A family cinema trip is a treat surely? not an every day occurrence?

[LittleBookofCalm]

According to the news, end of the news, someone talking about being really badly off and saying they couldnt have a family trip to the cinema and how wrong it was that they couldnt afford this

I would argue that it is a Treat, spending that sort of money -

It’s a seldom treat here, now that my kids are bigger I send them without me which reduces the cost. Annoying although we have a Vue cinema it charges more in our town than any of its other branches, more than double its city branch.

We are so lucky to have a superb independent cinema locally. We can go for £15 for 6 of us on Friday night.

We go 3-4 times a month as it's affordable and a nice activity.

It should be possible for every family to afford at least one treat per week. Wages are artificially low. A living wage would allow for housing/bills/food and leisure activities. Including at least a week's holiday per year as well. There is no logical reason for people to be working full time yet struggling even to afford enough food.

It depends what they mean surely? If they are saying they can't afford getting on for a hundred quid to take the whole family to the latest blockbuster and but drinks and popcorn every week, that's not badly off, that's just life. If they can't afford to take their kids to an occasional Saturday morning £1.50 a ticket kids movie with a sneaked in bag of haribo from poundland, then I think they probably are badly off. Everybody should be able to afford the odd cheap treat.

It is definitely a treat, but one that should be accessible to everyone sometimes. I would feel very sad for a family who were never able to afford to go. That said, I don’t think it’s necessary to go every time a new film comes out, or every week, or even every month. The problem is, things that used to be ‘treats’ are now much more expected as a more habitual thing. Going to the cinema and a meal out when I was a kid would have most likely been as a birthday treat, now kids (including mine!) would see it as a standard school holiday treat. I don’t want them to think we can just do this at a drop of a hat (and we can’t, anyway). So for them, it is a treat yes.

Do you know about a thing called 'the economy' OP?

SGB Many families can not afford a treat once a week. That is not uncommon.

My mum used to go to the cinema in the evenings in the 60s because it was cheaper than heating the flat. And that was in central London!

i remember my dd when she was about 8 or 9 telling me of friends who went out to eat every week, it is a rare occurrence with us, always has been.

tribcot That is because the cinemas were massive - 1 big screen showing 1 film, and loads of people. Because plenty of people still didn't have a TV, or at least a colour TV in the 60s. And no DVDs or videos.

Even though it’s not an everyday thing, I’m sad that there are families that can’t afford a small weekly treat (cinema, a meal from the chippy, a hot chocolate or cake out) - and obviously there are families that can afford far less. I feel that these sort of things should be in reach of working class families.

There’s a whole other issue/cause re supply, Netflix/Sky, cost of popcorn etc, too.

Being able to afford a cinema trip is problematic as an example of general financial hardship given that cinema prices have skyrocketed in recent years (as a result of piracy, video on demand, etc).

That example is as much an example of cinema prices having increased disproportionately to other leisure activities as it is of financial hardship - there are two variables which makes being to afford a cinema trip a bit of a meaningless marker in the context of general poverty.

It's a treat now. 15 years ago when I was a student it was a regular thing. £3.20 for a ticket and £1 for Haribo and a panda pop in Woolworths. We used to go twice a week and now it's more like twice a year.

I only ever take my kids to movies for juniors even that has gone up I remember when it cost £1 .

I am somewhat 'lucky' I get money off through work so it's much more affordable but still not great and we don't go very often for full priced movies .

Our main local cinema is a Cineworld and it's around £15 a ticket. Few films are worth paying that for these days............. we use Sky Store, and sit happily on a comfy sofa without the toxic odour of hot dogs and nachos

It's sad that they cannot afford it even as a once off treat.

We have a Vue by us and all tickets are £5 so we go more than we used to do. Probably about once every couple of months. Before having kids DH and I had cineworld unlimited cards so were always in the cinema. I'm hoping to get one again once the kids are a bit older.

When did the couple say they should be able to do it every day and that it wasn't a treat?

My eldest is seven and still not been to the cinema. I can't justify £40 or the like to take 5 of us there. We wait until comes out on sky, pay £12 or whatever it is, make some popcorn and snuggle up on the sofa. If someone needs a wee, we can pause it!

Our local independent is £3.50 per ticket on Sundays and Mondays so we go loads. Couldn't go to a chain that often though.

I guess it's a treat in that it can't be called an essential or a necessity but the big multiplexes are expensive and they have the monopoly now

Is it a relatively recent thing to go on family trips to the cinema? I think I went with my parents once - there wasn’t really a local cinema when I was young, and by the time one opened I was more into going with friends, so only needed to pay for one ticket. My parents also never went with their parents - they went to the Saturday morning chlldren’s showing, which adults didn’t go to then.

So cinema prices have increased, but I wonder if the issue is also having to fund more people at once.

Our main local cinema is a Cineworld and it's around £15

Reel cinema family of 4 with a conparethemeerkat code is £16. We only pay £13.50 because dp and I are in the senior category and get free hot drink and dc are in the teens and student category.

With cinemas it is a case of shop around and don’t necessarily go to one of the big name cinemas. Look for the small chains or independent cinemas

We are north London so not exactly the cheapest place in the country

I'm surprised people consider cinema a big treat. Prices vary from around £5 to about £18 in central London per ticket but let's say average £10 per person.
Yet people eat out every weekend which normally works out at more than £10 per person.