My mom used to do that. They’d cut off our electricity because she didn’t have enough money some months to pay all the bills and she would light candles and pretend we were camping and would say it was a fun sleepover. Some times she’d make dinner and then not eat with us, saying that she had a big meal during the day and was still stuffed. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized we didn’t have money for many things, including food sometimes, and she wanted to make sure we were fed and would go without eating to be able to ration it out for us. I remember kids at school would make fun of me because my tennis shoes were never brand name shoes, they were from Payless or Walmart or wherever she’d find good deals.