to think the prices for kids activities round here are insane?

[deliverdaniel]

We live out of the UK and not sure what the prices for these types of things are back 'home'. Just looking into some basic activities for our kids to do after school (really don't need anything fancy)

Pretty much everything ofr kids (eg football, ballet, gymnastics, group music type thing) or for toddlers (baby music etc etc) is the equivalent of 15- 20 quid per class (usually more like 20) . There seem to be almost no cheaper options. Is this this same in the UK? How much do you pay for kids activities?

My son does a gymnastics class for £3 a session.

I'm in scotland

thanks! that's more the price range I was expecting. Who has the money to do a 20 quid class each week for 2 kids??

My kids activities range from £6 (group guitar lesson) to £3 (ballet). Typically about £5. Actually, swimming lessons are £6.50, but I pay more for smaller classes. At the council pool they are £5.50.

Gymnastics is £5 for 45 minutes
Ballet is around £8 for 45 minutes (exam costs add up though!)
Swimming £9 for 45 minutes
Brownies £20 a term
Dd also does synchronised swimming which is £35 a month - for that she attends 2 hours in the pool and 1 dry land session a week
(South Wales)

Ballet, around £6 -7 pounds
Gymnastics - £5 ish
Horse riding - £15
Tennis - £6 (in a group though not 121)
Karate - £6
Swimming - £8

Where are you OP?

We're abroad as well. 79€ for a month of toddler gym (one class a week). 100€ a day for nursery! Can't wait to get back to the UK.

We are in the US. The prices around here are totally ridiculous! I don't know how people afford them. Thanks for all the answers.

I really need to know where you are OP!

We pay £4 for a swimming session at the council pool.
£120 a year for brownies
£13 for half an hour music lesson never again

Cross posts!

Wow. I'm in London and most things seem to be about £8 a session if you sign up termly or £12 a session for drop in. A few things like swimming in small group sessions are more.

But.... Perhaps wages are higher where you are OP? Or housing/food/fuel costs are lower?

We live in the US too and the vast majority of kids activities are free and paid for by the community fund. The one which aren't free aren't expensive, DS does a group piano/music class and its 3 dollars for 1.5 hours with snack and drink, including snack and drink for parents.

Are you in the US too? A basic standard class for 45mins is $25. It is incredibly expensive. Swimming... I drive 45mins to a place that 'only' charges $20 for the family if you pay $100 a year membership fee. That is for two hours only.

My kids do two activities each. DD is going to be 6 in July and still hasn't had swim lessons because I can't face paying $400 for a series of 12 lessons which are 30min each.

On the living overseas page people baulk when I tell people moving to the US to make sure their pay is in line with American pay. If it isn't you will be miserable because things like kids activities are so very expensive.

If offered to try out for ice hockey don't do it. My cousin has 4 kids who play hockey. They spend about $15k a year on this. I am still in shock from this. I made my own ice rink (plastic tube and pour boiling water into the middle of it) in the back yard and had the kids on it this winter. Next year I will take them to Bryant park with hand me down skates from my cousin. Skate rental is $14 per child!

Also in the US.
Dd (5) only does ballet but that costs $30 for an hour.

minipie wages for most people definitely aren't higher where we live. And generally living costs are similar. Obv some things more, some less, but broadly similar to when we lived in the UK. Not sure why kids stuff is so much. I know it's partly because in the UK at least some of it was subsidsed (eg swimming at council pool etc) and maybe the private stuff needs to compete with this?? Over here no subsidies for anything

LoupGarou where in the US are you? (if you don't mind answering- toatally fine if you'd rather not say...)

We're in Alaska deliver

OP - You have to be careful where you live. Look at rec sports which are offered by the town (go on the town website and look at activities or walk into your local library to ask). I have my kids signed up for rugby (DD is a skinnie minnie who has twiglet arms and legs and DS is too young but I lied about his age) because it is free. Lacrosse is pretty cheap too as parents are the coaches. Soccer in my town is $50 for the season.

I totally empathise with you. It is a huge shock when you see the prices. We do very well with our spends. DD wants to do an arts class. It is $30 a class with no discounts. I took her to Michaels and spent $30 on a bunch of art materials and hired the teacher from the store to take a class with DD and two of her friends. The teacher is doing it for $20 a class. Yes my house will be a mess afterwards but at least I won't be bankrupt.

The high prices is also why our school district now offer one hour of enrichment (ie all these $20-30 classes) after school for $450 a year. It is the best bargain in town.

Want2bSupermum has some excellent ideas. We lived in the deep south for a while (pre DS) and I voluntarily taught some foreign language classes at the local arts academy for an hour a week, in exchange DH and I (and any DC if we had them) could attend any of the other classes the academy offered for free.

deliver in many places in the UK swimming is free (not where we are!). Talk about subsidies! We pay £4 per session both in the private and council pools.

Do you think high insurance costs could be part of the reason activities are so expensive in the US?

Thanks Loup! We moved town in part because of the lack of rec sports in our old town. It is a huge consideration and when I see people looking to move to the New York area and shun New Jersey I am often agog because NJ has high state taxes which go towards funding these programs. Go to Westchester and you get next to nada.

I know Want its crazy isn't it? I've lived in quite a few different countries, and all across Canada and the US and its always seemed that the longer you live in a particularly area the cheaper the cost of living gets as you get to know the shortcuts, cheap options and ways around things, plus mates rates as you get to know people.
We always used to do the Realtor's trick of buying the worst house on the best street and renovating it. Crazy how sometimes something like living a small distance different can make such a huge difference to cost of living!

Something else we used to do when we needed plumbing or electrical work doing was to contact the local apprenticeship college and ask if they had any apprentices a tutor would be happy to supervise doing the work to build their real life experience, if we provided materials, meals etc and a donation to the college and a good employment reference.
We had a couple of houses which needed complete rewiring and re plumbing and this worked really well. It cost a fraction of what it would have done, all work was signed off by the tutors and so done to code and we happily provided references for the apprentices and let them use photos of the work they'd done in our houses.

loup That is a great idea. I have found the quality of workmanship to be borderline terrible to just dangerous. I have been having my Dads employees do the work in exchange for paying for their family to come here on holiday.

Thanks want . Its been really nice too we've kept in touch with a lot of them, I've recently helped one of the now former apprentices to write a scoping bid and portfolio as he wanted to win an ongoing municipal contract, he did win it and it felt great to be able to help someone who helped us.
Yeah, some of the work quality is downright frightening, we had an electrician install a ceiling fan/light once and ass soon as he turned it on, it light up and sparked like a catherine wheel and then went bang! I was