School holidays are so expensive

[singingismypassion]

I feel I have literally shredded money so far these holidays. Children seem to have had a nice time but we haven't even done that much...
Sports camp for 3 days for one child
Riding for 4 days for one child
Two day trips to NT houses

Definitely planning to do a list and more planning for the 6 week summer holidays. I like your idea of sitting down at the beginning Luby.

It all boils down to what your DC are used to........
If your a parent that spends money on trips/days out, meals, horse riding, events etc then that's what they are used to.
We are comfortable but we'd rather go to NT places, the beach, walks, basic camping, playing in the sea, surfing, paddleboarding, cycling......all the free stuff.
If its wet we take waterproof clothing and deal with it.
We make a packed lunch and if theres nowhere to pitch a blanket we eat in the car or walking.........
It's nothing to do with age as I also have an 18 dd and when shes not working she chooses to come with us and her boyfriend joins us sometimes too....my 15dd friend comes along too....we meet with 4 other families every weekend and their DC range from 7 to 15 and all the DC join in and get on....
It's what you like doing and what suits your family, it's probably easier for us as we live in the country by the sea......its part of our lifestyle so if we were given the option of a theme park or a days surfing we'd pick surfing but every now and then for a change we'd pick the theme park.......
No one is right or wrong, it's what suits you x

It also teaches a lesson for the future perhaps. That you don;t always need to spend money and do something organised to be entertained and happy. Maybe a mix is better. It's a bit sad in away that in the holidays children are farmed out to expensive activities to entertain them. Like they are something to be managed. Well if it is all the time. I can't imagine as a child I'd like that. Might lead to compulsive activity and an inability to 'do nothing' as an adult...

It also teaches a lesson for the future perhaps. That you don;t always need to spend money and do something organised to be entertained and happy. Maybe a mix is better.

this ^
Once they get older, I found it got cheaper. Mine needed to "be entertained" when they were little, by adults. As they morph into teens, you involvement is needed less and less. They sleep, the 'hang' with their friends. They go to each others houses and amuse each other. They go off on Scout camps etc. for some of the time, then sleep to catch up. Throw in those days when you have to catch up with optician / haircut / dentist / etc, maybe replace some clothes, tidy out their rooms, sort out the clothes that are too small etc.

As they get older, any complaints of being bored can be responded to with a list of jobs they can do - they soon learn to entertain themselves.

As they get older, any complaints of being bored can be responded to with a list of jobs they can do - they soon learn to entertain themselves.

This.
Boredom is no bad thing. life isn't full of entertainment. They need to learn to be resilient and resourceful. Life is full of boring times, if you're lucky enough. Its a luxury of our times.

First day of the holidays done. Took both children to the library, then spent the day sorting and doing washing with the toddler (who loves the whole sorting/ emptying and filling the washing machine thing) while the tween started reading umpteen books, children kept themselves busy painting an old set of Easter bunnies, then made flapjacks with the toddler (pennies in ingredients, all stuff that needed using up anyway) and when they were busy watching Little Princess the tween and I made dinner. Total amount spent: £1 for parking.

Garden, park, more washing and pizza making for both of them today.

Plans for the first week:
Drs appointments, swimming, a walk down the Stickman trail, a walk in a nearby waterpark, some Easter crafts, tidying up and sorting rooms out. Probably won't spend more than £10 overall.

Yes, it's because we want them to be happy isn't it, the doing things to entertain them etc. Possibly, as well...and feel guilty other wise. But do we need to be always keeping them happy? It is sometimes hard for us to feel they are grumbling / bored etc but it helps to learn to deal with those emotions...too..I understand though as get this feeling form other family at times.

*Luby40

I have a 6 and 15 twins DC we sit down at the beginning of the hols and discuss how much money we have and what they would like to do, they can either do a few free things and one big day out or lots of little things.......they tend to pick around the weather. So far we have done lots of walks, made cakes, watched a film at home but bought snacks they don't normally have, revision day.....and then they picked McDonalds for lunch on Friday!!*

I used to do this when kids were younger
Everyone contributed to a list of potential activities. Then i colour coded them red for an £££ day out down to blue for walks in the woods/stuff that was freeand varying activities in between. Then they could choose for example 1 red and 2 other colour activities that week. Now they are old enough to know we dont have the funds to go to a theme park every day, its more of a chore getting the tween to even get dressed !!

*Cushellakoala
Yeh I get that, I'm just really lucky my DC get on with my friends DC otherwise it might get difficult......and like I said in my post we are really lucky to live where we do.....
We also have one of those tins that you need to open with a can opener and throughout the year we put money in it, my DC do jobs for money and they put half in there then at the beginning of the summer holiday we open it......one year we had £400, it's amazing how much you can save in a year! we do it for Christmas too.....

We haven't started Easter holidays til tomorrow

Even staying home is expensive. How much food can one child eat?!?! We have three and the NEVER FUCKING STOP EATING.

How much food can one child eat
I’ve yet to find the full setting on either of my two.

My ds is 11...he is never full!

Yep I have noticed the food thing. I guess saving on not buying school dinners though?

Very expensive, visited local farm yesterday, it cost around £60 including lunch and ice cream but DC had a fantastic day. They had play scheme 3 days this week and so I felt they deserved to do something a bit more exciting.

Not expensive here so far ..... Though maybe after posting this I'll be classed as a 'mean' parent.

2 teenagers:
2 days helping one of my friends to repaint their house.
Going to the park with tennis rackets. No tennis courts their but they had fun.
'den building' in local wood on their own.
Several mornings / afternoons spent 'chilling' or baking or reading.
Lots of pebble painting.
Trying to teach old dog new tricks .
Friend came over yesterday so they did nail painting and hair styling and trampolining in the garden.
Currently swimming (£4 each)
All other activities have been free.

Might get them to wash the car later or plant some seeds.
Might encourage them to do some art.

And yes, I do appreciate how easy going my children are and how easy they are / how good they are at entertaining themselves. I recognise I am extremely lucky.
I love my children .

I think it's really easy to overlook the costs you've already absorbed. We live in a city, there are lots of free activities (especially in the summer), we can cycle almost everywhere, there are some really good parks, we have friends nearby etc. etc. But we live in a desirable city, and a family house costs a fortune. That's a cost we were fortunate to be able to meet, and it makes our day to day life much cheaper (we walk/cycle to work/school, so we barely need one car etc.). But I'm very much aware that not everyone has that option - a family house similar in size to ours 10 miles out of the city (as the crow flies) costs about 40% of what it would take to buy ours now. But the village in question has few of the amenities we have access to. An awful lot of people will be living somewhere like that village, and I can well imagine their holidays are rather more expensive.

We've been on holiday for a week so far and it has been quite expensive but we've had a birthday in that time and we went away for the day. The things involved in that cost around £150 for the day out/meal/fuel/ ticket for a social experience and then £25 for the gift.

Other than that, we went to an English Heritage place one day, had a few days in the house and then went on a super exciting trip to Tesco for some magazines and treats which cost about £30 all in.

My mum has taken my dc away for the weekend so dh and I went out for a meal, then to a (free) museum and then to a shopping centre in a really fancy old building and had a cream tea. Altogether that's cost another £50 plus fuel.

Next week, dc and I will be going to town to spend birthday money and then possibly to another EH place. We always take picnics when we go there because it's cheaper. We're EH members so entry is free.

Most days we don't go anywhere. Dc play in the house and garden and make their own entertainment. The park closest to us was wrecked by local vandals so I don't feel safe taking them there. I don't feel any guilt whatsoever for not planning a trip, event or excursion for each day of the holidays because for one, I can't afford it and for another thing, I hated being forced to go out when I was a child so I don't do that for my own dc now.

Autistic kids are so much easier to entertain: Playdough, sandpit, computer games, reading, planting seeds which we would do anyway. Sending one out on his bike with his dad. Both are in double figures age wise.

just got to mend the door that got broken in a meltdown

@BlackeyedGruesome really?? Not all children with ASD are the same...just a bit of a generalization there

Autistic kids are so much easier to entertain

YOUR autistic kids are so much easier to entertain, not all autistic kids.