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!

If you want to do the Merlin theme parks it’s best to bite the bullet and buy the passes when the sale is on , if you go fairly regularly it makes it very cost effective .

Solidarity! How can it be over £50 each time, that’s before you add in snacks, drinks, gift shop visit

A family ticket for an open top bus where I live is £51

We usually have a couple of yearly passes (~£80-100 for family) to things like English Heritage, zoos, farms, etc and vary them each year. Then mix them up with free days out to the beach, woods, country parks etc. So maybe £15-20 a month and we're never short of things to do.

The country parks/beaches/beauty spots near us often put on either free or inexpensive events in the school holidays so we usually do these as well, then maybe a more expensive day trip to London or something a bit different.

There are ways to do days out a bit cheaper without needing to spend £50+ a day.

Snacks and drinks take with you, who on earth is shopping in the gift shop at a theme park?!

I agree, it was a once a year thing for us.

But regarding expectations I think it's more the fact that in the 80's as kids we spent a lot of our days just being out with friends playing in the streets, wandering around local parks, reservoirs, woods, walking through streams and so on. Those days are gone. So how to fill thei time now?

Exactly! Our holiday club is £20-25 per day, plus we get sibling and early booking discounts, plus saving 20% using tax-free childcare!

I think a lot of this comes back to the relatively recent idea that children need to constantly be entertained and can’t possibly be allowed to be bored. Instead of it being a treat it has for many become an expectation - and one in reality many can’t afford.

Soft play, adults must also pay entry because the outside is open in summer. It now costs £14 an adult, £13 any child over 1yrs old. Cannot bring your own food. 2 adults, three children, plus lunch and drinks £160 gone. I'm giving it a miss this summer. Just an absolute rip off.

I’m going to centre parcs next weekends. Family if 5- booked last year £699 for a 4 day break and be paying £50 a month. Can’t wait. We planned to just do just pool and some bits in the chalet (such as cooking, drawing etc). Girl’s desperate to do laser tag. £120 for 3 people!! WTF.

Apparently we need to stop thinking of £50-100 as being anything other than pocket change.

On the '£50 is a lot for a student to spend on a night out' thread, the OP was repeatedly told that was 'very cheap' and people spent more than that in the 1990s so it was perfectly normal to spend £80/100+ on a night out and in fact it was 'impossible' to spend less.

National Trust yearly membership has been a godsend in this house, they run different kids activities every holiday and you can take a picnic

Well I’m zone 4 London on the Kent boarder- I would kill for a holiday club that cheap. I pay £45 a day and consider that good for 9.30-4.30.
tennis club for two hours is £20. These aren’t made up prices.

Tbh that’s why I wouldn’t do centre parks- I would do butlins or haven- such a cheek to charge for actives on top of the holiday expense

Another vote for National Trust and picnics. My favourite days out :)

@GoodVibesHere yikes! The bus we go on is one do two special ones they put on for the kids during school holidays and weekends in the warmer months. It's the same price as normal bus fat so we do a day rider for less than a tenner for us all and the kids all get a badge and they play music on there etc

My DC have never been to a theme park. We don't go because it's really just a day spent queuing and we don't like big rides. I didn't know how much they cost and think about £100 to stand in queues and occasionally get on a fairground ride seems a bad use of £100.

I think it depends on your interests.

We are history nerds. I find them great because they often are more focused on upper class/gentry than the big houses/castles. You find real gems with. unsuspecting background. Also we used them frequently as breaks for a UK holiday instead of service stations.

DD is now 16 and while she is still interested, she is more fussy where to go so we may not get that much out of it anymore than when she was a primary age child. Often DH and I do things on our own for 1/2 day.

Friends tried it for a year but they are just not interested in vistiting houses so they didn't renew because there is plenty of other things to do in our area.

As PP posters have said NT and or EH depending what there are more of in your area.

My DC are older teens now. I think we went to Chessington twice when they were younger. Never went to any other theme parks or zoos.

Went to free London museums, we live in London so kids travel free.

Went to some very cheap kids events at royal festival hall during summer holidays and also very cheap eg. £10 pp ballets at royal opera house and theatre.

I think if you're in/near London it's much easier to find free or very cheap stuff to do.

We'd also just meet friends in the park, go swimming.

Kids were perfectly happy. I took no notice of what other people were doing. Maybe they would have liked to do the more expensive things but it's certainly done them no harm whatsoever by not doing them.

You don't even need to be interested in the history TBH. Membership gives you access to the entire estate, often with marked walking/cycling trails, free parking, picnic areas, toilets, possibly a play area, waterfalls/stepping stones, orienteering or geocaching, sometimes seasonal themed activities etc.

So provides a safe outdoor area with facilities, where DC can run around and play even if you don't go into the 'house' or use the cafe which, while usually sells decent quality fresh food, is quite expensive, especially if you're there as a family and usually has a long queue. So take a picnic if you want to eat.

Well, you’re fun aren’t you?

We like the National Trust and for us the membership is definitely worth the money. Many of the properties have the most beautiful gardens and park land. We can spend a whole day there with a picnic. There are many NT places on the coast, that include free parking. When we go on holiday, the first thing we do is look up where the NT is locally.

I agree. But in my opinion you still need the mindset to enjoy this. I know families who think a day out is cinema, theme park, trampoline etc. A NT/EH is not on their radar at all.

I love their cafes but never do lunch. We normally split some cake/cream tea. And using them as stopping points on a longer car journey meant clean toilets and a nice garden/lawn to run around.

We're in Kent, though more rural 🤷‍♀️ Admittedly it is one of the cheaper ones near us (though most not more than about £35 per day), though have been using for the past few years since it started out and DC love it... They haven't put the price up in that time and I am surprised!