How expensive are days out?!

[MullerInk]

My word! Just booked a day out at an adventure park tomorrow. They are running a promotion so I can get in for free, DS is a baby so he is free. We've only had to pay for DD and DP and it's £43! Pretty soon we will be priced out of days out!

Gosh, imagine. Commercial enterprise needs to make a profit.

Take a picnic

You're right OP. Days out used to be the cheaper alternative to going away. We're only a family of 3 and it's extortionate. Couldn't afford to take a 2nd child!

Days out dont really need to cost much at all. Of course they can but you don't need to go to adventure parks if you dont want to. I have been on a day out today with DH and two teenagers and it cost the price of a packed lunch (food we would have eaten in the house anyway) and 4 ice creams. Mix the free ones in with the paid for ones and no one feels like they are missing out and you save money.

I assume you mean paid days out? With four kids it's the one time I feel guilty for having so many children because it's the one place you lose out as everything is either close to or over a hundred euro. Even a trip to the cinema now is fading away, and we only ever went once or twice a year! There's amazing free things to do out there but things like adventure parks are the equivalent to a holiday for us and we have different priorities so unfortunately are off the cards for the moment

Yep! We rarely do big days out with the kids as it's gotten so expensive. I do find you can do lots pretty cheap to free though as well. We do lots of bike rides, open top bus rides, beach days etc

Theme parks have risen hugely since the pandemic. We used to have Merlin passes and stay at the chessington hotel and it was £100 or so a night and now it's closer to £300 so we don't go anymore and ditched the passes. It's actually cheaper to go abroad rather than do 6-7 trips like this like we used to.

We are a large family and we have an English heritage pass and they have some fantastic places and regularly do events in half term holidays etc. I realise it's not everyone's cup of tea, castle's and old houses, but maybe something to look into?
Also not sure where you are in the country but the RAF museum cosford is free admission, which we found a great day out.

I don’t think £43 for 4 of you for a day out is expensive. I know you had discounts but there’s always discounts to be found. Take your own picnic and water and the whole day will only cost you £50ish.

It’s not a new thing for big attractions to be expensive. I remember when I was younger it was very rare we went to big places because of the cost. We made the most of vouchers and cheaper/free places.

i think on the whole now there are a lot more free places available since so many museums have changed to free entry.

We paid £30 plus picnic and fuel for a watersports day for 7 of us yesterday. Admittedly we do own the canoe and paddleboard (canoe was a lockdown purchase, paddleboard was a Christmas present for the children). There were loads of families there doing similar.

'Paid for' entertainment has always been expensive (look at the threads on Christmas activities). I've genuinely never really enjoyed paying to be entertained, even as as an adult. Am amazed at what people will pay to go to a festival for example. As a family we have life membership to the National Trust, paid for years ago, and have always enjoyed community type events .. and helped organise them. We live near a forest and local walks, bike rides and picnics are more our thing. Did make an exception and get some tickets to the Olympics when they were held in London. We did offer to take our DS to a theme park when he was younger but fortunately he never showed any interest . Happy to spend his own money on tickets to sporting events now he's an adult!

My son and I was talking about this recently. We would go to London for the free museums often on only £25 this included train fare (was £1 for kids), McDonalds and an ice cream. Even possibly a few pounds left to spend in the gift shop.
We are talking 20 years ago though!

Family membership to the National Trust is so reasonable, we have lots of days out using this.

Echo PPs English Heritage and National trust family memberships. All you need on the day is a picnic and fuel!

Agree OP, it does seem that some paid attractions have become more expensive relative to other things.

We have NT memberships for decades, currently also have Cadw which gives EH free entry after one year. We got Cadw for a holiday in Wales 2 years ago and it's cheaper than getting EH now.

Big attractions like Theme Parks, big zoos etc are once a year trips and annual passes like Merlin was a family Christmas present.

We do the odd day out but often convert Tesco vouchers, not that easy now but still better value than paying for groceries.

Also, we always brought our own food and drinks so only paid for a coffee and ice cream. DD also learnt to save pocket money for gift shops.

i hate the days out don’t cost a lot brigade- that’s called a trip to the park everything else costs.
local fair- £10 for ten tokens, each ride 3 tokens per person
local feeding farm- entry and food for two kids to feed sheep for 30mins £25
free museums- guess what the kids sections/ interesting exhibitions aren’t free
trampoline park £15.95 per person for 1hr
dont google peppa pig world prices
Theatre- forget it!

and yes you can save £20-£30 by taking a packed lunch- but the event and parking etc can still bankrupt you.

Also can feel very unfair to a child to deny them a (£3) lolly and a gift shop toy.

Why be an arsehole?!

I totally agree.

Agree with PP re Nat Trust passes .Very good value ,£130 for 2 adults plus 3 children, or 1 adult plus 3 children for £83.00.This covers as many places as you need annually, so good for a weekend away ,or holiday if you are able to afford this .We are doing days out at present, and think up to 2 hours each way is fine for us. Had some good days out and parking fees are generally covered by NT membership.Lots of Castles(My favourites!) Picnic areas,and play area for DC.

Growing up in the 80s/early 90s, theme parks were very expensive and a once a year treat if that. Zoos were a bit cheaper but still a once a year treat, and not at all if it was a year we went abroad. (Parents were both teachers for income context)

they did come down in price for a while but does seem to have gone back up, I do wonder if it’s the numbers who’ve got annual passes /Merlin passes and they need to make more from the “one off” visitors?

check Tesco vouchers though, last time we went to chessington it only cost us the parking and food we bought there as we got the tickets on the Tesco points. Think the tickets were £26 for adults /over 12s.

I think peoples expectations have changed. When I was a child in the late 80s you felt lucky if you got taken to the beach with a picnic and maybe got bought an ice cream. Days out like theme parks, zoos etc were a huge treat not a regular occurance. Instagram etc has people thinking they should be doing these things as standard weekend activities.

To be fair it’s an expensive playground for young kids

Plenty of NT properties have loads for young kids.