The standard of lost cost holidays is appalling but there’s very limited options

In my experience there has never been any correlation between the quality of a holiday and its price

@Screamingabdabz you seem to have missed my next post explaining further. The "riffraff" who threatened to stab my son with scissors..yeah damn fucking right I took him out of that environment and not for one second will i apologise for it. And again, I won't derail further.

I’m struggling to see your point here. Are you saying that well off people shouldn’t go to Butlins? Or that it’s wrong that they stay in posher appointments? Or… what? FWIW we have a high household income and we have a weekend in Butlins every year because despite it making me want to gouge my eyes out with a spoon, my kids think it’s the best place ever invented. We don’t even stay in the posh lodges.

Damn it, I mean in term time/out of school holidays, too late to reedit

Well if you voted Tory or did not vote in 2019, you are partly responsible for the cost of living crisis being worse than it need be.

If you supported Brexit, which has made travel into and out of the EU more difficult, you have contributed.

Meh, we’ve got a ‘mumsnet six figure income’ and did a week at Butlins last year. Preschool age kids, it’s not a holiday as such but what is with tiny kids! We stay in the premium apartments and for £400 the kids get daily swimming, puppet shows, toddler disco and fairground. If we spent a week at home we’d easily spend £400 taking them to entertainment parks, leisure centres etc to get the same and we’d be stuck at home with the temptation of doing laundry to boot and no wine on the balcony when they’re asleep. We’re going again this September 😁 The kids adore it and we do plenty of galleries, museums, national trust places every weekend when not on holiday. I can’t be getting on board with the judgement, if it makes the kids happy I’m happy.

Edit: the £400 is out of term time and booking on an offer, completely appreciate term time is more expensive and I’m not looking forward to when eldest goes up to school!

We're probably one of the families you are thinking of sorry OP. We holiday to an expensive exotic place once a year but also sneak in a week at Butlin's every year simply because DC absolutely love it and insist on it. (they discovered it during lockdown when international travel was limited). Not my idea of a great holiday but we tolerate it for them The massive smiles on their faces are worth it. It's not massively cheap - we spend £1500 a week on accommodation and premium food package and it's still barely edible wetherspoons type quality but we do what makes the DC happy. Hoping they grow out of it soon!

Cheap holidays I've done with the DC:

• YHA hostels in London, Whitby and the Peak District
• Static caravan at an independent site in Cornwall
• Camping (tent) in North Wales, Sussex, at a Parkdean site on the Isle of Wight and a Haven in Norfolk
• Centerparcs Elveden in terms time before the DC were school age
• Air BnB on Anglesey (don't hate me, it was an annex of a family home)

Less cheap but not £88k:

• Centerparcs in Belgium and the Netherlands over the May half term
• Butlins Skegness
• Premier Inn-based holidays in different parts of the UK
• PGL Barton Hall, just outside Torquay. You can't really go wrong for just over £1k for a week, including full board and activities for a family of 4.
• Eurocamp and Yelloh in France.

Edited as I x-posted with the OP. I'm almost an exact fit for her stereotypical MN mum but when the DC were little I was a single mum working 3 jobs topped up with benefits. I now spend an absolute fortune on holidays (not £88k) but that's for me. The DC have just as much fun in Clacton as they do in Costa Rica.

I also shop in cheap shops and buy stickered food even though I can afford to shop more expensive ones. We're frugal and love to get a bargain. It would actually sting me to pay M&S prices when Lidl is much less.

The price of holidays are crazy at the moment, I won't pay it. I'd rather stay home where all my stuff and my comfy bed is 😄. We tend to do 3/4 nights in a cottage let, a few times year rather than a big holiday. This year we are renting a motorhome and touring Scotland, this is not a cheap option but it will be a fun adventure. Still cheaper than going abroad for 4x in August.

I've not been to Butlins or Pontins since the early 90s, I hope they've improved since then.
Center Parcs are silly money now, I used to go when the kids were preschool and we weren't limited to school holidays.

We could afford a big holiday abroad every year but it is so eye wateringly expensive, I wouldn't enjoy it.

Sorry, I love Butlins. I go there because we all have a great time. It’s not even cheap! Costs us a bloody fortune after Rafferty has hit the arcades

Holidays are expensive but sometimes I wonder where people are looking. A friend commented the other day that she couldn't find 'anything decent' less than £6k for a week abroad in October for her family of 4. A quick search on Jet2 and I can find decent looking holidays for less than half that.

I have a rafferty too. Don’t worry OP, we definitely won’t be at a butlins any time soon. It’s all yours. I’m a single mum though so you’d definitely look down on me. But I’m totally fine with that too. Also no idea what ‘crew clothing’ is.

Oh give over, they’re not “freeing up” places for the poor, they’re making absolute sure that precious darlings don’t have to rub up against the chavs and riff raff. 🙄

I think £100 a night for a 3 bed holiday let is pretty cheap when you break it down for accommodation per person per night. And I'm not exactly Fancy Pants Rich McGee.

Can you send me a list of acceptable places kids named Rafferty can go on holiday? We definitely aren't rich and I don't wear crew clothing, but be good to know where it is acceptable for him to go.... That being said he would be at Butlins on his own, my idea of hell on earth. We have been on lots of budget holidays so my Rafferty could maybe send you a few tips on better value holidays only downside you may still come across kids called Rafferty that way though which may not make you think they are actually good value.. 😬

If it’s any help OP I book my holidays on hoseasons and split the cost over a year (I book a year in advance) I’ve always found them lovely and have been able to upgrade to nicer accommodation when the cost is spread out, family of 5 as well.

@SushiAndRamen no not at all. My kids are in private to get them away from the relentless bullying they faced and I'm v v tight for money as a result. I'm not saying private parents altruistically remove their kids to free up places but that IS one result of them doing so..but as the countless threads on the subject show, they are only ever castigated and insulted on here..and according to the OP now also "stealing" holidays 🙄. But I don't want to derail. Holidays, yes v expensive luxuries and as with everything in a capitalist society, some can and some can't.

For a lot of people, £100 a night is a huge amount of money especially as you need to add on food costs and travelling to and from the property.
I am not criticising your pricing btw but it's not cheap.

I can afford an expensive holiday. However my children love Butlins!

So very selfless...... 😂

I swear. Our budget for 6 is about £6k. But there was £13k, 30 odd and then £88k. I just searched the end of August for 6 people in one room. I was astounded.

£100 a night is still £700 for a week, before I’ve even paid for food and entertainment! I’ve previously booked Butlins for half of that, and breakfast, dinner and entertainment was included…