Would you rather have a 'worse holiday' than usual/than you'd like, or no holiday at all?

[Guibhyl]

I don't think I'm THAT fussy when it comes to holidays. We've two (soon to be three) young kids and I want them to be able to have fun experiences like holidays.

However, now we are tied to the school holidays as eldest has just started reception. I've started looking at places for next year and I just don't think we can get something I'd be happy with for our budget. I've pushed it as much as I can but I'll be on mat leave. Plus, there's only so much I'd really want to spend on a week-long experience regardless of how much ££ I had. But let's say, for example, that a holiday experience I'd be 'happy' with for a family of 5 seems to cost £4k+, but we can only afford to spend up to £3k. Would you just go on a £3k holiday instead for the benefit of the kids, and accept that it's not going to be quite what you want it to be? Or would you save the money and not bother, maybe spending some of it on other experiences during the summer holidays that you would otherwise not be able to afford e.g. peppa pig world?

I accept this is a very first world privileged problem to have. And maybe I'm over thinking it and should just book the best holiday I can find for our budget and make the most of it. But £3k is a lot of money, about two months' wages for me, and i just dread the thought of spending that much on a week away and then it turning out to be a bit shite. WWYD? I can post my list of 'wants' if that would be helpful, although I'm not sure it would be!

This. That's how we used to do it when we were constrained by budget and school holidays. Lovely self-catering villa, eat out for lunch and dinner, fruit and yoghurt for breakfast. Minimal faff, probably only loaded/unloaded the dishwasher every couple of days, super relaxing.

We go to Butlin's every year and it's fab. £800 for 4+baby under 2. Apartment and food included so no cooking and no sofa bed. Food is standard but fine. Beach if it's hot. Loads of indoor activity included in the price if it's not. For your age kids there's is swimming, soft play, messy play, puppet show, pantomime, tots disco, billy and bonnie show, Teletubbies, Peppa pig and loads more. It's so jam packed we had to schedule carefully not to miss stuff.
Do that. Your kids will love it even if you're a bit meh (although I actually enjoy it too) and then put the other 2200 towards next years holiday.

It sounds like you've decided, but maybe look at something like Canvas holidays, that's what we did the year I investigated, but quickly ruled out on cost grounds, the possibility of AI in school holidays.

It's self-catering but putting together simple meals from French supermarkets in the sunny South of France is entirely different to getting dinner on the table after work.

We tend to stay in less than perfect places when we Airbnb, but I'm not paying over the odds for somewhere we usually just put down our heads at night! As long as it's clean, spacious enough and no signs of mould/dirt and comfortable, it doesn't have to be like a 5 star hotel. The fun is what we go out and do together each day.

I find VRBO much better in terms of quality and value than Airbnb

In all the years of taking our kids on sun holidays we've done one night of AI and never again - plus we got covid! A decent sized apartment or villa on a complex with a pool works much better. Going to the supermarket is always a highlight for the kids and it's easy enough to buy pizza etc for easy lunches then eat out at night.

In a straight choice between nice AI cheap AL I probably would stay at home 🤣

It's AI that's making it so expensive, along with the dates. I spent your budget this year taking two teens to two European cities for 12 days. We stayed in 2 apartments and I think I cooked 3 or 4 nights. Other than that we had pizza and ate out. The cooking I did was extremely basic but I love foreign supermarkets so find that element a bit of a novelty. Personally I would loath spending evenings cramped into some pretty basic room and then having to sleep on a sofa -bed. I would take having to do a bit of basic cooking over that any day.

I don't think you can get what you want for your budget and dates so you will have to compromise somewhere and you do sound as if you want to go away and like holidays, so it seems a shame not to be open to some different options.

I'm with you OP, and AI usually means kids club which is a bonus not sure any holiday with a 7 month old really feels like a holiday though...another reason I'd delay until I had the budget for the holiday I wanted.

This

If you like where you live so much and don't want to splurge on school holidays prices to go abroad or take your kids out of school then surely your answer is to stay at home and enjoy some days out?

I have looked at Eurocamp and was quite tempted. However I priced it up and the cost of the ferry plus all the petrol/tolls plus the cost of food/eating out came to not much less than going AI and it seemed like a LOT more stress. It is really a long journey, and as pp said you have to travel a fair way south to guarantee ok weather. I think we'd end up spending more money on the way to break up the journey with a 7mo and a 3 yo. Even to the Eurocamps in Brittany it's 3 hours from here to the ferry port then an 8-9 hour overnight ferry (so need to pay for a cabin unless you want to try to get the kids sleep on a chair or on the floor) plus then 4 hours+ driving. We'd need to stop so many times en route with kids this age. I think it would be a great option for when they're a bit older, perhaps 8/6/4 ish onwards when they can be more easily entertained on a long journey.

I think I'm leaning towards maybe taking our 3k budget and putting half aside for next year so that we can have a nice AI holiday once the baby is a bit older. Then from the £1.5k remaining, maybe do a 3 night glamping stay or something in the UK near to a beach and cross fingers and hope for some half decent weather. I think that would be about £1k all in during school holidays. Then spend the other £500 on some nice random days out for the kids (including Peppa Pig world, dear lord).

Like @mrscatwoman I don't get the attraction of all inclusive. I've only done it once, cheap deal pre kids, and it felt like being part of a factory mill. Food was mediocre and I missed choice. We always self cater and for us going round Spanish (we mainly go to spain but I also love a French supermarket) supermarkets is a fun part of the holiday but I'm lucky as my husband does the majority of the cooking and enjoys it when abroad as gets very into doing local dishes with local ingredients. I doubt that I can persuade the OP re the joys of self catering (though I reckon is does get easier as kids get older and less fussy, so you can avoid pasta pesto and make the same dinner for everyone or all eat out) but it certainly means you get a cheaper holiday and can flex more by booking budget airline flights and Airbnb accommodation. This way you can get better bigger accommodation which I think makes a holiday with kids far more pleasant.

I agree about oct half term being cheaper, certainly true for accommodation in Spain, and it's even more affordable if your kids get a 2 week half term like mine now do, means one of the flights is out of holidays which cut the price of the overall trip a lot for us this year.

We just did UK holidays when the kids were little. Holidays are a faff with small children anyway so we mostly went for them rather than us.

Holidays with small kids are a bit like Christmas as an adult. You get a buzz because the kids are excited, rather than because you think it's great yourself. And kids get excited about anything new. DD used to spend hours that first day unpacking, and absolutely loved it. Rockpooling on a drizzly beach is far more fun when it's a beach not local. Kids love it because it's an adventure, rather than because of the actual activity.

Me and DP used to go away for a weekend a few time's a year for our own relaxing breaks.

Stay at home and hire staff for a week - private chef, cleaning service, babysitter, etc. Plan some family stuff and some couple stuff.

With little kids you have to consider what do they like vs what you like.

Little kids will not notice the difference between Butlins and Centre Parcs, and will probably prefer Butlins.

You would notice the difference and prefer Centre Parcs. But the extra spends was wasted on your kids.

Honestly, the best 'young kids' holiday we had was at Crieff Hydro in Perthshire. The childcare is exceptional.

Look at booking your main holiday at Easter break ( though not the key bank holiday dates ) and May or October half term instead ? Look at a UK cottage holiday maybe ? I think holidays are great for kids to see new places and realise there is more out there than their own locale

After a very expensive (and disappointing) AI in Cyprus this summer, I am asking myself the same question.

We have had some lovely holidays by vising friends and family abroad, taking advantage of inset days, taking the kids out of school for a day or two either side of a holiday, or just swallowing a fine for keeping them off completely.

This year our youngest was leaving yr 6 so for the first time ever we had to stick to the peak, peak time. Oh my goodness, I knew we would need to adjust our expectations, but I feel totally mugged! We made the best of it, and had a good time but we ended up spending an extra £1k hiring a car, eating out and paying for extra activities because the hotel was just not doing it for us.

After this year's experience, I would rather forego an annual holiday abroad to take one that ticks all the boxes less often.

I don't mind s/c or camping (luckily because those were what we could afford) but my DH likes cooking so I still got a break from it.

But echo what a pp has said re French sites with mobile homes etc. One of the best holiday we had was a (admittedly quite crap) mobile home on a campsite in Brittany 5 min walk to the beach, with water parks, kids activities etc. (The site had far superior mobile homes for not much more money, but I think we were ripped off) The only downside was not many places to eat out (if you want to avoid cooking) although there was a nice pizza place. But other sites might be nearer town for eating out.

I think the AI combined with multiple bedrooms is the killer. I've looked for similar and it's £££

You don't seem to want the AI activities so I would go for a villla close to a family friendly town. Eat cereal/pastries for bfast & bread/ham for lunches and then go out to dinner every night.

Dh and I are very middle class and quite well-paid and I cannot even fathom spend £3000 on a holiday. 😱Your kids don't need some grand experience. Take them to the seaside for a few days, let them splash around, eat ice cream, build sandcastles. It doesn't have to be extravagant. Or go on a city break for long weekend. Even in school holidays, it's not going to break the bank. I've done lots of city breaks with ours, get an Airbnb in some random European city for a few nights. We do some local family attractions, street markets, playground, picnics, order Just Eat for dinner to sample some local food, into bed and dh and I get to chill. It's an nice adventure, but relatively cheap, certainly not AI resort prices.

I would save the money and have a more enjoyable time next year

OP you just aren't going to get what you want with your budget in the school holidays. So you either need to downgrade expectations (get the sun, but go SC) or not go. A UK holiday is always a risk weather wise, but we've had some great ones, even if the weather was less than perfect. It's fine if that's not for you though, so save for the year after next, and have the holiday you want while staying at home next year!

Definitely!
This year, I couldn't afford much so we did 5 days in Turkey and had a blast.

We usually do a uk break at Easter, holiday abroad in the summer and a city break in October.
We do cheap flights and Airbnb.