Days out- how do people afford them?

[lovelydaffodils]

Went to a local attraction.
Coffee was £2.90
Pizza was £12
Entry was £30 for the three of us.
Activity was approx a two hour max

@BluebellsGreenbells

Find cheaper alternatives:

Local farm, £5 adults £3 kids, council soft play rather than private venues.

Go veg picking - easy spend a few hours there choosing vegetables and digging them up.

Walk in the woods - free
Beach if you have one - free
Picnic in the park with friends - free

Check out the library for free kids stuff.

Cinema - wait for the £1 offers, even if you’ve seen it before.

Save Tesco vouchers and convert to days out

All those things plus Groupons and Wowcher for deals. Blue peter badge gets one child in free in some places. Museums and galleries are mostly free Go to a city you’ve never been and join a free walking tour (pay a tip at the end) or one where dc are free. Take food and drink from home so you just spend money on ice cream or a treat.

Your point's fair enough but you've chosen an odd example to prove it. £2.90 is average, if not on the cheap side for pretty much buying a coffee anywhere other than McDonalds or Greggs. Same with pizza, even takeaway like Dominos or Papa Johns is more than £12, and surely the answer to both is just not buy them! You can go 2 hours without eating/coffee, and if you really can't then take snacks with you.

Even the activity - £30 for 3 people for 2 hours is £5 an hour! There isn't much you can do cheaper than that. Even the cinema would cost more.

Compared to Alton Towers/Premier League Football match/six nations game/muscial theatre show (particularly good seats at a very popular one like Frozen/Hamilton), you could be easily looking at £120 per person for 2 hours.

Even those things, they are priced according to what people will pay. If they were struggling to sell tickets they'd lower the prices, but as long as people will pay them then unfortunately they will continue to be expensive.

I used to always take DS to the cheap cinema showings on a Saturday morning. I’d buy some snacks in Aldi and the tickets were £2.50 each so the whole trip cost about £9-10. Bargain. National Trust membership is great. Very cheap for a family, maybe £14/15 a month and you can park for free, use the gardens and go in the houses. We used to spend ALOT of time at the park 😆

Also, where are you as people who live near will probably have suggestions.

Well you added an extra 50% to the total price with food and coffee. Was that definitely necessary? If money is tight, the suggestion of a pp of packed lunch etc would make sense

Oh, the ticket I've just bought to see Evita was only £13 too.
Obviously not West End, but still, I don't expect it to be.
(Glasgow btw)

National Trust membership and take a flask of hot chocolate. Tesco clubcard vouchers for others

There are lots of cheap attractions around or attractions with offers on groupon etc.

We have merlin passes, without these theme parks would be a definite no ( 6 kids and a step kid) we also have passes to adventure island in Southend , this is our go to few hours of fun, we without fail take food, rarely buy food out, we have even been known to take hot dogs in flasks.. beach days are cheap, ( well before petrol became liquid gold 😬) we would take a big picnic and then spend the whole day/evening , kids range from 4 - 17 and they all swim/crab whatever , I wouldn't say days out are cheap because there's just so many of us but we define manage to do a lot ! If we aren't driving we will walk to a local park, take chalks/bikes/skates/cards/ball games, we can easily spend the whole afternoon, again we would take a big picnic and maybe just buy them an ice cream/slushie so keep the cost down... swimming here is free or very cheap, I think around £10 for all of us, so that's a good rainy day option as well.

We budget for entertainment stuff and work out what would be the best return. Dull, sorry.

Tesco vouchers are useful for reducing the price of stuff, buying tickets in advance, take water bottles, coffee flask and snacks. For a full day out we'd often take a picnic, id try to avoid a short trip (under 3 hours) to coincide with lunch to avoid having to faff. Lunch out is sometimes part of the "treat" day, but ill include that in the budget.

You need simple pleasures, that don't require rip off prices at some attractions, and don't require standing in queues amongst loads of people, and just take your own food..

To be fair, you ask how people afford them but you've been to the attraction so know how you afforded it.

You also don't have to pay £12 for food at a 2 hour attraction. Eat before you go or when you get home.

Also, what bloomin farm do you have that charges £5! Ours is £27 a head!! (Free for under 2yo

^

I'm sorry, but what?? £27 per person? To visit a farm??

National trust membership is good value.
We also have a membership for CADW which gives 50% off English heritage.

Free activities and packed lunches mostly and vouchers and offers for the bigger expensive days out.

Country parks and nature reserves are often free or cheap (donation or parking), bring your own snacks. Buying tickets on a deal or through the PTA, blue Peter badges or annual passes are also a good idea.

If we have annual passes, and visits are "free" then we may eat there. If we pay entry we always take a picnic.

I save them for the school holidays and put money aside during the term time in a separate bank account for days out.

National Trust membership-a bargain even if you only use it once a month. Their tearooms tend to be pricey though, so it's worth taking your own sandwiches.

Agree it's a slightly odd example but yes, lots of things are crazy expensive.
We are lucky to have a pick your own place in the summer with loads of play equipment where you can't take picnics but can buy tea and cake in the cafe to balance out.
We have a water jet/ paddling pool thing that's free.
Otherwise lots of access to beaches, woods etc.
My kids love anything that comes with a picnic.

We do lots of holidays as it's often cheaper than a day out. This coming weekend we have Haven booked for 3 nights for my son's birthday for £88. Take our own food, do the pool and bits of free entertainment - cheaper than a lot of days out. Also do £35 premier inns as it's free entertainment of parks, beaches etc that are different to your usual. We live 30 miles from a MacDonalds so the kids consider tea there a massive treat!

I know many won't agree with me here, but you often don't have to pay the donation at all...
I've been to two places recently where I didn't and nothing was said.
It's voluntary.

Ours is £27 a head!!

How the hell are they still in business?! Unless this is the annual pass fee.

Oh I hate annual passes

Hate the feeling that we should be going there because “after all it’s sort of free” when actually… we heard about a new place and went to go there, or there, or there etc

Never again. We all agreed!

Someone is pay £27 per head to go to “a little farm”

Whoever posted that…. That’s the same price as London Zoo!!!