by Kate Johns

Created on: September 12, 2008

Labor Day weekend is a time to allow yourself to have a day or two off to enjoy the last days of summer. It is a time to go swimming, and ride the rides at an amusement park and have that one last offical summertime picnic before summer ends. It is not a time to do something you do all year long; work. Work is a dirty word during the labor day weekend in my house. We all try to do as little of it as possible.

Labor Day is a national holiday for Americans to celebrate working so hard all year long. Usually people get paid for this day off which always happens on a Monday. People who have jobs and people who are stay at home Moms or Dads or who are volunteers should take the day off. Of course, you can't let the baby change his own diaper, but you can slack off and go to the park for the day.

Besides taking Labor Day weekend off by not working, you should by all means not spend the last days of summer shopping for back to school clothing and school supplies. When it rains all Labor Day weekend, the malls become packed with people shopping for clothes and school supplies for the kids. Why oh why wait until the last minute? Wait until after school starts and beat the crowds! Buy the kids' school supplies when they come out back in June or even July when the deals are really good and there are plenty of supplies to go around. Don't wait until a day or so before school starts. You will be fighting for a parking space and running people over in the aisles to get to the best bargains.

Send the kids to school in their summer clothing for the first few days. It usually is still hot outside and you can get away with it. This way you can persue the stores the next weekend when it is less crowded and the deals are even better. The clothes will offer massive markdowns and clearance prices in an attmept to make room for winter clothing, and those holiday bargains.

What else can you not do during the Labor Day weekend? You should not be spending the weekend on a home improvement project. Home improvement projects can be taken care of during the cooler season of fall or spring for when rain happens every other day and the days are so much shorter. Labor Day weekend has been created for all Americans to take time off and reflect on what it means to be a working American. It is not a time to repair the roof, or fix that leaky faucet.

During the Labor Day weekend don't spend the entire weekend doing the same old thing. Do something creative and different. How about treating yourself and your partner and going away for a romantic weekend for two? How about spending the day with your family going to the beach, or the park? Why not go away to a different part of the country you have never been to before and go sightseeing? How about doing something so completely different by just staying home, not cleaning the house, getting takeout or eating out every night, and not being responsible for one entire weekend? Try being a tourist in your own backyard and go hot air, ballooning, horseback riding, scuba diving, parasailing, or go for a boat tour.

Labor Day weekend is a time to relax and have some fun. Don't spend the weekend doing the same things you do all year long such as working, fixing something or staying home and watching television, or running boring errands. Get out and enjoy Labor Day weekend, because before you know it the cold winds of winter will be lashing at your front door, and you will be wishing it was summer again.

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