How often do you take your children on holiday?

[Sowhataboutthat]

How often do you take your children in holiday? Including weekends?

These people that say holidaying in uk is as expensive as going away! How does that work?

This year one holiday driving to Italy for 2 weeks. DD has a school ski trip. We prefer sitting in our lovely garden to going away for short breaks. Plus lots of pets to sort.

I'm just amazed you all get so much leave from work. I only get the 20 days plus public holidays (28) which doesn't leave a lot of time once you've factored in leave for stuff that's unavoidable (like funerals, taking kids to things etc).

@Purpletigers you just sound bitter, unless you can match up the user names to prove those holidaying are the same people who can't save you are making a moot point

"I don’t want them growing up wishing their lives away for the next week in the sun ."

For me life is all about new experiences, yes we do look forward to our next adventure whatever that may be. It's not wishing our lives away it's working hard and reaping the rewards, yes, yes I know not everyone who works hard can afford holidays, that's life and it's shit but we very much see our holidays as our rewards, having a motivator is not the same as wishing life away.

@FreshlyRoastedCoffee we both get about 25. I work flexi so I am able to work more hours in a week to earn an extra day off a month. Tend to use flexi for the "unknown" stuff or work from home for children's sickness. DH has never run out of leave in his life due to the fact he accrues extra when he goes away (military). Family step in a lot in the summer holidays. That said we tend to only do a week at a time, we go to America for 2 weeks next year so DH and I have to do our break the following year otherwise I will struggle to get another 2 weeks off on top of school holidays etc. I can buy leave if I need to too but never needed to.

Holidaying the the UK isn't necessarily more expensive than going overseas and it's considerably less faff. I love NOT having to go to the airport for a certain time and NOT having to make a ferry or the Shuttle to France. It's lovely to just pack up the car in your own time and tootle off to the Lakes or the Peaks, Norfolk or Dorset. Holiday accommodation isn't cheap, but then you haven't got any travel costs apart from petrol or possibly train fare if you don't drive. You can take whatever you can fit in your car, so you're not constrained by luggage limits. I love holidaying in this country!

It depends on whether you consider visiting grandparents based at opposite ends of the country as a holiday. If so, we do that around 3-4 times per year.

Aside from that, we take the children abroad for a 2 week holiday every 3-4 years.

DH and I both work full time and the youngest DC has just turned 5. We're tentatively optimistic that, now childcare costs are reducing, we can increase the frequency of foreign holidays to every 2-3 years.

HairyToity accommodation is more in the UK but the main thing that makes UK holidays extortionately expensive is the spending money. Day at a theme park? Meal out? Entry to an attraction? Paying for parking everywhere? If you're lucky with a rare week of entirety good weather and have toddlers happy to play on a beach which your accommodation is walking distance from you can keep the cost down, but generally for us UK holidays entail a huge amount of spending money, unlike Croatia where we are now where the kids are happy snorkeling all day - cost for activities 0.

Purpletigers there are people on MN who complain about not being able to save and there are people on MN who go on holidays. However there are something like 100,000 people using MN.... Does it not occur to you that they are not the same people?

UnderTheTree but budget type holidays is exactly what most people on this thread who go away regularly are talking about. You do get threads full of posts about multiple expensive resort or long haul holidays, but this thread has a large number of people saying that they manage lots of trips because they stay in youth hostels, camp, go in the shoulder season, go to cheaper non typical destinations etc.

Every year we do one long haul holiday, one short haul holiday, a caravan holiday in the UK and a long weekend at Butlins. Usually another UK weekend as well.

@anothernotherone Um I have seen several people say they go abroad during school, holidays, half term etc, plus other uk holidays / city breaks and many are not camping, if you ask me going abroad during school hols isn't a budget holiday.

You don't have to pay for accommodation though? We brought a family size tent 20 years ago and it still serves us well. Sure it was expensive investment, but more cost efficient in the long term. And has enabled us to go camping every summer.

Yeah the weather isn't always the best, but still have some good memories of having a laugh in the pouring rain, kids playing in puddles. UK is not alone in getting bad weather, many years ago (when I was child free) I spent a week camping in NZ during their summer, and its pissed down for most of the week!

I mean you have to pay for meals and activities abroad as well (and you don't have to convert the pound). Like hell Croatia is cheaper than a UK holiday, certainly not in term time...

It depends. Some years we’ve not gone away (except to visit family) other years we’ve spent the whole summer away abroad.
It’s hard in the school holidays to find good deals but you can get a better deal by booking flights well in advance and going self catering which is what we tend to do.

UnderTheTree I always have to dip into savings to cover the shortfall after a UK holiday because we spend so much there - puddle jumping doesn't really cut it for pre teens and teens well not for more than 15 minutes In places with decent weather and warm sea we often spend nothing.

I take my DS to Center Parcs for his birthday for 3 days. I share it with friends as I couldn't afford it otherwise.

We try to have an annual family holiday somewhere warm. We also might do a long weekend somewhere in the UK if I pick up a cheap deal. Ds1 usually gets the same again with his df. I love having a holiday to look forward to, and would sacrifice other treats to have that. I’ve also had years in the past though where it was just impossible financially. It makes me very, very grateful that I do have the chance now.

Just to explain about the leave it really depends on you role and employer.

I get 25 + bank holidays. I got 5 days long service that I carry over as a buffer and buy 5 every year so that's 35+8. If kids have a concert / sports day etc I work from home.

Dh is a teacher so 3 weeks is fab in the summer, as the kids are now older they and dh will start to stay on for most of the summer while I go back to boring work after 3 weeks.

As a family? Not since we last went to the caravan 2 years ago.
Dc went to the caravan with my mum a few months ago and probably go with her once a year.

We rarely go on holidays.

Not about the money, just not something we tend to think of.

Over the last 20 years we have had a couple of trips to Europe and one big transatlantic trip for a family event.

Apart from that we visit family or spend time kicking back at home.

No one can ever understand it, but it's just not our thing. I've started telling people I'm passionate about keeping my carbon footprint down and it seems that is a much more acceptable explanation than "can't be arsed"...

We have two weeks in Europe in July plus another week away somewhere over Easter or Feb half term. We also have a few camping weekends over the summer. There's also a few weekends visiting family and friends.

It does mean our children have to go to holiday clubs, but we tend to swap childcare with my brother and his wife so DH, DB, DSIL and I each take one week in the summer holidays to cover all four children. I also get Christmas for free from my employer so they're in organised childcare about half the time.

A week in October and May half term and two weeks in the summer. The older ones also go on two to three camps a year.
So four weeks family and six to seven for my dc age 8 plus.

UnderTheTree

@TastingTheRainbow oh don't worry, I don't think this thread represents real life, you are hardly going to get people boasting they spend a long weekend in Skeggy grin
Actually I do think this thread represents real life. There are people that dont go away much, people,who like a big annual break, people that like lots of holidays and it is important to them and those that aren't that bothered.
It's a pretty mixed bag of lifestyles that have been posted and theres no right or wrong answer, you do what you can afford even if it's just an odd day trip or want to do.
This thread comes up often and it's always the same answers however the most ridiculous post is the one about people moaning that they can't save but go on holiday. That was a real head scratcher!! It appears the poster didn't realise that SOME people nay not afford to save at the moment, other people may be able to afford to go on holiday and some people may save AND go on holiday!!!

Thanks all

Anyone else?

Are 124 messages not enough OP?

I'm not sure how normal I am, but I've never taken the dcs away on holiday, and they are both school age. A combination of not being able to afford it, needing to use annual leave for childcare and to be honest, not really being arsed for holidays. We live in a lovely part of the UK and do lots of day trips etc. We're middle earners but much prefer to spend money on classes and activities for the kids