To be shocked at the cost of family days out?

We cannot leave the house without spending £100.

I took 2 of the kids to the lion king, £164 per ticket, then Matilda recently £121 per ticket.

6 of us at the cinema £84. Without snacks and drinks.

pizza express £165.

its all mental !

Indeed. I was born in 1958 and about twice a year we might go to a park for a picnic and at Easter we went to the cinema. Our annual holiday was a week in a holiday camp in the UK.

I think the idea that parents "must" be constantly taking their children to paid-for activities is relatively new.

zoos need to feed and care for their animals, that has always been very expensive

Ha! We live in London but couldn't afford to do most of these things when the DC were young ( in their 20s now). It was mostly free museums and parks and wandering around Covent Garden. We'd maybe manage one or 2 paid days out in a year, so Legoland or something like that, and that would be using vouchers and taking a picnic. Lunch out with children has alway been ridiculously expensive ( and not very enjoyable), whether you're in London, Cornwall or anywhere else in the UK. I remember having a real shock at the price of proper cornish pasties from a Cornish pasty shop.
Amusement parks and zoos have always been ridiculously expensive, I don't think that is a new thing. You notice it more when paying for 4 people than as a young singleton when you only have to stump up for your own entry.

@Iloveeverycat we must live in a similar area as we have those three within quite a short driving distance. We did one a year when the dc were into it,
They all like Thorpe Park now but I refuse to go anymore - I’ll drop them and pay for them to go in but for me to make it worth it I’d have to buy all the fast passes which is further daylight robbery. Funnily enough though the thing that tipped me over the edge was when they started charging at the Merlin places for PARKING! I’m hardly parking up at Thorpe park to make the most of the pissing town centre 🤬

Family railcard
Packed lunch and snacks/drinks
National Trust membership
Tesco vouchers
Do your research first.

There are loads of great places to go and things to do at minimal cost.

These things are expensive but I think that people's expectations of what they 'should' be able to do in their leisure time has also changed. As a kid in the 80s we would go to the zoo or a theme park a maximum of once a year. My parents never took me up to London (I think I first went as a teenager with my theatre group but my parents certainly couldn't afford to take us as a family). Theatre was a once a year pantomime at our local theatre. One year we had English heritage membership and went to every location within a 40 mile radius multiple times!

Our days out were to the beach (40-50 minutes drive) or family dos in back gardens and a UK holiday park caravan/chalet for a week in the summer. We never went away for the weekend, never stayed in hotels and very rarely went out for dinner or got a takeaway.

I think these events have just become so normalised now. I do the same - take my kids to the zoo, on days out to cities/museums, to the theatre, to national parks, get a season ticket for something once a year. So far this year I've been away for the weekend with one DC (first time) where we visited 3 museums/attractions, we have a season ticket for a local attraction, we've been to the theatre twice and have 2 more sets of tickets booked, plus cirque de soleil. We also cycle, go the library, on walks, the cinema (crazy expensive!) but it's way beyond what my parents would ever have done with us.

We are pretty comfortable and we rarely do big days out like theme parks/ zoos as it is just too expensive, even if we take our own food. I genuinely don't know how people afford it on a semi-regular basis.

There are cheaper ways to book things - but after a disastrous trip to Legoland in the torrential rain which will go down as one of the worst days out ever, I'm quite loathe to book outdoor activities too far in advance.

Agreed though that these sort of things have always been pricey - we just never did them (and rarely ate out) when I was a child.

I mean me and my husband stay often in nice hotels in central London and 2 days is roughly £500 that’s with food etc. we don’t often go to shows though.

Our small local farm has started doing event days its normally £3 per child over 2, £4 per adult, however on peppa pig days ect it's £24 per adult and £18 per child. We stick to the non event days.

I live near Thorpe Park, Chessington and Legoland never could afford to go there. That was well over 10 years ago.
I also think it was unfair that a family ticket was only 2 adults and 2 children so you had to pay extra for the other 2 if you had 4.

We used to do season tickets, and maybe time them to run August to July so we could use them for 2 summers.

Take a weekend to London. £300 return for everyone’s train tickets (that would be a very good deal, too!) easily £200 per night for the cheapest of hotel rooms a walk out of the centre. If you’re there for two nights that’s already £700, not to mention shows, food, attractions whilst there… I reckon you’re then on at least £1500. I don’t know who’s affording it.

That’s always been a hugely expensive type of weekend though.

When there’s a few of you, driving somewhere is generally cheaper than train (central London is a bloody pain with cars though). Hotels are always going to be expensive, as are shows and attractions.

We always did weekends away out of big cities, in Premier Inns where you get a child free for an adult breakfast, bought rolls for lunch and visited places that took Tesco Clubcard. For shows, we use TodayTix or the lotteries or visit local theatres when London shows are on tour.

Top tip if possible. Drive to Stanmore station. Park for £6 and get the train/underground from there. I think £6 includes overnight. It's an absolute bargain.

Our day trip to London is about £45 for myself and a child, which isn’t too bad but once you start adding attractions it suddenly becomes £200 for the day with food as well. There’s not a lot of value for money things to do anymore sadly.

London has so many low cost things! Museums, parks, riverboat rides, famous buildings. You don't need to buy lunches in cafes, you can take a sandwich picnic for far less money

Things have always been expensive? My parents were middle class/comfortably off in the 90s and we never did theme parks/zoos etc.

I think they are possibly even more expensive now because of:

• animal welfare. These things were cheaper when the animals were not well cared for.
• safety - everything is better maintained with more safety features now
• central funding: some organisations used to get council or government funding and a lot of these things have been steadily reduced over 14 years of conservative government
• extra features, tons of play parks & soft plays everywhere.

I do think social media gives people the misguided impression that everyone is constantly on exciting days out, and people expect things that aren't realistic as a result.

My kids have done two expensive days out this year,
one to an aquarium. It was not far from home so travel was free and DH took a picnic lunch.
Two to a zoo farm type place, which was part of a visit to grandparents.

Other days out were free museums and parks.

Some ways you can significantly reduce the cost of days out:

1. Get the Family and Friends railcard, the savings will more than cover the cost of the train ticket over the course of the year/3 years (get the digital version so you don’t get caught out if you forget to bring the paper ticket - https://www.thetrainline.com/trains/great-britain/railcards)
2. Look for National Rail 2-4-1 offers - https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/days-out-guide/2for1-london/
3. Virgin Experience Days periodically has discounts and discount codes for up to 20% - I’ve found this to be good for things like Go Ape but you have to keep a lookout for deals
4. If your company has an employee corporate discount scheme, use it (days out, cinema vouchers, theatre tokens, dining out, everything!)

Or you could try one of the Heritage Organisations. English Heritage is £127 for a yearly membership for 2 adults and up to 12 children (up to the age of 17). Unlimited visits to over 440 sites - houses, castles, Roman forts, Stonehenge etc
I know its not Alton Towers but it is an option. Educational too 🙄

Our day trip to London is about £45 for myself and a child, which isn’t too bad but once you start adding attractions it suddenly becomes £200 for the day with food as well. There’s not a lot of value for money things to do anymore sadly.

It's "mug" pricing, i.e. stupidly inflated prices for people who can afford it and/or don't care about money.

There are nearly always ways of getting cheaper prices if you plan in advance, google for deals, etc.

As others have said, Tesco Club Card is a good place to start to use for attraction entry fees.

There is also a range of railway discount cards which last a year and pay for themselves within just one or two journeys. You can also get discounted attraction entry fees if you buy at the same time as railway tickets. Some railway tickets to London can include the underground tickets cheaply or free.

Hotels usually will do cheaper room rates if you contact them directly rather than using their own website or Booking.com - the rules of platforms like Booking.com ban them from offering cheaper deals online, but if you phone up, you can often get a lot cheaper as they're not paying the Booking.com commission.

I can afford but just can't justify the prices as they are now. It's not worth it.

What you have to remember is that anything with animals costs so much money (food, vets, insurance, premises big enough, staff) and they make pretty much 0 money in termtime. When I was part time with DS we had membership to Lonlgleat. The only people there Monday to Friday and on winter weekends were also annual pass holders. With toddlers and picnics!

I think things like theme parks have always been "expensive" but I feel like Alton Towers has always been about £30 since back in the 90s (online booking price is from £29).

Yanbu. Taking just one child to Alton Towers this weekend, on my own without dh. That's almost £80. I wouldn't pay that though, we used clubcard points.

I also had a fanciful idea that we might one day take our dc to Glastonbury. No chance. Around £1k, and that's without spending money. For 3 days.

Those are two of the more expensive ones. But even taking a family of four to the cinema costs an absolute fortune.

Take a weekend to London. £300 return for everyone’s train tickets (that would be a very good deal, too!) easily £200 per night for the cheapest of hotel rooms a walk out of the centre. If you’re there for two nights that’s already £700, not to mention shows, food, attractions whilst there… I reckon you’re then on at least £1500. I don’t know who’s affording it.

A weekend in London, if you have to get there by train and stay two nights in a hotel, isn't a day out - it's a short break.

We reserve certain activities for when we're abroad in Europe, e.g. the zoo or tropical swimming pools. Train tickets to London are cheaper than you might think on the weekend, but the rest is undoubtedly expensive. I have no idea how people can afford activities all the time.