There is much talk these days of parents having "quality time" with their children. What better way to have quality time than to build a custom cardboard playhouse out of appliance boxes. Appliance stores will generally give these boxes free to anyone that requests them. Then, you cut holes for windows and doors and decorate the house with paint, curtains, pictures and other items.
Let your child or children be involved in the design and decoration as much as possible. You can even use multiple boxes to make a very large house. The adult can do the cutting and supervise the glueing and painting. If one asks around at home stores, latex interior paints that have been returned or mixed improperly may be purchased for hardly anything. Check your own paint closet or ask a friend and you can probably find as much paint as needed at no cost. A local dollar store is a great place to obtain furnishings. Also, your garage or attic, a friend or neighbor's garage or attic, a thrift store, or a rummage sale make great places to obtain furnishings and decorations at little or no cost.
Kids Toy Boxes
Once the house is completed, the child or children will have a nice playhouse to have friends over, have tea parties, or just hang out in. Most important, this will be more than a toy for the child; it will be a memory of a neat thing they did with their parent or parents that they can fondly look back on many years from now.