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

@MurmuratingStarling

I must be a privileged princess, because that doesn't sound like a lot for a day out for 3 people.

Yep, definitely privileged to not have the understanding that not everyone has the same financial situation

Well, the obvious answer is don't buy food. If you were only there for two hours, why didn't you just eat at home before and/or after?

The more boring answer is don't go as often, but splash out when you do.

When I was growing up, "days out" in that sense were limited to maybe one per school holiday, otherwise it was free activities like the park, a bike ride, going to the local NT property, a trip to the playground with a hot chocolate afterwards etc.

Merlin passes are really expensive

Yes, but buy them for one year and have a real focus on visiting those places and getting full vfm from it, then don't buy again next year.

Loads of attractions have free return, or visit all attractions in the group for a tiny bit more than the price of the one place, so you focus that year's days out on that and do something else another year.

Food and drink is a stinger, most attractions charge extortionate amounts for crap food! That does sound like a fairly standard price though unfortunately try looking out for deals, buy one get one frees and such like. Booking in advance online is always good too! We asked grandparents to get annual passes as Christmas gifts last year, so we have a years free entry to two local attractions near us which is saving us a fortune.

Either NT or our local council run nature reserves etc, take packed lunch. A day out at theme park with meal in the cafe and toy on the way out would be reserved for special occasions like a birthday treat. Yes I know people who have the money to do these kind of things every month, maybe they’ve not been so lucky in other ways in their lives, divorced, bereaved etc

If you are watching the pennies then don’t buy pizza and coffee and take your food or go home.

Look at national lottery days out x

Using Tesco vouchers and coupons etc we did a whole day out at legoland for £12

I have NT member's so can visit lots of different attractions. All have indoor and outdoor play. I take picnic and just buy hot drink and ice cream. Beaches are free except for parking.

That seems pretty cheap!

I avoid paid attractions. To be honest, young kids are as happy in a free new to the. park as they are in a paid one part of a stately home. Some museums are free. There are plenty of walking areas around.

On the times we were struggling, we will make sandwiches at home and carried a hot water flask (we had an array of coffee, tea and hot chocolate sachets in the car). Other times we would stop for four meals deals at Boots where everyone had chance to choose their own food, go for a walk/ have a picnic and everyone was happy.

A lot of small museums are quite un expensive for a rainy day. We only paid for museums seldomly, going to parks with rides, etc even more seldomly.

I hear you. We don’t really. We have a holiday instead. But. During the summer. We get a family season pass at our local outdoor pool and a family season pass at a lovely castle with grounds. We do those. Not every weekend. We pack picnic. Flasks and just buy icecream if we’re out 4 kids
We might go the next town along and have a nice walk and sometimes book into pizza express

Sometimes extended family arrange a day out somewhere near them jn the South. We just suck it up and pay entry. But always take picnic and flasks of tea. And pay for icecream for kids there or get McDonald’s on the way back

Seaside. Rarely. But if we do. We’ll always get chips and an ice cream. And we take flasks and drinks for kids.

Alton Towers. We look on eBay for a code. Again. Take bags full of food and drinks and most likely McDonald’s on the way home. The promise of it keeps them happy. Not each time though.

When I was little (ok...a long time ago) days out were NEVER anything that was paid for. Instead they were wonderful days walking in the countryside or beach stopping for a picnic (or fish and chips in the car in the evening). Wonderful, wonderful days.

@implantreplace

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!

I feel the opposite. If we are paying full price, we feel the need to plan the day with military precision to get the most out of it, so up at the crack of dawn to be entering as it opens, all day exhausting ourselves making sure we have seen everything etc etc.

With an annual pass, we can have a leisurely morning, rock up after lunch, just do our favourite bits and leave when we want to, without feeling we haven't got our money's worth.

We used to do free days out - to the beach/ river / forest / park / lake etc & brought a picnic. We loved it.
Then we'd do regular city breaks both at home & abroad & generally saved our money for these as we all loved them
When away we rarely paid entrance for things - couple of zoos / aquariums but we did lots of museums/ galleries & parks / playgrounds
We did eat out when away.

Merlin silver annual pass. £9.99 a month per person.
Fuel £15
Parking £4 today
Packed lunch of sandwiches and crisps, banana and juice from the fridge.

We will do a nice day out once a month from now on I should think.

Agree with all those saying take food with you.

When the weather is good, our days out tend to be beach/river/lake walks, parks, Pokemon Go, picnics, bike rides etc.

It's more difficult in the winter when we end up paying for trampoline parks, bowling, climbing walls etc. But we're never there long enough to need a meal really.

Yesterday we took a balance bike to the local skate park and treated ourselves to bacon butties from a local cafe. All other snacks were packed. Cost: £2 per butty and fuel

Today, we walked up a hill with a picnic. Took 3hrs with 2 grandparents and a toddler. Had a brew at the end, but could have taken a thermos.
Cost: £1.85 per brew and fuel.

We often walk to the garden centre / local park / ride bikes in the woods / visit the beach / visit a NT garden (I volunteer, so that's free too)/ feed the ducks in the park. There are more outdoor activities here than indoors tbh, I have soft play and the zoo is meh.

Heritage open days and Open London in September - free entry to lots of places

Tesco vouchers for days out or meals out

Visiting places on inset days - if there is price differentiation across the seasons

The grandparents got our DDs annual passes for the zoo for Christmas-it’s relatively local to us so we tend to get there early for a couple of hours and leave as it gets busy. There’s no pressure to see everything in one visit and plenty of play areas and a soft play so things to do that aren’t see the animals.

We also make use of places where you pay once and can go back for the year (Leeds castle, London transport museum come to mind) and go a couple of times. I also book ahead, e.g last night I booked tickets for an exhibition at the Tate in the summer hols. Tickets were £20 (kids free) so then the train fare and a McDonald’s/M&S picnic will be a nice day out in the summer.

For Legoland etc there are always buy one get one free vouchers on cereals, chocolate bars etc. And you can usually get reduced prices on London attractions with an overground ticket. Worth looking out for things like that for the odd big day out. But take a picnic!

I mean there’s lots of stuff people have already said (the obvious such as take your own food, cheaper alternatives etc).

But for us it’s saving up/spending carefully. We can afford days out and we love a national trust but we don’t go on holiday every year. My youngest (6 years old) has only been on holiday once. Also, we don’t go on expensive days out constantly. We go down the beach (five minutes from us) with our cooler full of drinks and our own buckets and toys every week at least in the summer hols but we only really go on 5/6 big days out through the year.

I wouldn't think that was too bad compared to a lot of places, however we balance expensive days out with a lot that don't cost much or are free.

We grin and bear it and suck it up! I am not one for rides and it makes my teeth itch having to fork out admission fees to stand there while my one puny child goes on the rides!.Same with places we go that hold no interest to us but dd likes.You are right everything costs alot. When she was little a day at the seaside was much more cheaper to do than anything else but she is 10 now and its different she wants different things. I uderstand OP its frustrating .

We sometimes pay for an event / activity, but would always take a packed lunch

Other times, we go for a free / cheap activity and still take a packed lunch

Buying food at tourist attractions is usually v expensive

As others have said, take a pack up lunch and own drinks, especially if there's more than two of you in the group.
Councils often offer free to enter activities during the school holidays, and offer subsidised prices at other times.
Avoid theme parks, cinemas and entertainment complexes - these are ruinously expensive and often don't live up to expectations.