extra curricular activites - how much do you spend per child.

[ReallyTired]

Dd does gymnastics at £93 per term, Swimming is about £75 per term and violin is £132 per term. This means I spend £300 a term on extra curricular activites. Last year I spent £100 on holiday courses for her as well. Does it sound shocking to spend roughly £1000 on a child for extra curriuclar activites.

Ds does guitar for £200 per term, chess club is £7 per year, junior membership of the gym for £15 per month and the church choir is free. In the past I have paid for him to have swimming lessons and he used to do karate.

How does our expense compare with the mumsnet average? I realise the amounts we spend as a family are a drop in the ocean compared with private education.

[wornoutboots]

£45 a year for Rugby training for the 5 year old. about the same for practise top to wear for it (not compulsory until next year when he might even get on a team)

That's it ATM. will double next year when his brother starts training too at 4.

[Sgtmajormummy]

Both do music (practical, theory and exams) and a sport.

The older one does a coding course, sound engineering/composition and coaching for the competitive University Entrance exam he's sitting soon.

Plus any school extras.

So about £4,000 a year (1 for the younger, 3 for the older)

They both go to State schools, but we use our money to supplement and encourage non-core subjects and their particular talents. We think it's money well spent but we do vet the tutors and their performance, changing if necessary.

[TrulySweet]

Crikey! I have 4 DDs and they only do free/low cost school run clubs.

DD1 9yo does football on a Monday.

DD2 8yo didn't want to do anything except gardening club which was over subscribed and she'd done it in the summer term so other children got a chance.

DD3 6yo wasn't really interested in going to an after school club this term.

DD4 is only 3yo so doesn't go to clubs.

A few years ago DD2 had Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis so we did swimming lessons for her and DD1 & DD2 did ballet to help her build her strength up (DD3 was too young & DD4 wasn't born then). Swimming was a bust as the water was too cold, DD2 didn't like it and skipped most lessons.

We gave up ballet after they wanted us to spend £££ on a ballet show (to pay for chaperones at rehearsal/show, special t-shirts for rehearsal @£10 each, a fee for hiring their costumes and then tickets for the recital).

When the DDs started the teacher knew why we were doing it and that the girls wouldn't be doing exams or shows as we couldn't afford it and we were doing for exercise not for exams.

The teacher was a con artist though, the required leotards came with a 'skirt' attached (aka a single layer of gauzy fabric) but the teacher also charged for a skirt as well as the already skirted leotard the skirt was about £15 iirc!

[Anotherusername1]

DS is in year 8

We spend:

£36 a term on scouts plus a camp in the summer which was about £230 but that was a one-off week camp, usually they are a weekend and much cheaper

£200ish on keyboard lessons in school (a year)

£100ish on athletics clubs subscription and petrol to get to events and training

£36 a month on swimming lessons

This year he went on a school trip overseas which cost about £500 but school trips don't take place every year

And there are some holiday activities such as a kayaking course which cost about £20 a day and an athletics camp which was £50 for two days.

He's getting bored with scouts and it's unlikely he'll continue with piano/keyboard lessons after this school year.

[budgiegirl]

My dd does scouts, netball and chess club, football and cricket (summer and winter)
Both my DSs do cricket (district winter and summer) plus two football clubs each and american football.

The cost for all three of them is under £900 for the year, but that's because all the clubs are either free (school run) or volunteer run (scouts, football, cricket).

I think things like music lessons, or clubs that are run as a business are the ones that tend to bump up the cost - I guess I'm just lucky that my kids have never expressed an interest in those hobbies.

Of course, I haven't included kits/boots/equipment in those costs. Which do mount up, but I'd mostly have to get for school anyway.

And then there's petrol - many of the football matches are at 20-40 miles away, and some weekends we have 5 different matches to get to - it can be a logistical nightmare. I don't know how the PP with 6 kids manages it!

[Bambambini]

Or tennis.

[Lancelottie]

Don't start them on music lessons, Lollipopgirl, and you'll be fine.

Or Irish dancing.
Or ballet.

I can recommend Canoe club, Brownies and going-for-a-walk.

[nightsky010]

DS in Year 2:

Extra swimming - £80 a term
Craft club - free
Drama - free
Hockey - free
Chess - free

Thinking of swapping one of the free clubs for a paid one or possibly doing an extra (paid for) club at the weekends. Not sure yet though.


phoebe1 6 DC and £10k a year, wow!

[ButterflyUpSoHigh]

Dd1
Gymnastics £45 a month
Piano lessons £135 a term

Dd2
Brownies £2 a week plus trips/camps £200 a year
Piano lessons £55 a term
Recorder lessons £35 a term

They have both done swimming lessons, tumbletots, music classes, irish dancing, tap dancing in the past.

[Lollipopgirl8]

Gosh some really privileged kids!
Makes me fear having children

[CallMeExhausted]

All three of mine are in Special Olympics.

The girls only pay $10 annually to participate in gymnastics and track and field, and their equipment is about $200 each. However, that is a one-time purchase, except for wear & tear or growth.

My youngest also plays sledge hockey which is $375 a year plus equipment. She participates in a special needs dance class which is free.

DS is active in curling through Special Olympics, which is $79 annually, plus his $10 annual registration fee, same as the girls.

His extra is drawing lessons - $50 per 8 week session, 2 sessions a year.

So, about $1285 a year for all three...

[Bambambini]

About 90 per child per week. It depends though as their activities are waning.

[Squiff85]

Gymnastics is £11 a week for both
Swimming is £9 a week for both
Cubs £3 a week

• 38 weeks of term so £874 a year!

[SummerNights1986]

For us it isn't the cost, it is all the running about that is hard

I agree, us too.

My dc do 4 structured activities each a week (2 are only for 30 minutes each), plus both have a football match every Sunday. Ds1 also has an instrument which needs practice.

There's so much more they like to do and i'd love to take them to (gymnastics being the main one because it would help with their dancing) but there just aren't enough hours in the week.

Some of the lists of dc's activities on here are making me shudder! And again, not because of the cost but just because how.

3 phase has 11 activities for 3dc...where do you get the time?!? Luckily my ds's are close in age and have similar interests, but they've still had to compromise and do the same activities because if they chose completely different clubs i'd be buggered!

[Indole]

Sewing club - £90 per term
Stagecoach - £365 per term
Violin - £120 per term
Piano - £120 per term
Keyboard - £10 per term

Plus some free stuff mostly at school (choir, orchestra, art club, science club etc).

So that's an eyewatering £705 per term for one child. £2115 per year. Bloody hell. I've never added it up before.

[wigornian]

Swimming - weekly, in school. Free.

Of course, all the "free" tings in school are included int he fees, but these are very reasonable, we have a lots of private school sin the area so the fees are competitive.

[wigornian]

DS aged 7, Private school

Beavers £2.50 a week I think
Drama - after school: free
Glee Club - after school: free
Gym - after school, free
Tae Kwondo - after school £5 a session, paid termly
Piano Lessons - in school £110
LAMDA - in school £115

Not too bad, really.....

[SquirrelledAway]

I was quietly relieved when DS gave up swimming, I reckoned it cost at least £3500 a year (training fees, meet fees, travel / accommodation, kit etc). That didn't include the £1000 for the warm weather training camp. And my car now does around 3000 or so less miles a year.

[FannyFanakapan]

DFC per term:

Guides £30
Swimming £90
Dance £60
Plus all the extras like panto and club T shirt...

[Pheobe1]

Bloody hell, thanks op I probably shouldn't have worked that out.

Just over 10,000 a year

Have 6 DC

DS 1 science club,
DD 1 ice skating and drama
DD 2 ice skating, ballet, tap, modern dance
DD 3 ice skating, ballet
DS 2 karate, magic club, science club
DD 4 horse riding, gymnastics, magic club

Plus £126 a week on extra academic tuitions.

[Lancelottie]

all that comes free as a Music GCSE student

Blu, can we move to your school? Ours just says 'Please ensure that your child is having extracurricular lessons with an expert in their chosen instrument as it is unrealistic to attempt the course without this.'

[kellymarie30]

Aprox, 8250 PA, not including camps and school trips etc. 3 children. clubs range in music, sport and commuity actitives and they also do a few free clubs at school.

[hufflebottom]

£25 a term for rainbows. Yet to buy anymore uniform for her yet.

Dd will be having swimming lessons next year. But looking at that at the mo.

[3phase]

Terrifying thread!

Per annum.....

DSD - piano lessons = £675
DSD - swimming = £90
DS - drum lessons = £450 a year
DS - swimming = £90
DS - football = £160
DS - tennis = £100
DS - rugby = £90
DD - swimming = £90
DD - ballet = £150
DD - French = £150
DD - Yoga = £150

So over £2k. Not including uniform / equipment and on top of school fees. The baby hasn't started anything yet....!

Expensive habit; having children....

[HicDraconis]

Oh and that doesn't include karate camp which is normally $1000 for all of us, or grading fees / replacement gis and sparring gear / new belts as they grade / etc. Still seems minimal in comparison to others!