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.

[fuzzpig]

DD 8 does:

• Brownies - £25 per term
  
• Badgers - St John Ambulance - will be £6 a month (not officially enrolled yet)
  
• Rock Climbing - fortnightly-ish, works out at £123 a year
  
• Trampolining - also fortnightly-ish, works out at £88 a year
  
• Gymnastics - also fortnightly-ish (but only because rock climbing clashes), about £24 a term
  
• She has just started ballroom dancing but is currently having a casual trial so not actually sure how much it'll be. When I looked for DS, it was only £15 a month, but DD is older so suspect it may be a bit more.
  

DS 6 does:

• Beavers - £12 a month, pricey compared to Brownies!
  
• Badgers - as above
  
• Rock Climbing - as above
  
• Trampolining - as above
  
• He's not sure if he wants to do ballroom or not yet but would be £15 a month
  
• He wants to try a martial arts club, we looked into Kung Fu Schools but it was way out of our price range (£36 a month for 30 mins a week!). We've found another that is only £2ph and pay as you go, but haven't got round to it yet.
  

They do a lot, but they are homeschooled now so we have time (in particular for travel, we don't drive so spend a lot of time looking out of bus windows :o) and they are really enjoying it. When they were at school they only did one club maximum as they were so wrung out after school, they couldn't handle anything extra. It's also meant we can actually afford the activities more easily - the rock climbing, trampolining and gymnastics are HE-specific groups and are about half the price of the 'normal' equivalents, I guess because they are at off-peak times. Very lucky.

Piano is covered by me and I've finally started giving casual piano lessons to others as well - mainly so I can make the money to pay for my DCs' clubs :o

I don't think there's any 'right amount' of clubs and stuff, different DCs are happy with different amounts. As long as they still get time to just 'be' as well, then it's fine.

[KatieLatie]

About £70 a term for gym
£220 a term for piano lessons
£40 a term for ball skills
£80 a term for swimming (about to increase to about £160 - going from group to private)
£70 a term for tennis

So £480 a term for regular activities (about to increase to £600) - which does seem a bit excessive. DS is Year 1, but has SEN and massively benefits from 1-to-1 instruction. But he is an only child (not by design sadly) and you are only young once. I want him to have a good try at lots of things, but assume he may "specialise" more as he gets older.

[janeycam27]

DS1 Swimming £675 per year, Tennis £300 per year, Violin & Choir are free.
DS2 Swimming £825 per year

[Pominoz1]

At the risk of sounding like a miserable old bag ... (ok I am a miserable old bag) we must of spent hundreds of pounds on:
Dancing
Drama clubs
Stage school
Swimming lessons
Tennis
Cubs
Scouts
Rainbow guides
Brownies
Clarinet lessons
Drum lessons
Piano lessons
Guitar lessons
Karate
Sea cadets
Shooting
Horse riding
Sailing
Football
Baseball
BMX biking

With the exception of swimming lessons all were just passing phases, with some genuine talent scattered here and there. What did my three teenagers spend their later years doing ? Watching the Friends TV show, Will & Grace, playing x-box, shut up in their rooms with make up, scissors !! And friends (real ones). NOW the adult two tell me they wish I had made them stick it out when they got bored/how I made them go to lessons they hated. Can't win !!

[mamaduckbone]

Ds1 £30 per term Cubs, about £25 per term basketball and £80 a term guitar.
Ds2 £30 per term beavers and £19 per month swimming.
That's about £750 between them, plus Ds1 did a basketball holiday camp for £100 in the summer and there's various cub camps / beaver sleepovers and trips on top of that, so more or less the same as you but split between 2.
I don't think it's excessive if you can afford it and they enjoy it. Some of dc's friends do a lot more than them but I don't believe in over scheduling and we like our weekends!

[CharmingChampignon]

I try to keep it under the Child Benefit amount each month:

DD1 -
Gymnastics - £44/term = £132/year
Recorder - £38/term = £114/year
Rainbows - £25/term = £75/year
Swimming - £22/month = £264/year
Ballet - £39/term = £117/year

= £702/year (roughly £60/month)

DD2 -
Ballet - £39/term = £117/year
Swimming - £22/month = £264/year

= £381/year (roughly £32/month)

DD1 would like to do an after school football club £4/session and DD2 would like to start drama (?cost) and both want to do more gymnastics or trampolining.....

[HorseyWoman]

This is far from excessive!

I spend (on a 5 year old who is in Y1 at a state school):
Swimming £20 per month for lessons;
Rainbows £3 per week;
Horse riding £12 per fortnight;
Stagecoach £162 per term.

In addition to this is competitions, badges, uniforms and equipment. Then there are the additional swimming visits with me. I also spend about £120 a year on a holiday sports camp she likes to go to a few times each long school holiday. She is too young for school music lessons yet but will have them.eventually. In addition to all of this are the school trips (at least one a term), the constant pta financial support requests, school uniform and equipment and resources for projects.

She's expensive, but as a single parent I work damn hard and often go without myself if it comes to it. If I couldn't afford it, she wouldn't do it. It's cheaper than private school!

[unicorn501]

It all adds up... I was doing a budget recently and realised I was spending nearly £100 a month on activities for two DC. And they don't even do that much! Brownies, Rainbows, dance and swimming.

[vdbfamily]

My poor kids. They have all done Beavers and Cubs but did not go on to do scouts. They swim with school for one term a year. They do a couple of after school clubs which are free. My son will sometimes do a 3 day judo club in the holidays but other than that nothing. My 10 year old has just decided she might like to do ballet and gymnastics but keeps changing her mind so I have not yet looked into it. When they were younger we only had one car which DH took to work and we only had his9Not very big) income.We live in a village and if the activity did not happen in the village they could not go. They never seemed at all bothered and it was probably one of the reasons I could afford to be a SAHM. Now we both work,still only one car, and neither of us like rushing around so are quite happy that the kids are just as happy trotting off to the park after school and not having to be driven off to clubs. We are about to move close to the secondary school that all 3 of them will be at by sept 2017. I will encourage them to do every after school club they want to there as there is a big choice.
Our annual expenditure is less than £150 for 3 kids aged 9,10 and 12

[squidgyapple]

DD1 Guides - £30 per term and badminton @ ~£50 per term, other activities through school which are free

DD2 Guides £30 per term, drama £90 per term, music lessons ~£50 per term

[hels71]

Brownies: £73 a year
Dance: £288 a year
Theatre: Approx £60-70 a year

Then dance exams: £120 this year

Clothes and shoes for dance/theatre/brownies: Not sure as try to get second hand/as presents but about £80 this year.

[ReallyTired]

My children do extra curricular activities to improve fitness and social skills. I like them having friends outside school. I don't really care whether they become really good at an activity provided they enjoy it.

I am amazed by people who are able to get similar activities to what my children do at a far cheaper price. I suppose a lot depends on the standard of the facilities. Dd's gym club has competition standard equipment.

[SummerNights1986]

Extra curricular activities/lessons per year for ds's aged 7 and 5 (each) cost:

Football subs: £115.00
Dance class: £260.00
Swimming: £225.00
School choir: Free
Ukulele (sp) lessons: Free

So that's around £600.00 per child, per year. Total of £1200 +. And that's not including additional costs such as football boots and kits and providing a dance costume around 3 times a year when they do shows.

[attheendoftheday]

Dd1 does swimming at roughly £30 a half term, ballet at £35 a term, cooking club for free and riding for £25 a month.

Dd2 does swimming and riding at the same cost and will start ballet after Christmas.

That adds up to a scary £1170 a year!

[manicinsomniac]

A frightening amount. I don't even know because they do a lot of one off workshops, exams, shows, special classes etc.

But it's mainly dance. And some gymnastics.

I teach them singing and piano myself to save money but I don't think a child's own parent is the most effective teacher. Which is why I won't teach them dance. Seems crazy to pay other to teach what you spend half your life teaching other children to do but it seems to work!

[manicinsomniac]

Actually, thinking about it, I don't know that it is a frightening amount.

If you added up a yearly amount for anything (food, bills, clothes, drinks on nights out etc) it would all sound scary as a lump sum.

But as a part of the lump sum that is your income it probably isn't.

Say I spent £3000 on extra curriculars (fairly random guesstimate). Well my salary is around £42000 before tax. And I probably spend around £4000 a year just on groceries and probably way more than that on bills. I certainly don't value extra curriculars less than I value food. Probably more.

So it's all okay. Moral panic over

[Blu]

Nothing!

It used to be £30 pw music lesson and £25 per term scouts.

Then the music lesson was replaced by £50 per term )or £125 per year) 1-2-1 lessons and £30 per term band. Now all that comes free as a Music GCSE student, and there is another weekend workshop led by professional musicians at an arts venue and that is free too! And no longer any scouts.

We do pay for other outings and other opportunities as they crop up, Big Bang Fair, for example. Although come to think of it that is free!

[littledrummergirl]

I have 3dc and spend approx £3000 a yr on all activities. That doesn't include the cost of competitions, gradings, camps, uniforms, hotel costs, petrol or bus fair(£1400) to school for ds1.

I think I just realised why I'm skint and haven't been out for years!

[MissDuke]

Dd (11) goes to a boxing class which is £2 a week pay as you go. She also goes to two free after school clubs. Dd has done other activities in the past but didn't want to continue.

Ds (7) does football three times a week which costs £7 a week (again, pay as you go, but he always goes!), Beavers £2 a week and £30 annual sub, multiskills £2.40 a week, and wants to start rugby soon (and drop multiskills). He is also in the school choir and does one free after school activity a week. He is busy but full of energy and very fit so he really does need all this activity.

Dd (4) does one dance class a week, £4 also pay as you go. No doubt she will want to do more soon.

It is hard to get an annual amount as some things run through some holidays and not others, but I would estimate a total of around £700 a year for all three kids. So far I have bought ds one kit (£30) and two pairs of football boots (£40) so not too bad compared to some I guess.

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

[HicDraconis]

Karate for both is $90 per month each but they can go to as many classes as they want for that; they normally do 8 sessions a week.

DS1 piano $60 per term ($240 per year)
DS2 drums $250 per term ($1000 per year)

Swimming they go 3-4 times a week at school and is free.
Neither has enough spare time after homework for anything else!

($3400 a year - very very roughly £1481 at today's exchange rates)

[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!

[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....

[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.

[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.

[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.'