Cost of holidays during school holidays is outrageous...

[MarieKondo]

We can only go on holiday during school holidays. DD’s school is crazy strict about holidays during term time so paying the fine isn’t an option. Are there any tricks when booking that I don’t know about or is this just life for the foreseeable future? One option I’m looking at is literally half the cost if you could go 2 weeks earlier. 😤 any suggested websites or other ideas?

It's so expensive.

We always go away at Easter for a week and put a deposit down for our next holiday as soon as that holiday finishes. Spreading the cost is the only thing that really works for us.

The only answers we found were camping (not cheap but manageable), staying with relatives or not going away. Not going away is ok tbh.

DD’s school is crazy strict about holidays during term time so paying the fine isn’t an option.

What do you mean? All schools are "crazy strict" about it as they aren't allowed NOT to be - no school is going to turn a blind eye because if half the school buggers off on holiday in early July 2 weeks before the end of term they'll be in trouble!

However, if you want to go, you can go and you'll get fined and that's that.

But the fact that most places actually get booked up in the summer suggests that they aren't charging as much as they could, according to supply and demand.

Look at May half term or as late as possible in August if you are in England or Wales. Also consider travelling from a Scottish airport if you are in northern England and looking to fly somewhere.

If the cost is double, you could look at only having that type of holiday every other year, so you spend the same amount as a term time holiday overall.

Yes it is ridiculous,ds1 primary svhool.used to only have one weeks holiday at easter.and they gave the other week I n the summer half term.so motherhood had gone back so we used to try and take advantage of that but he's at secondary school now

it's just the way it is OP. The Tourism industry like any other wants to optimise their yield.
it's not more expensive in school holidays, it's just cheaper during term time.
I know it's a bummer, but many can't afford it, we can't this year.
I think it's going to become more expensive in general post brexit, whenever you travel.

Most schools not Motherhood

Pretend you're ill

Depending on what sort of holiday you're looking for, it's worth checking local school holiday dates - Scotland goes back mid August for example, and I'm told Holland does too. Sometimes it's a bit cheaper once local families are back at school.

But yes, it's whoppingly expensive - DD is in year 1, and last year we paid twice what we typically had been for a week self catering.

Check holiday list with fine tooth comb and compare to council list of holidays. Some schools have different hols especially catholic schools, if you do book for then.
If they go back 5th September go away just before most people like some time before they go back so last week of hols is cheaper.
Try October half term. Especially if they get an inset tacked on. Half term differs across uk so you can get lucky.
Think about alternative airports eg fly from Glasgow late August as their schools are already back.
Fly into a non popular with families destination eg We flew into Miami not Orlando to get return flights for £300 each in August.

I know someone who did Holland version of centre parks as so much cheaper as they weren’t off school same week as uk May half term.

Most holidays sold outside school holiday times make little or nothing for the companies - they rely on the holiday periods to make money.

We generally do caravan holidays, book well in advance when they have a deal on so we can get a decent price

I never had a foreign holiday until I went on honeymoon at the age of 25.

We had holidays in our own country, renting holiday homes, self catering but eating out occasionally, going on lots of outings and having lots of picnics, doing a range of nice hikes up mountains, swimming in the sea, going to local areas of historical significance or beauty, .....and had a lot of fun.

As adults, DH and I have not gone abroad every year - we have rented places in our country, or not gone far (we've had some lovely holidays in the UK, for example).

Going by ferry can be an alternative.

Going by train.

Going to places off the beaten track.

Think about camping.

We've stayed in lovely places in France, flying in, on the coast.

Think about doing a long weekend rather than 2 whole weeks. Or just 1 week.

How about a "staycation" in your local area and doing all those things you always said you would and never have, as if you were a tourist there?

Do your own arrangements - get a flight, find an air b-n-b or a self catering company, or even a nice hotel and book direct, find local areas of interest or attractions, and organize trips yourself. Often there are trips available organized locally even if not through a package operator.

It's life. Your DC need to attend school. It's not that long until they are in secondary with longer holidays, and until they no longer need to go with you and you can go again on the more off-peak times.

My understanding is that some schools are less likely to fine than others. Lancashire is trialling a £1000 fine for unauthorised absence!
We do camping hols too but have had basic holidays for the past few years and would finally like to treat ourselves to a lovely break but the costs are prohibitive. Annoys me that we could get the holiday of our dreams - at a price we could afford- if we could fly 10 days earlier.

Holland centre Parcs is a great idea! Sadly I’m wanting a sunny beach holiday in May half term 😢

Schools who have very high attendance often do turn a blind eye to a few additional days. It’s still unauthorised but not fined.

You can go away for a week without being fined.

But there are 13 weeks' school holidays in a year so plenty of opportunities to find cheaper options. In fact, sometimes, the school holiday option is cheaper than term-time.

A lot of places don't price for school holidays particularly, they are more expensive in July and August so if you can go away in May half term (which can be early June) or the first week of September, or Oct half term, it's cheaper. Easter is cheaper. Feb half term is cheaper if you don't want to ski.

Just add the cost of £120 fine onto the cost of the holiday. If its still cheaper go early

As someone who grew up in an area dependent on tourism, I have to second the fact that it's not expensive during the holidays - it's cheaper the rest of the year, when they have to (often marginally) sustain an income.

That aside, have you considered options like camping abroad? Feb half term - warm in a few European areas?

Adjust your expectations of what a holiday is - it's not just a sunny beach!

We don't go.abroad we can't afford to but I wouldn't say holidaying in the UK is particularly cheap during school.holidays either !

I know someone who did Holland version of centre parks as so much cheaper as they weren’t off school same week as uk May half term.
We always used to go last week of August as the Dutch had gone back to school. A lot cheaper then and always cheaper than the UK ones

We tend to go to less touristy places which aren't as affected by school holidays. This year we're going to northern Spain and Norway. They're not resorts though, so if that's the holiday you want then I'd look at places like maybe mainland Greece, Montenegro, the Netherlands, places with a coast that don't tend to attract many English tourists yet.

I think a PPs suggestion of alternating years abroad with cheaper home holidays is a good one.

I will be just doing cheap holidays though so we have bought a tent.

We went on a cruise a couple of years ago and found that if we booked to set off during July, it was a bit cheaper than doing the full thing in August. So we went the day after term ended.

We don’t go away every year though, not by a long chalk. We always have a week at the seaside, staying in a caravan owned by family. Not glamorous but the kids love going down to the sea twice a day and it avoids airports and stuff.

home exchange abroad, so you just pay for flights?