That school holidays are not that expensive...

[Soggyflatjack]

We had some family over the other day who said the school holidays end up so expensive because of all the trips the children want to go on and to keep the kids entertained.

I disagreed.

I have two school aged children 5&7.

Yes, I'm paying more because they are home for an extra (morning) snack and lunch.

Petrol is just a little added cost as I drive DC to two different schools anyway which are quite far apart. I pay extra for car parking costs or sometimes we get the train somewhere

I'm lucky that we have a garden so I can throw DC outside to play.

We play games, make a creative mess which gets on my fucking nerves, go to parks, have picnics, go to friends houses and they come over to us. I also take the DC to toy shops so they can play.

I don't have any membership for anywhere like the merlin pass

I'm not including childcare costs.

I'm not including any booked summer holidays.

AIBU to think that you don't need to spend much on outings or am I missing something completely...? What are you doing which costs so much?

Can I be cheeky and ask how much you spend over the 6 weeks...? Do you budget for the holidays?

Ego, my teen and preteen definitely eat more during the holidays. They basically eat all day. At school they're restricted to lunch and snack. At home they'll have 2 bowls of cereal then during the morning have 2 or 3 rounds of toast or teacakes or malt loaf. 5 or 6 pieces of fruit in the day. Bacon, sausages and eggs. A bag of crisps in an afternoon. And the milk they seem to get through is staggering. But then they're extremely active both during term time and school holidays. Tennis camp, hockey days, 3 days away with the rugby team. Dropping them both at their climbing club. Taking all 4 of them swimming.
If I didn't arrange stuff outside the house then although ds1 may spend some time reading, ds2 (who is academically gifted) would rather slit his throat. If they were both at home all day with me and ds3 and toddler DD, they would undoubtedly spend almost the entire day on their iPads. Ds3 has asd so in all honestly, I understand their need to get out.

Tbh, even when mine were younger they have never had any interest in anything craft like. Playdoh entertained them for about 15mins. They didn't want to do anything involving colouring in or painting. The only time ds2 had enjoyed painting was when we let him paint the garage.

I think it's all very well to say teenagers need the same amount of calories year-round until you have teenagers who eat you out of house and home!

I have no DC but I remember how much food I ate during the school holidays. I was home all day, no siblings and bored so I ate. I never got fat but I did get through a stupid amount of food, mostly because it was there and it was free to lie around and eat!

I think it's very rare to find a teenager whose satisfied with a small snack and a packed lunch!

I must admit the going to a toy shop has boggled my brain. Yay I've got a fab day out kids, we're going to toys r us to play with the toys you'll never own. I'm imagining sqees of joy

Takes all sorts man.

Feeding teenagers is bloody expensive in the holidays! At least you can send them to school with a packed lunch and then not see them till 4 or 5 but in the holidays they're constantly in the cupboard grazing. My son ate a whole packet of biscuits yesterday for a midmorning snack . He's nearly 17 and as thin as a whippet. Drives me nuts

And as for a day out at a toyshop ?? Jesus wept, at least brag about a.story sacks session at the local library or something.

Sadly when kids get to the age of ten or so the abundance of free activitys in the.hols stops (( never had the luxury of accessing those as my ds has SN )) bike rides, days at the beach etc are all well and good until the weather turns crap. That's when the expense creeps up.

Oh god yes - the constant grazing from teens is bloody expensive! At least it's only after school during term time, but in the holidays it's never ending.

gamer - I'm with you. Mine would never have been happy queuing up for a few minutes playing on the computer or cars in Toys R Us under the guise of a 'day out' .

The school holidays are very, very expensive in our household. But that's a definite choice we have made and budget for: we have always wanted the DCs to have lots of diverse and enriching experiences and have always used the summer holidays for that. Fortunately the DSSs no longer cost much - DSS1 has spent his post-graduation summer doing a two-month paid (yay!) internship in London and is going on a very cheap holiday to stay with a friend who has a house on Corfu. And DSS2 also spent six weeks working and then gatecrashed our holiday with DD, sleeping on a put you up because he committed so late that there were no more rooms left in our hotel.

But DD... I would hate to think what she has cost! But she is all the better for it, so all well and good :)

The grazing is like living with a herd of goats.

YY to the biscuits. I refuse to buy anything other than own brand rich tea and own brand bourbon creams during school holidays. I bought a double pack of bourbons on Fri and the entire packet was gone by Sat eve. Entire packets of biscuits as mid morning snacks happen regularly here too. They are like dustbins and I know this is only the start. Goodness knows what it will be like when they're 17&15!

Funnily enough, I don't particularly think we spend more on food during the summer than usual. But the travel costs are something else. Not helped this year by having DP charter a plane to fly DD from Salzburg to Agen!

nat3 yy re; childcare costs. I had to stick it on my credit card and could have cried. I'll get some tax credits towards it but I've still got that debt hanging over me for a couple of months.

TBF I could easily cut costs of food if I got more organised/paid more attention to budget/policed the fridge and larder more effectively.

But I'm not and I don't .

I also can't be the only one who seems often to have more teens in the house than our allotted number.

Head counts are sometimes necessary.

Which may, I accept, be in part due to my lax policing .

I must admit the going to a toy shop has boggled my brain.

I don't get it either but I do see loads of children in toys r us playing with the bikes etc. I always thought that the parents were trying them out prior to purchase but to think they are just there having a day out is just bizarre

Also the wine required to cope with the sheer fury when they look in the fridge and announce that there is NOTHING TO EAT.

Or show up at your elbow solicitously enquiring about how early you're working when it's nearly 11am and you have been at the desk for THREE HOURS.

I'm the one who needs a sodding policeman, I tell you. Preferably one with a G&T in hand.

I do it on a budget but still find it expensive. We do lots of walks, playing in the garden, free museum/art gallery visits, swimming, cheap cinema tickets, seaside day trips, lots of free activities with friends but the petrol and cafe costs mount up, even when we just keep things simple. We mostly take our own refreshments but there's nothing like a cup of tea out of a China cup!

It's all relative anyway. What you consider to be cheap, I might consider to be expensive because our household income is low.

My most expensive thing has been two pony days at £90 for two mornings two kids. Eek!

Otherwise tho if done well. Averaging out at about £20 a week mostly on ice cream and coffee for me. A swimming trip But we have managed free or minimal cost things so far. I know it will get more expensive soon as dd is 10 so making the most of it now.

I'm off all summer so no childcare thank God

We just go walking and hiking all the time,take cheap packed lunches and climb up things

When DD is at home she's calling for friends or out in the garden entertaining herself.

A few cinema trips and days out sprinkled in

DD's favourite thing this summer has not been the expensive day trips, but the day that all the kids on the street set up an old paddling pool and made an obstacle course around it. They had to do "stunts" on their scooters

I find its got cheaper as she gets older.

I think it must be different with just one it maybe two. With 4, nothing is ever going to be cheap!

They are expensive.
During school term, I can work extra days. I cannot in the holidays.
We had 2 weeks in turkey which was fab, but it costs.
Durin term time, I go out for lunch once a week.
During hols, there are added petrol costs.
During term time, we walk to school both ways.
Every time we go out, it costs something. Even playground means an ice cream. I never spend anything on myself during term time.
I take her to cp every other week, FOC but as you can imagine, the tiny pool is rammed and the rapids are carnage. I work there so get free passes but it's like a zoo.
Her mates parents work, so there's no one local to call for. No relatives with kids locally.
So it's a bit shit and costs. We have a wizard box so have watched the latest movies here.
Saying all that, I like the lack of routine and she seems to enjoy far too much little mix and star dolls website! She's 9.
I usually work all days, and probably will again by next summer.

A bit smug to criticise someone for finding it hard to keep their kids doing stuff they are comfortable with. My boys would happily stay at home all day watching youtube videos, but I don't like that many days per week, however cheap it is.

How much you spend over the 6 weeks...?

A very cheap day out (6-7 hrs, walking cross country & pokemoning) might cost me £25 for DC age 8 & 12.

£15 travel cost
£5 parking
£5 icecreams + a soda for me (I bring packed lunch & snacks otherwise)

So even if I only do that type of outing once a week, it's £150 after 6 wks.

Teens don't meet up in person much, any more, out of school & structured activity time. It's not the done thing most parents disapprove because kids might be up to mischief.

It depends on your dc as well as the age.

At those ages:
Dd1 was totally happy playing in the park for a couple of hours then coming home and having an ice cream from the freezer as a treat.
Dd2 would have been happy with that sometimes, but needed to stretch her wings more. So we had to look further afield and have ended up spending more.
Ds is quite happy staying at home-but then he'll never do anything without a slight push, so I choose to find things he'll enjoy (because although he won't want to go he'll enjoy them when he's there). I don't think it's particularly good if he's just at home all the time.

So I do spend more now than some people.
But we also don't always go away as a family. This summer all mine have done a residential camp which they enjoy. We've done some things like pick your own-which isn't a free day out, but we end up with the jam for all year. We usually do a couple of kids' week shows, which aren't cheap, but we enjoy them as a family. We'll have a couple of all day trips.
However because we haven't gone away for a holiday (and never abroad) I'll bet we spend considerably less than most people.

I don't get it either but I do see loads of children in toys r us playing with the bikes etc. I always thought that the parents were trying them out prior to purchase but to think they are just there having a day out is just bizarre confused

We'll I won't be looking at them thinking how lucky they are to be getting toys this time of year anymore that's for sure.

If you really look there's a load of free stuff to do in any area. If you plan it well all you pay for is travel/parking and maybe a fiver at the gift shop. Take your own lunch type of thing.