Half term

I tend to go abroad at Easter as it’s too hot for me in the summer. Most of my children’s friends seem to be around in the three half terms.

Me and my children go away most holidays.

Quite often without DH (I work in the independant school my children attend, DH runs his own company and can't take as much time off as we get)
All my family and some of our best friends live 250miles away so we travel to see them a lot, as often as we can.

Typically we will spend 4 (seperate) weeks a year away on holiday with DH as a family of 4....typically 2 abroad holidays, 1 UK holiday and 1 week staying with my family
Maybe an extra long weekend in centre parcs too

And myself and my children go to stay with my family without DH when hes at work

I often do a cheap and cheerful holiday with my just myself and my children without DH as well, either abroad or UK, and normally with friends, where we go with the Mums and Kids while the Dads stay behind and work.

We do lots of random cheap and cheerful nights / weekends away too... (premier inn / youth hostel etc, not always extravagent)

Im lucky that my family members have houses large enough spare bedrooms for us to fit in and stay very easily, and our house is large enough for them to all come and stay with us, together too.

We don’t go away on holiday every school holiday (I teach so I’m off anyway; dd is older now but when she was at school) but we were often away visiting family/friends for at least some of the time. We’d be away in holiday 3 or 4 of the school breaks - so maybe a fortnight in the summer, October or February half term, maybe a week (sometimes 2O at Easter and a few days over May. Busy over Christmas seeing family and friends.

as term time was so busy we’d be out and about a lot in the school breaks

My thoughts exactly. I was awaiting for some witty repartee 😐

It wasn’t nasty, it was meant as a friendly joke, hence the wink smiley.

As a single parent I can’t afford to even take my one DC to a static caravan for a weekend this year. Wish I hadn’t opened this thread I feel the shittest mum alive

There’s no need to be so nasty, is there really?

I feel the same as you op.

All of my children’s friends go for holidays or mini breaks ant various times during the year, it they take time out of school to go away to be able to afford to do so.

I feel sorry for my children having to listen to all the excited talk before and after their holidays from their friends and parents as we just can’t compete. I understand their excitement of course, but we haven’t been able to afford a holiday for a few years as my Husband is a teacher so we would also have to go on holiday at the most expensive times, and we’ve also had other financial pressures.

I’m happy for my friends, but I get tired of them gloating about their ‘bargain’ deals they’ve managed to get throughout the year that they pull their children out of school for, and saying they don’t care if they’re fined as it’s still thousands of pounds cheaper.

Like you OP when we were younger we went on one family holiday a year ((UK) & not every year. School holidays were spent at home / playing outside / day trips.
In my 20s / 30s I visited a few countries abroad and now I’ve got my own family we live in a different county to my parents and siblings, so Easter and summer school holidays (& sometimes half terms) DD and I usually go and stay with them for a few days, &/or they come to us. Since last winter we haven’t gone down to stay though, due to my mum not being well.
I work PT, term time and DH works FT.
DH, DD and I also do a lot of days out throughout the year including visiting my family for the day, and we 3 went on a UK break as a family in Feb half term.
I’m not sure if we’ll go on another family holiday this year and most of our spending money goes on food out / little treats through the year / stuff that needs doing in the house.
I do like travelling / holidays etc but am also happy and have plenty to do / places to visit at home. We also like our home comforts / own beds!
However, DH & I have never been abroad together or as a family so that’s something I’d like to do in the next few years.

Are you sure they are all going away on proper holidays? We usually only go on booked holidays in summer, but we quite often go and stay with family or friends in other parts of the country during half terms or Easter.

I think mixed in with more holidays is people going to see family because it’s more usual not to live close to your parents any more. We had friends in primary school who did maybe 3 weeks holiday away each year (2 weeks summer, 1 Easter) but were also away, especially at half term, seeing 2 sets of grandparents.

We do. But it’s camping. And costs like £120 for 4 or 5 days. Food is the same as if we were at home.

I think must be specific to the area you live/people you know.

I'd consider the norm to be one holiday with many people struggling to do that.

I agree that "going away" during holidays is quite often spending a 2 or 3 days with non-local grandparents.

Are they going on actual holiday or are the kids staying with grandparents or their other parent?

Round here a lot of people seem to have caravans etc somewhere by the sea and go and spend most of their holidays there. Others visit family which is fair enough. Both of those count as “away”.

I don’t know many people who literally fly off abroad for family holidays more than once a year.

I get 4 weeks A/L
I can buy another week and work up the hours for another week. So 6 weeks in total excluding bank holidays

Some people prioritise holidays.. I love travelling and showing my children the world

I think a lot of it is visiting family as well, it is for us

It’s normal for those who can afford it.

like you we had one holiday a year when I was growing up.

but my DH and I earn lots more than my parents so we are lucky enough to afford multiple breaks a year - some with the kids and some as adult breaks.

additionally our kids also visit and stay overnight with grandparents and aunties during the holidays and go on scout camps.

so lots of reasons for being away.

This year, we will have gone away every holiday but a lot of them are cheap ish ,

Feb half term - long weekend at center parcs
Easter - long weekend short haul staying with friends
May half term - short haul euro camp, got a good deal on flights
Summer - UK break
October - UK break with PIL (their treat)

We go away in May half term as it's cheaper and not as hot as summer (still mid-high 20s though; plenty warm enough).

Re the AL time off - I get 25 days paid holiday and 8 paid bank holidays but I also purchase an additional 5 days holiday every year and have used unpaid parental leave (although I don’t do this every year).
We are planning a big trip next year and are factoring in the cost of using unpaid leave as part of the cost of the holiday.
We also used to go away every school break when we lived in old house - it was less mortgage so we had more money and I hated the house, the area and (by the end of lockdown) the neighbours so didn’t want to spend any time there!
I love where we are now so don’t feel the need to go away all the time

We go away three/four times a year but it’s mostly camping so it doesn’t cost anywhere near as much as an abroad holiday!
We went to London (hotel not camping)in the Easter hols and we are in Cornwall this half term, then have two weeks in the lakes in August… but the cost is less then half what it would cost to go to Spain all inclusive as a family of five!

We don't tend to go away in the summer - so last few years we are those people - although we also do extreme day trips - long day but does mean we tend to go somewhere every school break

Easter 2025 - Tunisia (week)
Feb half term 2025 - Copenhagen (day trip)
Xmas holidays - didn't go away
Oct 2024 - Nice/Monaco (day trip)
Summer 2024 - Switzerland (3 days) & day trip to Dublin
May half term 2024 - Greece (week)
Easter 2024 - Portugal (3 days)

Others will be 'away' as they will stay with grandparents while their parents are working

By having our 'main' holiday outside of the summer holidays we can get cheap short breaks the rest of the year - so we have booked Croatia for 3 nights for £300 each in August

I think some people spend a lot in the summer on one holiday where we just spread it out if that makes sense.