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?

AndNowItsSeven
Regular food for six of us on a long active day out.
Two bread buns each, filled with cheese, ham, pastrami or tuna and salad,
Salad with cucumber, feta, tomatoes, olives, peppers,
Chicken and ham skewers for me mostly as I don't eat sandwiches but the kids love them so I do extra,
Baby bels,
Some cakey things,
Two tubes of Pringles,
Strawberries, apples, grapes, melon, kiwi.
Drinks.
£30 included everything bought except butter, though I bought just enough ham and pastrami for what we needed.

Luckily, we all get to benefit from their exemplary parenting as they're always happy to share the many many ways in which they perpetually excel at it

It's true. It's the parenting equivalent of the MN chicken.

Wow, my picnic for nine costs £10 , sandwiches( ham, chicken, cheese etc) £3 sausage rolls £2.50 crisps £1.50 fruit £2 and biscuits/cake bars. £1 .

I'm not sure that doing things cheaply makes you a better parent?

A better budgeter perhaps, but not parent.

That is cheap, £3 for sandwiches, my bread rolls cost £2:60

Where are you buying bread rolls from?

Sainsburys sell finger rolls for 50p. Crusty type rolls are £1

I go to morrisons in the evenings they sell packs and packs of bread rolls for 9p for 6 , the large barm cake size. Also bagels, loaves, pancakes, croissants all 9p a pack.

Morrisons pick and mix 6 for £1.30 or is it £1.20.

I make mine do school work all day. Pencil and paper cheap as chips

Been quite expensive for us, but we live in the middle of nowhere. There are no parks within walking distance (except one pitiful excuse that has one baby swing and one little slide that is usually covered in something that looks like shit), pretty much NOTHING but a small shop that has extortionate prices as its the only one for miles around. Because of this even a day at the park is 13 quid (family bus ticket)

Kids have spent a ridiculous amount of time in the house/garden because of this

(13 quid a day may not be a lot to some but it is to us at the moment)

Seriously though am I the o Lu one who actually saves money in the holidays?

-dinner money/packed lunch stuff
-petrol and bus fair
-fewer demands for money from school
-less time and inclination to go shopping and spending so using things in the cupboards
-cooking a lunch for 4/5 children for me (beans, rice, pasta etc) is cheaper than dinner money
-milk money
-music lessons and after school clubs
-washing uniforms

I save loads! Kids are at school 6 hours, in school time they still want to go to the park or swimming or for ice cream!

School costs a bomb

Depends where you live - we have a safe beach at the bottom of the road, a really good cycle network into very scenic parts of East Lothian and lots of free things at the Edinburgh Festival. All of that makes it cheaper to do fun things.

Egosumquisum - that is exactly how the picnics of MNetters are. I'd love to be a fly on the wall of MN homes - I'm willing to bet that in the majority of them the sibling dynamics are less than perfect and there are more oven chips served up than is recommended by the WHO.

I'm picnicking on Thursday, SirChengin, at Glyndebourne. With DC. Just thought you'd like to know

Childcare aside, I think they're as expensive as you want / allow them to be. We've had one theme park trip this year which is fairly typical. No holidays, foreign or abroad. A few play dates, library activities, sports activities etc which cost the same as in term time. Mine are 11, 8,6 and 2. I am lucky because they are all very happy to spend time lounging at home. And I spend a lot less on petrol when I'm not driving them to school. As someone else said, food eaten at home costs less than school dinners so we save on that too.

Why, so am I Bobo. You'll recognise me from the out of date gooseberry and cinnamon yoghurt

I'll be wearing my gold Dior strappy sandals hope it doesn't rain

No picnic??? No white finger rolls and Quavers?

I spend only a little bit more than usual, but it's on food. My DP probably spends the most, but then out of the two of us she has the best holiday package(I have a McJob and the holiday process is blah)

I understand that holidays can be expensive for parents. I have 3 myself all in their twenties now, but I was a hard up single parent for a while yet always felt they were my responsibility and that the education system was for education and not free child minding so never even thought about what their being at home in the holidays cost. Children don't ask to be born after all.

If you dont take them anywhere or do anything then yes it can be cheap i suppost but most people go on lots of days out during the school hols to give the kids exciting things to do