the Museum or Zoo

This is a kind of a no-brainer, but the zoo and museum are always good ways to spend a few hours. The latter is usually going to be completely free, too. For the zoo, it might be worth becoming a member for the period you’ll be a homestay host for the discount and because you can return often. Probably wait until you know your student is going to enjoy it there, though.

Consider Local Monuments

Are there cool local monuments in or near your city? We touched on this before, but if they’re the type of monument that is known the world over (e.g. the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, etc.), this will probably be on their bucket list, anyway.

Even if you don’t have these kinds of landmarks that they would have heard of, there are probably a couple they’d enjoy seeing all the same.

Hit the Mall

No matter where a international student goes, they’re always going to love malls. This will never change. One easy way to spend few hours is to take your international student to the one in your town.

You may even decide that it’s best to drop them off or go your separate ways with an agreed-upon time to meet. Of course, you don’t want to do this until your student is feeling comfortable in their new city, but, again, being a teenager, they also crave independence.

These seven ideas are plenty of fun and it is affordable, too.